Family Oppurtunity

SPS seeks community volunteers for Special Education Advisory & Advocacy Council (SEAAC)
Seattle Public Schools is seeking unpaid volunteers from our ethnically, linguistically and culturally diverse communities to serve on the Special Education Advisory & Advocacy Council (SEAAC), for a term of one year.
The purpose of this committee is to advise Seattle Public Schools staff on special education issues. We thank Rick Minutoli for his last several years of leadership. During this time, SEAAC identified and advised the Superintendent and District leadership of the top three priorities in special education. This year, SEAAC has provided parent and community input on the roles and characteristics desired in the Executive Director of Special Education, and has been working to identify problems of practice in discipline and capacity management. Moving forward, future areas of focus will include advising District leadership on effective and efficient communication, advising on the development of student-friendly policies and family-friendly tools.
This advisory committee will:

Represent parent, staff, and community agency perspectives across the education system and community on behalf of students with a wide range of abilities on special education issues.
Provide Seattle Public Schools with perspectives on special education programs, including current operation and management, policies, proposed changes, future plans and goals.
Present its recommendations and opinions in a report annually, and more often as requested, to the Executive Director of Special Education.

The committee will meet once every month. An orientation session will be held for newly appointed members. District staff will schedule and facilitate the meetings.
The council will include up to 30 members appointed by the Superintendent or her designee. A minimum of two-thirds of the members will be parents of children with disabilities currently enrolled in a Special Education program in Seattle Public Schools. SPS students, families, community members, staff, non-District community based organizations and representatives of higher-learning institutions are encouraged to apply.
Interested individuals should submit background information and reasons for their interest via email to specialed@seattleschools.org no later than 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 18. Nominations will be reviewed between Jan. 30 and Feb. 6. The nomination form is linked here, and you can read the full charge of the committee here .