President’s Mid-Year Update
February 2024
This February, we passed the halfway mark of the school year and celebrated the 100th day of school! SEPAC SOMA is busier than ever adding our voice and perspective for the benefit of students with disabilities. Here is a glimpse of what we did just this month:
- Vicky Bond (VP of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion) welcomed Dr. Ahadi Bugg-Levine and Ms. Kerri Waibel as our special guests for our 4th Annual Race & Special Education meeting. I am grateful for all these women who brought their insights and knowledge to this ongoing conversation.
- Malia Herman (Ex Officio) penned a letter on SEPAC’s behalf in support of Maplewood Township’s all-access playground grant appeal. This playground for the community has been in the works for a while now and we are excited to see it getting closer to being a reality.
- Amanda Harris (VP of Family Support) and Lindsey Stone (VP of Community Outreach) coordinated and planned our next Cup Chat on a Sunday in late February. We look forward to another opportunity to come together with other parents to support and learn from one other.
- Kelly Mortimer (Communications Officer) not only shares her talents with SEPAC in creating eye-catching graphics, she also contributed to the planning of and created graphics for Dr. Gilbert’s Listening Sessions. (In addition to all the other communications work she does to keep people in-the-know about SEPAC SOMA.)
- Susan Nasberg-Abrams (new VP of Policy Initiatives) hosted a parent group meeting especially for parents and caregivers of students with learning disabilities where she gathered input and shared information.
- Lindsey, Kelly, Malia and I participated in a targeted focus group to give our direct input to the HYA Consultant for the superintendent search.
- Malia, Kelly and I attended the Listening Sessions with Dr. Gilbert and did our own listening to fellow parents who shared their own ‘nopes, dopes, and hopes’ about our district and offered suggestions.
For SEPAC SOMA, building relationships is at the core of what we do. Those relationships are with other parents, teachers, administrators, staff, paraprofessionals, students, board of education members, community leadership and membership. We look to have conversations with as many people as we can to share ideas and to learn from one another for the benefit of students with disabilities.
Our school district currently has 20% of our student population in special education, that’s over 1,200 students who require an individualized education program (IEP). That’s a serious amount of work that takes an enormous amount of effort. Do we think they all are getting what they need? Do they all have parents who know about special education and their rights? What can be done? We speak up. We send emails. We make phone calls. We hold meetings. We ask questions. We connect people. We don’t take for granted the positives. We keep bringing the issues to the forefront. Our advisory work and recommendations are grounded in making systemic change and providing the perspective of parents who are the experts when it comes to their children.
In partnership,
Beth Cosentino
SEPAC SOMA President, 2023-2024
SEPAC SOMA 