PPS Special Education Hotline

The PPS Special Education department has set up a hotline for parents to call with questions and concerns. It's important that the district hears about what's not working at schools as we enter a new year with a major restructuring of focus classrooms and a significant budget/staff cut. 

From the flier: "Call (503) 916-3931. Your phone call will be answered with a 24-hour period during the school week by a special education administrator. Do you have questions about your child's I.E.P.? Have you hit a barrier you can't seem to get around? Do you have an unanswered question? Are your concerns being heard? Do you need support navigating the "system"?"

8/31: SEPTAP Special Meeting with Carla Randall and Joanne Mabbott

On the heels of a truly inspiring rally and night of testimony at the last PPS School Board Meeting, SEPTAP is hosting Carla Randall, Chief Academic Officer and Joanne Mabbott, Director of Integrated Student Services (formerly Special Education). 

We encourage all family members, care providers, educators and other concerned citizens to join us for a presentation and Q & A session this Tuesday. See flier below for details.

 

Rally to Support Equity in Education at PPS

A broad coalition of parents, educators, advocates, and non-profits have coalesced around the budget cut of 3.3 million to Special Education (SPED) recently announced by Portland Public Schools. This evening they will turn out in full force to support equity in education for ALL students in PPS, give testimony against the cuts to the school board, and request that the Superintendent and PPS Board reconsider their decision to cut SPED resources.


Monday, August 23rd
BESC 501 N. Dixon
6PM: Rally for Equity in Education with musical guests, Trashcan Joe! Plus balloons! T-Shirts! Light refreshments!
6:30PM: The rally continues, but now is your opportunity to sign up to give testimony. You can also call or email ahead of time: SchoolBoard@pps.k12.or.us
7PM: School board meeting begins, PPS students will be called upon first for public testimony. 

Read here for more information on meeting protocols.
Join the PPS Special Education Rally Facebook group for updates and additional information.

Special Education Classroom Tours

PPS is hosting a number of welcome tours at schools that will be home to special education classrooms this fall. If your child will be in one of these buildings in the fall, this is an opportunity to see the building and talk with the building leaders and the Special Education Program Administrator. The tours will also provide parents an opportunity to meet and talk with other parents who will have Special Education students in the building. If your child's placement has not yet been finalized, but the building might be an option for your child, you are also welcome to attend. The tours should last 45 minutes to one hour, depending on the school.

The welcome tour times are as follow:

Bridger: 5/20 @ 6:30 pm

Buckman: 5/25 @ 5:30 pm

George: 5/27 @ 5:30 pm
Jason Lee: 5/25 @ 5:30 pm
Irvington: 5/27 @ 6:30 pm
Sellwood: 6/10 @ 5 pm
Lewis: 6/1 @ 5:30 pm
Hosford: 5/27 @5 pm
Scott: 6/7 @ 5 pm
Roseway Heights: 5/26 @ 7 pm

PPS also has a hotline open for Special Education questions. Please call 503.916.3931.

SEPTAP Officer Elections For 2010-2011

Our next general meeting will be held on Tuesday, May 18, from 6:30-8:30 at Beverly Cleary Fernwood. We will welcome special guest Joanne Mabbott, Director of Special Education/Integrated Services for PPS and we will also be electing officers for the 2010-2011 school year. All members are encouraged to attend and vote. Officer candidates are:

• President- Jen Wentzien
• Vice President- Michael Kelly
• Secretary- Irene Johnson
• Treasurer- Lisa Cook
• Membership Chair- Chloe Eudaly

We hope to see everyone there.

May 2010 General Meeting With Joanne Mabbott

Changes For The 2010/2011 School Year

As some of you may have already heard, PPS is implementing changes to the delivery of special education services for the 2010 / 2011 school year. For questions regarding the proposed changes, PPS has opened a hotline from 10:00am – 7:00pm through Thursday, April 29.  The number is 503.916.3931. As best we know at this time, the changes are as follow:

• Additional special classrooms have been added throughout the district.  The newly defined special classrooms are described on the PPS website, www.sped.pps.k12.or.us, along with entrance and exit criteria, supports, etc.
• Schools that have two or more special classrooms will have one dedicated staff member to help with these classes within the school.
• Special classrooms have been located in such a manner to provide a ‘continuum’ of services within a cluster or geographic area.  The goal is to keep these classrooms in the chosen schools long-term (not move them from school to school based on room availability) to help students and families build community and the schools build more stability and expertise with students.
• Locations for classrooms have yet to be finalized, but should be available soon.
• Several reductions to special education staffing have been proposed including reduction in work hours for paraprofessionals, adaptive PE teachers and Assistive Technology. 
• Joanne Mabbott has started a blog that can be viewed at http://issatpps.blogspot.com/
• Schools that house special classrooms will be holding a welcome visit prior to the start of the 2010 / 2011 school year.
• At this time, Joanne Mabbott, Special Education Program Director has been scheduled at our May 18 SEPTAP meeting at 6:30 in the Beverly Cleary cafeteria  to discuss the changes and answer questions.  We hope to see you there!

Please note, that all items listed above are subject change, based on the decisions of PPS.