BAC Meeting, Tuesday March 1st...

[Chris_Wendt]

...8:00 PM, High School South Cafeteria.

Chris Wendt

[lilly]

The topic is special ed.

[lilly]

Last night's special ed presentation was well received. These are (paraphrased) comments I heard from two veteran BAC'ers:

'I came here expecting to be bored again since it is special ed but I actually learned things, things I probably should have been made to understand a long time ago.'

'This was the best BAC presentation so far. Very informative.'

Those are very high compliments.

I was personally excited about two nuggets of information. That Mr. H is trying to negotiate some supplier contracts down (have never heard that before from Wantagh PPS) while being mindful of quality/change for the kids and that he is taking initiative with 504's. Speaks very well for our interim PPS Director. I am encouraged. Beyond my usual cautiously optimistic, I'm hopeful.

A super (not Wantagh) once told me that the PPS Director is the most important (and complicated) hire he makes for several reasons. PPS Directors speak a different language, require a different knowledge base, set the tone for PPS personnel and are the liaison for this most vulnerable student population to the rest of the school folk. Bc of that different language, they can go largely unchecked, it can be hard for admins or a BOE to tell if PPS Directors are doing a good job or not since they are self-reporting. And, PPS Directors are the defacto extension of the adminstration and BOE. Good PPS directors must keep ahead of legal and special ed developments so need someone with intellectual curiosity to do that. This super needed to have a confidence level that the PPS director can be entrusted with the most vulnerable students to do the right thing for the kids and the district $ i.e., integrity to make the same decisions the super would if he had the PPS knowledge base (awkwardly said but hopefully readers get the gist).

So far, Mr. H is refreshing. He has a great knowledge base, is a do-er, great listener, gentleman but not a pushover, conducts himself with dignity and respect for others, i.e., brings an integrity to the position. And, added bonus, his background is psychologist which should benefit all the kids compared to the last 2 of 3 Wantagh PPS Directors whose specialization was autism.

So, good change is in the air. As he said last night he hasn't lived through an IEP season yet in Wantagh. But, judging from the looks on other special ed parents faces last night, the tone of CSE meetings should be different in a very good way.

[lilly]

One more thing.

Now if we can just get an excellent RtI program in effect like yesterday, all the better. The right people (Mr. H, Mrs. Chowske) are in place to do it. But they must be properly empowered, with full support of supers, BOE ands principals that it will be the priority it should be (and should have been the last few years), I just may be a happy camper. That includes consistent training, knowledge base and execution across the schools.

HS math RtI indeed.... lol