District ABA Advisory

Annual General Meeting—January 29 2018

19 parents in attendance

Meeting called to order 7:07pm

Welcome

Motion to accept previous minutes—Katherine, seconded by Del

Motion to accept agenda—Melissa, seconded by Jennifer

Recap

                Doug Roch has left the district

Karen Greaux is in temporary DP role until the end of June

If escalating a matter to the district, copy Karen, Deena, and Michelle

Turnover at district level has been challenging as a parent community

Is turnover such a common problem in other districts?

District provided a ‘honey comb’ graphic showing the support grid

ABA renewal forms have been distributed to schools. Everyone in group had received.

Forms indicate that a BCBA is involved in the student’s program

Don’t pay the BCBA to produce a special document to accompany the forms (team meeting notes, behavior plan etc.) are sufficient

*Deadline February 15^th

District as an ‘Autism Action Team—district-based BCBAs

Have provided support for families without an involved BCBA

Board of Education update (BOE) by Nicole Kaler

Last BOE meeting was January 17

Minister of Education (Rob Fleming) re-evaluating how money is spent, disparity between districts

 

Current projects

Independence Tool

Opportunity to include parents’ perspective in district document

Infuse document with ABA language

Headed by Doug previously

Idea to make this a universal tool

Important to shape how allocation tool is rolled out

Guiding Principles

District Advisory has a constitution and bylaws, and code of ethics

We don’t have a mission statement, or a vision statement

Need to create with a diverse set of parents/experiences

Volunteers: Nicole Berg, Melissa Singer, Jenn Newby

Continuity requests/Requesting an exemption (Nicole)

May be requested where:

EA filling an ABA SW position

Moving from grade 7 to grade 8

Moving schools

?Possibly for children entering K

Nicole requested continuity for child’s EA filing SW role, denied, district reversed position, CUPE grieved decision, Section 11 and Human Right’s complaint filed

Request: Exemption to post and fill process due to child’s specific needs

Talk to principal, explain desire to keep SW, or EA etc.

Follow up with email to Michelle, DP, Assistant Superintendent

 

 

 

Steps of escalation

• Classroom teacher (or specialist teacher including SLP, music etc.)
• IST
• Principal
• District Principal
• Director of Instruction
• Area Superintendent
• Assistant Superintendent
• Superintendent
• Section 11-BOE formal complaint

Parents need to speak up, so district knows about situations and issues

Question: How do we remove SW from a position?

No straight, easy answer. Admin can ‘massage’ them out, work with district to ‘move schools’, keep child home from school

Question: Do principals have roadmap about resolving situations?                                                                                            No, give principal timeline, be reasonable, and follow up

District prefers that admin approaches district for collaboration requests, best to resolve at school level

Question: What if IST is a barrier to the principal?

Find an ally on the school-based team

Children have right to education, right to enrol in educational program

CT’s job to teach

Equal access to public service (education)

Duty to accommodate (basic access)

Question: How many BCBA school-visits? Minimum of 3 meaningful consultations

Question: What happened with K allocations in 2017/2018

Most situations worked out, with hours increased on case by case basis

 

 

 

 

 

Elections

Positions available: Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary, Director/Member at Large

19 voting members present

Code of Ethics read. Members voted in must sign Code of Ethics.

Elaine will be moving from Chair position to Immediate Past Chair

Nominees:          Nicole Kaler (self-nominated)

Jackie Vuilleumier (by Jackie)

Polly Brar (Co-secretary)

Nicole Berg (Co-secretary)

All voted in by acclamation.

Adjournment 9:15 pm

Next meeting TBD