Good morning,
Special Ed meeting with Judith Petruzzi: On 2/10/22 Chrissie Stauffer, Beth Planer, John McKiernan and I met with Judith Petruzzi who is the head of special ed for PSEA. We went over several concerns with her and how to best move forward. Judith has been in contact with PDE over concerns of caseloads. The contact person from PDE per Judith “was profoundly well versed in the myriad of years of Reading issues. She is going to follow up as a couple items discussed were already in corrective action and the caseload list really had them scratching their heads and was a hot bottom topic pre COVID.” We will continue the open dialog with PSEA and will keep you updated on any new information. Other items we discussed:
Violent and/or disruptive students: “What as an Association can we do for our members?”- Judith’s response: Once a student is “thought to be exceptional”, they are afforded all protections as if they were already found eligible, thus Spec. Ed. Regulations apply. If a student is continually a “clear and present danger” and/or disrupts his/her learning and that of others, the team should discuss options (modified day, extra in-class support, homebound instruction (if severe), interagency supports and intervention, expedited evaluation)
Low Incident Placements: Ultimately, the LEA recommends a placement, even though it is supposed to be a “team decision”. The parent has the trigger through NOREP to agree. Data should always drive the decision- making process. The key word is “appropriate” based upon the circumstances. Availability of district resources can never by a deciding factor. Again, FAPE means that students are provided meaningful education services based upon need, at no cost to parent.
Monthly Building Meetings: The most accurate and REA endorsed information to the membership comes from the Monday Messages and your monthly building meeting *REA will never put information out on social media platforms unless it is the REA ran FB page “Reading Education Association”. It is imperative that you try and attend your building meetings so you have the CORRECT information to questions and concerns. Your building rep submits building meeting notes and questions to me by the Friday after rep council so you may have the quickest and most up to date responses. Each year we hold building rep elections. I strongly encourage to step up for one of these positions if you feel like you want to be “in the know” or would like to see changes to the Association.
Middle School Officer: Congratulations to Shanalyn Eckenrod, the newly elected middle school officer. Shanalyn will cover Central and NEMS.
Half Day Fridays: A formal proposal from executive board has been presented to Cabinet and will be presented at the school board meeting this week.
Members Only Section of the website: If you are not registered for the members only section of the website, please email me directly and I will send you the new link.
Be Well,
Rebecca