Reading Special Education Parent Advisory Council (SEPAC)

Welcome back!  In preparation for the new school year, you will find information on the following (use links to jump ahead):

⭐ First Day of School

Wednesday, Aug 28 First day of school for grades 1-12

Tuesday, Sept 3 First day of school for Pre-K to K (see note below on orientation dates)

Welcome back students, families, teachers, and staff!  It will be great to catch up and hear all about your wonderful summer adventures.  Please note the delayed start date for RISE Preschoolers and Kindergartners.  Also kindly remember there is no school for everyone on Sept 2 (Mon) due to the Labor Day holiday. Have an amazing new school year!

• Grades 1-12 official start date Wed, Aug 28

• Pre-K 30-min orientation Wed, Aug 28 or Thu, Aug 29 (notification will come from RISE)

• Kindergarten 2-hour orientation Wed, Aug 28 or Thu, Aug 29 (notification will come from your school/teacher)

• Pre-K to Kindergarten official start date Tue, Sept 3

⭐ Creator’s Guild

Sept-Nov, 1st and 3rd Saturdays, 3-4pm for grades 2-5 (Reading Public Library’s Children’s Program Room)

Come join other kids grades 2-5 for an integrated hour of play.  This club was started by a fellow SEPAC elementary student in collaboration with the Reading Public Library as a social get-together to share in the love of legos, paint, and art.  A librarian and SEPAC volunteer will help to run the event.  Kids have the option to talk about their creations and have them displayed in the library.  Legos will remain at the library but any paint or drawing projects are optional for take home.  

This drop-in play is a free community event. Please click here for more details on the Fall Session.

• Sept 7 (Sat) 3-4pm

• Sept 21 (Sat) 3-4pm

• Oct 5 (Sat) 3-4pm

• Oct 19 (Sat) 3-4pm

• Nov 2 (Sat) 3-4pm

• Nov 16 (Sat) 3-4pm

⭐ Back to School Nights

Sept 11, 12, and 19, 11-1PM (Respective child’s school; more details forthcoming)

Back to School Nights are evenings for parents and guardians to meet their student’s teachers and hear from their principal, PTO, and SEPAC. Please note, these events are usually adults only to minimize distractions during presentations. More details will be sent directly from your respective schools.

⭐ Tackling the Patterns of Anxiety, Depression and Avoidance

Wednesday, Sept 18, 6-7:30pm (Virtual Meeting)

Come join us virtually for a presentation by Lynn Lyons on Tackling the Patterns of Anxiety, Depression, and Avoidance. She will share the following.  Registration is required for this event.

• Strategies for managing anxiety, moods, and social pressures, including school avoidance;

• Strategies for prevention and collaboration;

• What may make problems worse;

• What are better approaches

• Please click here to register for this virtual event with Lynn Lyons.

⭐ Application for Family Leadership Program Series

Friday, Sept 20 Application Deadline (Apply Online)

The Department of Developmental Services (DDS) Family Leadership Program is designed to provide education, leadership training, and mentoring for families with children and adults with disabilities living in the community.  

Their annual, regional workshop series has a three-fold purpose:

• Offer information about “best practices” for people with disabilities.

• Assist families in creating a vision for their family member and a process to achieve the vision by incorporating that information.

• Develop family leaders who will advocate at the local and state level to improve the lives of individuals with disabilities.

Applications for the 2025 Northeast Region Family Leadership Series is now open until September 20. Incoming cohorts must be ready to commit to attending a series of virtual and in-person meetings.  For Reading residents which fall in the Northeast Region, this year in-person meetings will be held in Burlington. Complementary hotel overnight stay will be provided for in-person, 2-day events (Fri-Sun).  

Please click on this link to apply for the Family Leadership Program.

⭐ Team Chair Meet & Greet

Wednesday, Sept 25, 9am In Person (more details forthcoming)

Save the date for an exciting opportunity to connect with the RPS Department of Student Services and Special Education.  Relationship building helps form good partnerships, so we are very pleased to have this upcoming informal meet & greet opportunity.  More details are forthcoming.

⭐ Culture Immersion Series: Mid-Autumn Moon Festival

Saturday, Sept 28 12-3:30pm In Person at the Reading Public Library’s Community Room

SEPAC will be having a booth with crafts for Reading’s first annual Mid-Autumn Moon Festival as part of an inaugural culture immersion series sponsored by the Reading Public Library, Reading Office of Equity and Social Justice, Reading Chamber of Commerce, and Must Eats Travel.  There will be family-friendly performances such as a Japanese tea demonstration, Native American storytelling, and Lion Dancing.  The latter will have a special dedicated line for SEPAC families to have a photo opportunity with a Lion Dancer. The festival is a free community event. 

Come drop by our booth for fun activities and be sure to ask for free ear plugs (for any sensory sensitivities) and a free Sunflower Hidden Disabilities lanyard donated by Must Eats Travel. The lanyards can be reused at participating airports and other establishments to indicate you or your child has a hidden disability and special care and/or assistance is needed.

If you are available for any amount of time to help us staff our SEPAC Booth please email us at SEPACReading@gmail.com or sign-up on our Volunteer Sign-up Sheet.  Thank you.

⭐ SEPAC Point Person (Liaison) Volunteers Needed

Volunteer liaisons needed for each school

We are in need of points of contact for each school in our district to serve as a liaison for SEPAC. These points of contact (POC or Point Person) can help Reading SEPAC by keeping an eye out to ensure that the schools are sharing SEPAC’s communication in their school newsletters and other forms of school communication. 

