West Orange Special Education Parents Advisory Council to hold parent meetings

WEST ORANGE, NJ — The West Orange Special Education Parent Advisory Council will hold two additional meetings to give parents and guardians the opportunity to discuss their experiences as part of the school district’s special education program. The information provided will be compiled to create a survey that special needs families can take to help WOSEPAC identify current systemic issues and make appropriate recommendations to the district.

The first meeting will be Thursday, May 5, from 7 to 8 p.m. in the library media center at Pleasantdale School, 555 Pleasant Valley Way. The second meeting will be Thursday, May 19, from 7 to 8 p.m. in the cafeteria at Gregory School, 301 Gregory Ave..

WOSEPAC was formed to fulfill the requirements of New Jersey Administrative Code 6A:14-1.2(h), which states that “each Board of Education shall ensure that a special education parent advisory group is in place in the district to provide input to the district on issues concerning students with disabilities.”

“Please note that the council does not advocate on behalf of individual students but its purpose is to identify the current needs of the special education students as a whole,” WOSEPAC Chairwoman Ellen Gilio said in a press release.

The council held the first informational meeting on April 18 at Washington School, where several parents and council members met to discuss issues. Communication between parents and the school district was cited as the top issue. Communication also appeared to be inconsistent throughout the district, with some schools providing more information to parents, and others providing less. Parents also said they would like more information as to what students were working on in school so that they could continue the work at home.

“This is the beginning of making our school district even better,” council member Stuart Nachbar said in the release.

If you have any further questions, contact Ellen Gilio at Ellengilioesq@aol.com. To attend, RSVP to Gilio to give the council a better sense of how many seats to reserve at the meeting you wish to attend.

  Special Needs, West Orange Board of Education, West Orange School District