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 15th
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
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