News

PPS Welcomes Questions and Comments About the Special Education Program Review Report

Princeton Public Schools shared the results of the Special Education Program Review, performed by Public Consulting Group (PCG), during the Board of Education meeting on June 15th. Please see the district website here to read PCG's full report, to see the board presentation from June 15th, or to offer comments or questions using the specific link provided on the website. In addition, the district has outlined 4 goals and will share more details as they finalize implementation steps and timelines. The district encourages families to read the report and offer comments and questions.

ESY Responses Needed

PPS has sent Special Education Extended School Year (ESY) communications to individual families. If you have not yet responded regarding your students' plans to attend ESY, please do so as soon as possible to ensure adequate staffing. If you have any questions, please reach out to your case manager.

• ESY for Resource, LLD and Pre-school students: 7/6/21 - 7/30/21, 8:30 am - 11:30 am.

• ESY for Autism and MD programs: 7/6/21 - 8/6/21, 8:30 am - 2:00 pm.

PCG To Present Special Education Program Review Report on June 15th

PCG has completed its independent special education program review and will present its report at the public Board of Education meeting on Tuesday, June 15th at 7:30. The meeting is being held on Zoom and can be accessed through the following link:

https://princetonk12.zoom.us/j/82920779206?pwd=TUlYSG50d2dIRExscTI4Yk1KcUpZUT09

There will be a public comment period during the meeting, but please note that board members and administrators generally cannot respond to comments or questions during the meeting. The Special Education PTO/SEPAG has been told there will be an opportunity for parents/guardians to submit questions and feedback to PPS administrators after the Board of Education meeting.

Special Education PTO Changes Name To Princeton SEPAG Effective July 1, 2021

Effective July 1^st, the Special Education PTO will be repositioned as a Special Education Parent Advisory Group (SEPAG, pronounced "See-pag"). All school districts in New Jersey are required to “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” (NJ Administrative Code 6A:14 -1.2h). Although our PTO already serves in the role of a SEPAG and fulfills this mandate, we believe that officially repositioning the Special Education PTO as a SEPAG more accurately aligns our activities with our mission and purpose.

The mission of the Princeton SEPAG is to

Engage, Educate and Empower

our community of families and educators.

Our purpose is to provide input to the district on system-level issues to improve the policies, programs and services for students who receive special education services and accommodations.

Membership in the Parent Advisory Group is open to any resident or staff member of the Princeton Public School District with an interest in special education, intentionally broadened to represent families with IEPs and/or 504 plans as well as students who may be placed out-of-district in other schools.

In many ways, the SEPAG will function similarly as the PTO in the past. We will remain a district-wide organization aiming to represent the interests of the nearly 1 in 5 students who receive special education services in our district from preschool through high school. We will continue to collaborate with the district, hold regular informational and feedback meetings, host events and communicate with stakeholders through our webpage, Facebook page and monthly e-newsletter. We will also continue to have parent volunteers serving as liaisons at each school, and have now added the role of a student liaison, to represent their designated groups.

Liaisons serve a vital role as the point person in collecting and sharing feedback and enhancing communication with families and the district. Currently, we are seeking parent liaisons for our out-of-district families, Community Park Elementary, Johnson Park Elementary and Princeton High School. If you are interested in being a liaison or would like to be added to our e-newsletter distribution list or have any other questions, please reach out to us at our new email address, PrincetonSEPAG@gmail.com.

Finally, we would like to thank our Board of Education, Administration, Student Services Director, Special Education Supervisors, Child Study Teams and our educators for their commitment and collaboration through the years. We look forward to further strengthening our partnerships to make positive and meaningful impacts on the education and experiences of all students.

After July 1, this website will no longer be updated; instead, find us at our new website, https://sites.google.com/view/princetonsepag/home.

Join Us For Our Last Events of the 2020-21 School Year

The Special Education PTO will close out the 2020-21 school year with two final events for parents and families of children receiving special education services. Please join us at our final PTO meeting on Tuesday, June 8th at 3:00 when we will share updates from our most recent meetings with PPS administrators. Families will also have the opportunity to provide input to Board of Education members in attendance. We'll wrap up the year at a Coffee Talk on Saturday, June 19th at 9:00 a.m., where we will also share tips for preparing for a smoother transition back to school in the fall. The Zoom link for both meetings is https://zoom.us/j/620145914?pwd=bE5pTkFjMWkwemk3ZUwycGRJRWNIQT09 (Meeting ID: 620 145 914; Password: 08540).

