The South River Advocate

Vol.4 Issue 4

The Newsletter of SEPTA of South River February 2003
http://www.specialeducationpta.org email: info@specialeducationpta.org Information Line (732) 651-7157

Coming Events:

February 6: SEPTA Exec Board Meeting Elementary School 7-9 pm

February 7 & 8: Drama Club Play Peter Pan Middle School Cafetorium 7:30 pm.

February 12: Public Presentation on the NEW K-2 School. Middle School Cafetorium 7pm

February 17: President's Day School Closed.

February 19: PTA Founders Day ES & Middle School PTA, Cafetorium

February 23: Donkey Basketball High School Gym 6:00 pm

February 24: Board of Ed. Pre-Meeting Board Conference Rm. 7 pm

February 27: Board of Ed. Meeting High School Library 7 pm.

March 1-9: AT&T Family week at the Theater.

March 11: Special School Bond Referendum Middle School Cafetorium 7 pm.


Two Dollars Can Get You More Than You May Think

You may not think that two dollars can get you much now days… but in a small brick building in Aberdeen those *two dollars will open up a world to explore to a child and his/her parents or teacher. The Learning Resource Center in Aberdeen is a small library whose sole content is centered on special education and related issues serving people of special needs ages 3-21.

The library is conveniently arranged so that materials are easily located and accessible to parents/teachers by topics. You can browse through and find many interesting and more importantly "fun things" to help your child learn such topics as: academics, daily living skills, health and safety/family life, arts, world languages, motor development skills, vocational education, affective education (behavior, self-awareness, social development) and also try different computer software (sorry, computer software is reference only). The L.R.C. Central is easy to get to from the Garden State Parkway exit 117A or Routes 516 & 34 and only about 15 miles away.

The Learning Resource Central tel. number is (732) 441-0061 and their hours are: M, TH, and Fr: 9am to 5 pm Tues. 9am - 7pm and Wed. 9am-6 pm

Some of the services offered at the L.R.C. are:
Information Services: curriculum lab/ Journals, vertical files, & bibliographies.
Materials Circulation Services: professional books, in-service resources, videocassettes, instructional materials, and pre-school collection.
Consultation Services: regional workshops, Training Institutes, Statewide Conferences, Consultations, and Technical Assistance.
**Production Services: Lamination, Letter Machines, Transparency Making, Button Making, Photocopying and Poster Maker.

So next time you have sometime and a little change in your pocket visit the L.R.C. Central- You will be surprise just at what those two dollars will get you.

*Annual membership fee for the access to the Learning Resource Libraries Is Two dollars a year.

**Production Services range from 2 cents to 3 dollars.

You can email the L.R.C. Central At: lrccent@doe.state.nj.us

 Learning Resource Center


For Your Information:

Need More Info?

SEPTA has several free copies of manuals for parents and teachers. If you would like a copy for yourself please call SEPTA's Information line.

The Right to Special Education in New Jersey, A Guide forAdvocates. Created by the Education Law Center and sponsored by the NJ State Bar Foundation. This manual is designed to help advocates, including parents, obtain special education for children with disabilities.

Tool for Teachers. Compiled by the NJ Developmental Disabilities Council. This provides basic information and guidance in best practices strategies for including students with disabilities in general education. While this was developed for teachers, parents will also find this very helpful

Parents Coffee

A support group for parents and guardians of special education students is sponsoring a morning coffee on November 12 from 9:30 to 11:30 am. Future coffees are set to take place once a month during the school year. This informal group meets monthly For more information and meeting locations call Vivian Paulus (732) 297-4028

SEPTA to add to
Parent Resource Library

The Special Education PTA of South River will be donating several books and videos to the South River Public Library on various topics of interest to parents of children with special needs. If any parents would like to make a suggestion please contact SEPTA These books / videos will be available to parents in the next few months. For more information, please visit our web site: www.specialeducationpta.org

East Brunswick
Buddy Ball League

A baseball league for Special Needs children

Who: Any Child who is classified between the ages of 5 and 18.
Where: East Brunswick Managers Fields, Dunhams Corner Road.
When: Games are played Saturday afternoons at 1:30. First Game is April 5.
Why: The Buddy League pairs up special needs children with PALS who help them, so they can play little league baseball.
Questions: Contact League Director - Tom Cregge 732-651-6517 or e-mail BRATT049@aol.com
Registration
Dates:		 Saturdays : Feb 1st & 8th 9 - 12 noon
Thursday: Feb. 6th 6 - 9 pm

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AT&T Family Week at the Theatre

The New Jersey Theatre Alliance will be sponsoring it's 6th annual AT&T Theatre Week. There will be more than 115 events across the state including several in New Brunswick. Most are free and others are discounted.
The events run from March 7 through the 9
For more information call (800) 843-2787
or visit their web site www.familyweek.com

Help Wanted:

SEPTA will be holding elections for new officers in June Mothers, Fathers, Grandparents and Guardians who are concerned with their child's education are wanted and NEEDED by SEPTA to help-out on a variety of projects. We realize how crunched for time everyone is, especially parents of Special Needs children are so it does not matter how much or how little time you can help out, or when that time of day is. In as little as 1 hour a month you can help SEPTA, help you and other parents of Special Needs children.

Would you like to help with our Newsletter, or Website? Have you come across an interesting book, article or website that deals with education, special ed., disabilities, or parenting? that you would like to share with others. Write a short summary and we'll love to put it in newsletter and webpage. Are you interested in the re-authorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act that is coming up in Washington next year? We'd love to have you help and the National PTA has a lot of resources and information available on IDEA, all you need to do is ask.

Is there some other project, that you would like to help SEPTA with, or some project that benefits special needs children that you'd like to see SEPTA involved it.

If you are interested, please come to one of our meetings, call our Information line or e-mail us. We would love to hear from you


New K - 2 School Bond Referendum:

The South River Board of Education will be holding a special bond referendum on Tuesday March 11 from 1 - 9pm on a proposed new K - 2school. As many parents know the enrollment in the Elementary school has grown more that what was predicted when the school was first designed.

The new school is expected to cost $11,939,795 however this will be offset by $5,243,920 in state contributions. That's over 40% of the total cost of the school a tremendous savings to the local taxpayers!!

The New school will contain:

Look for more information in your mail from the Board of Education or attend the Public Presentation on February 12 at 7 pm in the Middle school Cafetorium.

SEPTA would like to thank The following organizations for their generous donations:

Laffin Chevrolet-Oldsmobile of South River

Magnifico's Ice Cream of East Brunswick

Thank you for your support.