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CAC Meeting Minutes December 10th, 2024

Community Advisory Committee for Special Education Meeting

Tuesday, December 10, 2024 at 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm

Location: Farber Educational Campus, 720 S. Tenth St., Fresno, CA 93702

MINUTES

Welcome (Chair Wong) – 6:03 pm

Overview of evening’s agenda.

CAC stands for the Community Advisory Committee for Special Education, a volunteer group composed predominantly of parents of children with special needs who attend school within the Fresno Unified School District.  CAC is a group of parents, school personnel, and other community members who work together to ensure that children with special needs receive the best education available.  CAC meets once a month to identify the needs of students with special needs in our district and advises the district on issues relating to special education.  CAC works to provide information to parents and also listens to parents’ concerns.  CAC’s ultimate purpose is to participate in a partnership with the school district that enhances the education of each child with special needs.  Fresno Unified is required by law to have a CAC.

CAC Respect Agreement:

·       Recognize and respect differences of perspective and style of the CAC among members, staff, students, parents/guardians and the community.

·       Act with dignity and understand the implications of demeanor and behavior.

·       When speaking of your concerns, please do not use your student’s name or the school location.  Please respect the confidentiality and needs of your student.

To find out more information and/or contact the CAC Executive Board, like/follow us on Facebook or email fusd.cac@gmail.com.

Roll Call (Vice-Chair Aoki)

8 members were present; quorum was not met.  Skipped business hoping more members would show.

Educational Partners Forum

Juanita T. – Her child is not receiving the speech services (30 min per week) designated in the IEP.  The previous site SLP went on maternity leave and was not immediately replaced (her child has accrued 170 min).  The school now has online speech services for the younger children, but many of the older children are still not getting speech services.  Since October she has spoken to Patrick, Kate and Deanna.  Her child’s triannual IEP is coming up, and she would like to wait before making an official complaint with the state.  However, she feels like the situation is not being taken seriously enough; there is no plan in place to make up her child’s missed services.  She is also concerned that everything will fall on the SLP when she returns from maternity leave.  There seems to be no safety net, no substitutes, for SLPs.  There is a need for parents to be able to look up what services their child is receiving (to know their minutes are being met), like looking up grades in Atlas.

Response: Please make sure to submit a complaint on “Let’s Talk.”  Administration is also available to talk after the forum.

Parent – For Winter Enrichment Camps, how do you know which camps have Paras?

Patrick M. – There are notifications sent when a SpEd student signs up.

Jaime P. – She is working in the SpEd department at Aynesworth Elementary.  It has been a pleasure working there.

Parent – How do you help students that can’t read?  When students are low on math and reading, how can we help them raise their grades?

Patrick M. – Let’s talk one-on-one; each student is different.

Parent – For a student on an IEP, how do you bring it up to teachers? How do you have a voice on an IEP?

Patrick M. – We are trying to increase parent training this year.  Parent University will have parent training on IEPs in the Spring.

Another member logged in to Teams.  9 members were present; quorum was met.

Agenda Approval (Chair Wong)

Motion to accept: 1st Araceli S., 2nd Jaime P. – 9 Yeas/0 Nays

Previous Month’s Minutes (Chair Wong)

Motion to accept: 1st Cara F., 2nd Amy A. – 9 Yeas/0 Nays

Membership (Vice-Chair Aoki)

Applicants: Juanita Torres was present.

Motion to accept: 1st Jaime P., 2nd Cara F. – 9 Yeas/0 Nays

Announcements

Next Upcoming CAC Meeting: January 14, 2025.

February’s meeting will be in Spanish with English and Hmong translation.

Family Fun Night (Chair Wong)

Coloring sheets, sticker gingerbread houses, snowman/reindeer popsicle stick ornaments, decorative tiles, jingle bell bracelet/wreath crafts were available to make and take.

Closing & Adjournment (Chair Wong) – 7:30 p.m.

Motion to accept: Only executive board were remaining; quorum not met.