Pending Legislation Would Extend Special Education Eligibility Temporarily For High Students Aging Out in 2020-21 or 2021-22

There are two bills pending in the NJ Legislature that will extend special education eligibility temporarily in response to Covid-19. If passed, Senate bill S3434 and Assembly bill A5366 will require districts to provide special education and related services to students who would otherwise age out in the 2020-21 and 2021-22 school years for an additional year.

The bills can be found here:

https://legiscan.com/NJ/bill/S3434/2020

https://legiscan.com/NJ/text/A5366/2020

If you are interested in showing your support for these bills, you can find contact information for District 16’s legislators Senator Kip Bateman and Assemblymen Roy Freiman and Andrew Zwicker here.

For more information, see this press release from the sponsors of the Senate version of the bill.

Thank you to the parent who brought this to our attention at our last PTO meeting!

Additional Opportunities to Provide Feedback for Special Education Program Review

As its independent review of PPS's Special Education Program wraps up, Public Consulting Group (PCG) is offering a final opportunity for stakeholders to provide input. PCG recently surveyed district educators, and the PCG survey for parents/guardians of students with IEPs will be open until March 17th. Special Education parents/guardians should check their inbox for the invitation sent by PPS on March 3rd with the survey link. If you did not receive a survey but would like to offer feedback, please email your comments to Public Consulting Group directly at programreviewfeedback@pcgus.com (please write Princeton in the subject line). All feedback is confidential.

Thank you for participating so that all voices can be heard and continuous improvements can be made for all students.

Hot Off The Press: Our March 2021 Newsletter

Check out our March 2021 newsletter, available here, for important updates about the Special Education program review currently underway, the new Autism Classroom teacher at PUMS, and our upcoming PTO events. Not a subscriber? You can find all of our past issues on this website under the Newsletters tab, or email us at specialedpto@gmail.com to be added to our mailing list so you don't miss an issue.

Join Us at One of Our February Virtual Meetings!

Do you have a question about PPS's Special Education programs or the IEP process? Please join us at our next parent-led Special Education PTO meeting on Tuesday, February 16th at 3:00 p.m. At these meetings, we share updates from our latest meeting with PPS's Director of Special Services and the Special Education Supervisors, solicit parent feedback, discuss resources and ideas, and provide support for one another.

We are also hosting our monthly Coffee Talk on Saturday, February 27th from 9-10 a.m. This month's discussion will focus on Person Centered Planning - What is it and why should you care?

The links to both meetings can be found in our February 2021 newsletter, now available here. If you plan to join us at either meeting (or both!) for the first time this year, please RSVP to specialedpto@gmail.com. RSVPs aren't required, but they help us recognize your name when we're letting participants in from the Zoom waiting room.

If you can't attend either meeting but have a question or would like to offer feedback, please email us at specialedpto@gmail.com or use our anonymous contact form.

January Updates

Happy New Year! The Special Education PTO is kicking off 2021 with our first PTO meeting of the academic year on January 12th at 3:00. Please join us to hear updates from our meetings with the Student Services team and the PTO Council and to ask questions and share feedback. Our PTO meetings are open to all parents and guardians of children receiving special education services in the PPS school district. New faces are always welcome!

Also in January, PPS's Supervisor of Mathematics and Business Education, Stephenie Tidwell, is holding several virtual meetings for parents and guardians to discuss the PPS Math curriculum. The meetings are on Wednesday, January 13th at 7 p.m. (part of the PHS Program of Studies meeting for high school parents), Wednesday, January 27th at 4 p.m. for PUMS and PHS parents, and Thursday, January 28th at 4 p.m. for elementary school parents. The Zoom links will be posted of the PTOC's website prior to each meeting.

Finally, our Coffee Talk series will continue on Saturday, January 23rd from 9-10 a.m. This month's topic: Parent “Make & Take” - Create an emergency list of contacts, professionals and supports for your student.

For more updates and resources (including the Zoom link for all of our meetings), check out our January 2021 newsletter, available here.

Events Calendar