If you are a new or existing volunteer able to be a liaison for your child’s school for the 2024-2025 school year please confirm your interest in being a liaison this year with this link.  Thank you for your support!

⭐ Volunteer Sign-up Sheet

Year round need for volunteers (sign-up sheet).

The SEPAC Board is really short-staffed this year.  Please consider joining the Board or volunteering for 1 or more events so we may continue to provide quality programming and be available to assist and advocate for our community.  Some volunteer opportunities include the following:

• Election coordinator: Reading SEPAC will have its annual board elections on Oct 30 (Wed). We need a volunteer who can monitor SEPAC Board nominations emails and help run the election on October 30th. We will have someone available to walk you through the process.

• Mid-Autumn Moon Festival (Sat, Sept 28, 12-3:30pm at the Reading Public Library Community Room): Come help us at our craft table at the 1st annual Culture Immersion Series: Mid-Autumn Moon Festival at the Reading Public Library.  We will be hosting a paper dragon building activity and helping to guide SEPAC families to a dedicated photo line for meeting a lion dancer.

• Movie Night (Oct 2): We are looking for volunteers to help us with our Fall movie night, screening the movie The Right to Read.  

• Fall Foliage Walk (Sat, Oct 5, 10-12pm; rain date Sat, Oct 26, 10-12pm): New for autumn, we are arranging for a private fall foliage walking tour & scavenger hunt in the Reading Town Forest with the Reading Trails Committee.  Help us plan a small picnic at our halfway mark, the Ipswich river.

• Festival of Trees (Dec): Help us organize a workgroup to decorate a tree for Reading’s festival of trees.

• Wachusetts Mountain Meetup (Mon, Mar 10, 8:30-3pm): New this year, we are arranging for a winter meetup at Wachusetts Mountain during teacher inservice. SEPAC has reserved a private lounge for everyone to hang out in. Skiing/snowboarding is of course optional; you are more than welcome to just enjoy hot cocoa with us in the room. We are looking for volunteers to help us with setting up board games and/or crafts.  

We also welcome volunteers to come up with ideas and lead other new events that you would like to see happen for our SEPAC community.  

Please click on this link to select volunteer opportunities you are interested in.  We are grateful for any assistance you can provide.

⭐ 2024-2025 SEPAC Events Moving to 3rd Wednesdays

3rd Wednesdays of the month

For this new school year, most SEPAC events will be moving to the 3rd Wednesday of the month. More details to follow.

⭐ Past Events

Recorded events that are available on the Reading SEPAC Website:

• Year End Business Meeting

  • Special Education Budget Review

  • Student Services Updates on new positions created last year

  • SEPAC Updates 

  • Family Leadership Program Series Overview

• SEPAC Board Presentation to the School Committee

• New IEP Presentation 

• School Transition Presentation

• Extended School Year (ESY) Presentation 

• MCAS & Students with Disabilities Presentation 

• Multi Tiered System of Support (MTSS) Presentation

  • Review tiered system of supports and provide examples

  • Outline effective communication channels with your team and school

⭐ Resources and Opportunities

Follow us on Facebook for additional resources such as programs, webinars, recreation, etc. There are SO many opportunities! Here are some pertinent ones to highlight, but there are MANY more on Facebook:

• The IEP for Home, a free monthly seminar put on by Tufts Children’s Hospital. A general member wrote to us saying, “we have been attending virtually and it has changed our lives.” First Wednesday of the month over the school year, 7:00 pm EST https://wellforce-hipaa.zoom.us/j/96786533105?pwd=OERPWkVvT2JSL1E5Ymw5OEcrVXRYUT09 Password: 12345

• A Parent’s Guide to Special Education, written by the Federation for Children with Special Needs in collaboration with the Massachusetts Department of Education, is available in several different formats and three languages: English, Spanish, and Portuguese.

• The Federation for Children with Special Needs hosts many Basic Rights workshops and other training opportunities for parents to educate themselves on the rights they have as the primary advocates for their children who require specialized education. 

• The Bureau of Special Education Appeals offers Mediation and/or Facilitated Team Meetings. Click here for information.

• Click here for the School Committee’s website. Meetings are open for attendance and are broadcast on RCTV (cable and Youtube). Following School Committee business is a good way to inform yourself about the current work being done at the central office level. Click here to watch the recording of the Student Services / The Learning Center Review Update to the School Committee from Nov 30th. 

⭐ Visit the Student Services Website!

• Visit the Student Services website for TONS of information, including updated Team Chair info.

• Student Services Administrators, Dr. Jennifer Stys and Allison Wright, offer office hours to provide time and space for families to connect with the District Student Services Department.

  • If you have specific questions regarding the implementation of your student's IEP, services schedule or any specific questions about how they are doing, you should reach out to your student's case manager or Team Chairperson. If you have other questions or concerns regarding your student or if you have questions regarding the Special Education process, please utilize their office hour opportunities.

⭐ Mark Your Calendars!

⭐ Contact Us

Should you wish to reach out to Reading SEPAC, please use this form or email us at SEPACReading@gmail.com

Note: The form does not require your contact details, should you prefer to leave anonymous feedback.

Also, do not forget to follow us on FaceBook where we share additional information and opportunities.

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