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Schools hope to bring back special education parent group

Date: 10/12/2022

SOUTHWICK — The special education director at the Southwick-Tolland-Granville Regional School District told the School Committee that she aims this year to revitalize the Special Education Parent Advisory Committee.

Special Education Director Robin Gunn said that she wants to see the revitalization of the “SEPAC” after she said it had been dormant for several years.

“We would very much like to be a resource for parents,” said Gunn.

SEPAC is a required committee for all school districts in Massachusetts. It is meant to advise the School Committee on matters pertaining to special needs students in the district, develop special planning and events for special needs students, and acts as a resource for parents and faculty for special needs issues.

Gunn told the committee that this year parents of special needs students will receive “The Parent’s Guide to Special Education,” and all such parents will then be invited to an in-person meeting to go over the guide and answer questions about special needs and the school district.

Superintendent Jennifer Willard noted that before the coronavirus pandemic, there was difficulty getting a robust SEPAC together for a lot of local school districts, so Southwick-Tolland-Granville and neighboring districts often collaborated on regional events to ensure adequate attendance. Gunn said that strategy could be used again.

Gunn said that the district also received a “playground communication board” at Powder Mill School that provides visual aids for special needs and nonverbal students to communicate with their friends or teachers on the playground. She said that Robin Berube, one of the district’s psychologists, had applied to receive the communication board from the Doug Flutie Jr. Foundation for Autism, and the district was accepted.

“The intention is to make it easier for kids who have trouble communicating to communicate with their teachers and peers,” said Gunn.

The board lists several basic messages or emotions to which the student can point to communicate.