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- Resources
- Online
- Parent Support
- Special Education
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and Wellness - LGBT Parent Resources
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Special Education resources
Thanks to PPS-SF Member Rachel Norton for putting together a list of resources for Special Education!
Community Advisory Committee for Special Education (www.sfcacsped.org)
This majority-parent committee advises the Board of Education on special education policy and planning and is an important vehicle for parents to have a voice in our district's special education policies and procedures.
Meetings are monthly, at Open Gate, 2601 Mission St., with free childcare and interpretation services available. If you can't make meetings but would like to receive monthly mailings via email please let us know. Call 920-5040 for more information, or email cac_specialed@hotmail.com.
CAC for Special Education Newsletter
The SFUSD Community Advisory Committee for Special Education newsletter is available in pdf format for downloading from SFUSD's website, in three languages. English (pdf), Spanish (pdf), Chinese (pdf)
These newsletters are supposed to be mailed out to every family in San Francisco who has a child with an IEP. If you do not receive yours in the mail, please e-mail moggything@aol.com -- they need to know if people are NOT getting them. And if there's any topic which you think they should cover in their next newsletter -- send in your suggestions!
SFUSD Special Education webpage (on the SFUSD website)
SFUSD maintains a large section of its web site devoted to Special Education. Some of the resources that can be found here are:
- The Special Education Enrollment Guide, which explains the various program options offered by the district, and enrollment procedures, which differ in important ways from general education enrollment procedures.
- The Parent Guide to Special Education, which gives a general summary of special education procedures and parent rights;
- The CAC for Special Education Parent Handbook, which gives SFUSD-specific information about procedures and parent rights;
- Problem-solving guidelines;
- Information for Parents - a list of links to outside resources that might be helpful to parents of children with disabilities.
- Annual Report to the Board of Education, Sept. 2006 (PDF document)
In this report, the committee described recent accomplishments for students in special education in SFUSD and issued 12 recommendations for the future. Links to past reports to the Board are also available.
- Special Education Comment Form
The CAC has created a Comment Form (pdf) that parents can use to tell us what is working and what isn't working with their child's special education program. While the CAC has no authority to fix problems, knowing about issues families are experiencing helps us be better advocates on behalf of all children in special education in San Francisco.
Links to Special Education Resources
Support for Families - www.supportforfamilies.org
Support for Families, and its resource center, Open Gate, are an invaluable local resource for families of children with disabilities. They offer monthly IEP trainings, a book and toy lending library, support groups, a parent mentor program and a very popular resource fair every spring. Open Gate also maintains a help line at 920-5040.
Protection & Advocacy Inc. - www.pai-ca.org
Protection & Advocacy Inc. offers advocacy services for people with disabilities. The publications section of their web site has a comprehensive section on special education law.
Community Alliance for Special Education - www.caseadvocacy.org
Community Alliance for Special Education will provide low-cost legal representation in special education disputes, as well as advocates who will attend IEP meetings with families. They co-publish the invaluable Special Education Rights and Responsibilities handbook with Protection & Advocacy.
DCYF Special Needs Inclusion Project (SNIP) website - www.snipsf.org
The DCYF Special Needs Inclusion Project (SNIP) website is provides a one-stop shop for all your inclusion information needs! The site is evolving, with new resources and tips being added regularly. Of particular interest are two documents: The Landscape document provides an overview of key data on San Francisco’s children and youth with disabilities and the Needs Assessment shows the result of a series of focus groups conducted with families of children and youth with disabilities and service providers.
RESOURCES
Get Paid For Going to IEPs, School Site Council meetings, and Community Advisory Committee meetings!
The state maintains a Family Participation Fund which enables parents of children with disabilities to receive a stipend for attending meetings with decision-makers AND to be reimbursed for expenses like carfare, parking and childcare associated with attending these meetings. Go to www.cafec.org for more information and to download forms and instructions.
School District Seeks Volunteers to Help Special Education Students
The San Francisco Unified School District is recruiting volunteers to act as a student's "surrogate parent" for educational issues and will help students who receive special education services. Training will be provided on a variety of special education topics, including individualized education programs (IEP), parents' rights, and educational goals. Contact Carol Kocivar at kocivarc@sfusd.edu for more information or call 415-355-7710.
PRESS
The Community Advisory Committee for Special Education And Why It Matters; Beyond Chron School Beat article written by CAC for SpEd Vice Chair Amy Ottinger; June 8, 2006
Beyond Chron School Beat: Special 3 Part Series on Special Education Inclusion Programs
Three-part consecutive series about inclusion - the program to integrate kids receiving special education services into general education classrooms. Written by Rachel Powell Norton.
Reaching Special Education Ideals is Still Far Off-Part 1; May 31, 2006
Reaching Special Education Ideals is Still Far Off-Part 2; June 1, 2006
Reaching Special Education Ideals is Still Far Off-Part 3; June 2, 2006
School Beat: San Francisco's School choice system fraught with bias for Special Education students; Katy Franklin; Beyond Chron; Dec. 6, 2007