Special Education District Advisory Committee (SEDAC)

  • The charge of the Special Education Care District Advisory Committee shall be to:

    1. Advise the Board of Education about attitudes, opinions and issues significant to the Special Education community
    2. Hold monthly meetings open to the public and provide Spanish translation when needed
    3. Act as a conduit for the flow of information between the Special Education community at large and the Board of Education.
    4. Continue to bring parent’s questions and concerns to the BOE regarding curriculum and programs in math, literacy, reading and autism.
    5. Provide a forum for district staff and other speakers to share information relevant to the Special Education community
    6. To enhance District-wide outreach to Special Education parents, continue the practice of rotating meeting locations to include school sites.
    7. To address topical concerns utilizing subcommittees, either Ad Hoc and/or Standing Committees, as defined by the Brown Act.
    8. Continue to review the Special Education budget with the District’s Chief Financial Officer utilizing CFO’s recently created Special Education specific reporting format

    Charges for 2022-23 school year:

      1. Transition support: The AdHoc Committee could work to support families at transition points by the following:
        • Organize parent meetings at key times in the year between families that are in transition with families that have completed particular transition points.
        • Work to organize a neuro-diverse college fair for high school students and families
        • College and life, which may include information about testing accommodations, colleges, universities and trade school programs/support
      2. Social Justice: The AdHoc Committee could work to support social justice with the following: This work will be broken into subgroups
        • Electives
          • Gather data/insights around needs across the district with elective access for special education students (eg. content, scheduling, etc)
          • Develop recommendations where appropriate to improve inclusion and access
          • Look at the creation of inclusive class descriptions at the middle to high school level to better inform students and parents.
        • PTSA Representation and Support
          • Review existing PTSA programming for students at middle and high school level. Look where deficiencies in inclusion exist
          • Recommendations to improve inclusion in PTSA programming (eg. carnivals, picnics)
          • Expanding Special Education PTSA representation at school and district level
        • SMMUSD DE&I
          • Identify opportunities to increase collaboration with SMMUSD
          • Developed in partnership is DEI team
      3. Human Development Education: The AdHoc Committee could work to support this education with the following:
        • Review when/where students in special day classes are taught human development at the elementary, middle, and high school level to determine if there is an ongoing need for this education
        • Look at how this could be transferred to educators in the district where there is a need.
      4. Communications Structure Review: The AdHoc Committee could work on the following around communications:
        • Review current communication practices with Special Education families, assess how well they are working
        • Develop a set of best practices for consistent, effective communication in the future
        • Day one implementation of medical accommodations, particularly around transitions