I have seen a lot of posts about 2020 being a "year of vision." When we returned to the district after winter break, our superintendent challenged each of the administrators to name a single word that embodies our work going forward. I chose the word, "deepen." We have put many procedures, policies, and practices into place as a special education department during the past few years, and I would like to ensure that we go fully enough into the changes and improvements to make them sustainable and truly impactful.
This primarily involves deepening our communication and parent involvement efforts. This blog is one of the avenues to do so, and so is our newly formed Special Education Volunteer Parent Ambassador group. In order to connect with parents outside of the school environment, the Ambassadors are hosting a get together on the evening of January 30th, from 7pm to 9pm, at a local establishment, Brixie's. Refreshments will be available for purchase, and parents are welcome to stop by to meet the Ambassadors and say hello. District staff will not be in attendance as this gathering is a time just for parents to connect with other parents!
Additionally, the Special Needs Advisory Panel (SNAP) has added another meeting to its yearly calendar, to be held on January 22nd, from 4pm to 6pm, in the Park Junior High LRC, to provide some dedicated time for open dialogue and discussion around topics of current interest to the group. Anyone is welcome to attend. Please email me if you are not a member of SNAP and would like to attend, for planning purposes: sofianoste@dist102.k12.il.us.
There is an anonymous survey set up if you have topics you would like to have discussed at the meeting, whether or not you plan to attend: https://forms.gle/QLk5uRSy3GLHLroS7
Happy New Year to All!