General Meeting–October 17 2016
Meeting called to order 7:07pm
Welcome, Introduction and History
Advisory similar to school based PAC, but for whole district
Try to deal with systemic issues
Formed 11 years ago
Striving for consistency between home and school ABA programs
In 11 years, we are on our 7th contact person at district level
Contact families through the Facebook group
Advisory Exec will meet with Michelle Monday Nov 14 at 10am
New Business
- District Update
Joanna Angelidis moved to Delta school district
New DP was just hired and will begin Nov 9th
Michelle now Director of Instruction
Catherine now North Area Superintendent and out of Ed Services (Guildford/Fleetwood)
Ross Brennan—City Center
Lynda Reeve—WR/South Surrey
Andrew Holland – Cloverdale/Clayton
Christy Northway—Newton
- IEPs
Michelle’s memo to Elaine—no anticipated changes for 2016-2017
Should have already happened or be booked for the near future
No changes to district policy surrounding this
Michelle says confusion most likely stems from something Joanna was working on and her departure
Make sure your BCBA is at meeting and that you have support
Social Workers (SCD consultants) can also attend
Families need to consulted about the date
IEP should be meaningful document that reflect ABA program goals
Advisory issues and successes from our meetings with Joanna last year
Involvement of district BCBAs
Great that SD36 is hiring BCBAs, now 3 in place
Tough role to fill especially when family has involved BCBA
Ethics need to be examined
Make it known to your school that you want to be informed of district specialist involvement
Will SD36 let family know if district BCBA observes child—depends on situation
Recommend that family tells principal you want to know if consult happens
Want to ensure collaboration
District might provide feedback with an ‘on the fly’ consult
Some families are benefiting from district BCBAs
Concern from parent that all weight would be on SD36 recommendations, discount family’s BCBA behaviour plan
District is looking to hire more BCBAs
Exam week (BASES students)
Increased by 2 days
Not relevant this year due to canceled exams
Last day of school is June 29th
Letter on district website, Joanna helped facilitate this
Attended K orientation meeting in February
New ABASW orientation happened—Preetinder ran the orientation
Question regarding data and communication
Now is the time to have this clearly set up
Families pay for programs and have a right to a copy of all data taken
It is also the school’s right to store data/programs run at school
If this is the case family can insist that this is confidential and secure.
Communication should be in place
Needs to be meaningful for all parties
Checklists that include children are good for recall but not necessarily effective communication for SBT and family.
Email, Google Doc, paper communication book, sending data forms back and forth are all options
CT needs to be included. Confidentiality of other students needs to be respected.
The district does not want to see SWs “initiating” communication that should come from CT
School to home communication should be considered case-by-case basis that makes sense
Data
Based on IEP
Data collection needs to be efficient and user friendly
If you have an EA or a less capable SW, consider simplifying
Varies from school to school, but some ISTs want to be involved in form creation. If this is the case, make sure this is collaborative with your BCBA.
Team Meetings
Not mandatory (district needs to communicate this)
SWs are not barred from attending by any district policy.
If during the school day, and mandatory, a school safety manager needs to inspect the house to ensure it is a safe environment (one time inspection)
Future Plans for 2016-2017
Work with new DP to revise renewal forms
Discuss arbitrary hour allocation
Questions and Open Forum
Suggestion to write a narrative account of student’s journey—where did we come from, what have we overcome, what are we worried about reverting to?
ABASW ‘child specific’ position—in early years, some ABASW stuck with ASD student, did not help other students. Set up negative perception with other staff and admin
Arbitrary hour allocation—requesting thoughtful reduction with careful consideration
SD36 wants simple allocation tool—budget driven, logistical considerations
January is a good time for families to open conversation about support hours
Families and schools need to think about where independence can happen across school day, take data on new independent times, evidence of trying to increase independence
Families fear that if hours are reduced, will be unable to get hours back again
Escalating concerns—if admin not responding in timely manner, escalate to next level
Does advisory have FAQ sheets to cover off such questions as: are team meetings allowed, is data collection permitted?
Home/school collaboration document. ABASW application process should answer some of these questions.
Adjournment 9:08 pm
Next meeting Monday January 23 7pm (subject to change)
AGM
District ABA Advisory 
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