The South River Advocate

Vol.4 Issue 7

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

Our Thoughts and Prayers

are with our troops in the Gulf. May they all come home safe and sound.
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Coming Events:

May 8: Special Education Parents Coffee

May 11- 17: Special Education Week

May 13: High School Concert, High School Auditorium 7 pm

May 14: SEPTA General Membership & Board Meeting SR Elementary School Library 7-9 pm

May 15: Middle School Concert, Middle School Cafetorium 7 pm

May 16: High School Prom

May 20: Elementary School Concert Grades 1 & 2 Middle School Cafetorium 7 pm

May 21; Elementary School Concert Grades 3 & 4 Middle School Cafetorium 7 pm

May 26: Memorial Day - School Closed

June 3: South River Senior Awards Night, High School Auditorium, 9 pm

June 4: SEPTA Board Meeting SR Elementary School Library 7-9 pm


SEPTA to add to
Parent Resource Library

We are putting the finishing touches on the list of books and videos that SEPTA will be donating to the South River Public Library. Currently on SEPTA's donation list are books on Special Ed Law, IEP's and ADD/ADHD. 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

For Your Information:

Parents Coffee

A support group for parents and guardians of special education students is sponsoring monthly morning coffees 9:30 - 11:30 during the school year. This informal group meets monthly. For more information and meeting locations call Vivian Paulus (732) 297-4028.

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


SEPTA ELECTIONS:

At SEPTA's May 14 meeting we will be holding elections for officers for 2003-2005.
The Nominating Committee has submitted the following slate of officers.
President Bill England
Vice President Patty Borgstede
Treasurer Bill Sellar
Secretary George Borgstede
By-Laws Chair Open
Faculty RepOpen
Any current member can vote or run for an office.

And the 2003 SEPTA Scholarship Winner is…

SEPTA would like to congratulate

Ricardo Lourenco!

 As this years scholarship recipient. This year it was especially difficult to select a winner. We would like to wish Ricardo Lourenco and all of everyone else who applied the very best. May all of you attain the goals you have?
Good luck to all our graduating seniors!


Help Wanted:

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.

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


EDUCATION NEWS

Do you want to know what is happening in Education around the country? SEPTA's web site has a new page with links to the Education pages of many National new sites, like:

CNN
MSNBC
US News & World Report
Star Ledger
Philadelphia Inquirer
New York Times
The Los Angeles Times
Washington Post

You can access our page from our menu or just go to - www.specialeducationpta.org/ednews

Ever "Been There...Done That?"

Now how about putting it to some good use!

The Special Education PTA is asking for parent volunteers to help other parents in special education. We would like to set up a program were parents can contact other parents who have "Been there...and done that" with questions concerning special education and related issues.

We would like to set up a contact for each grade level (ex. Parents of children who have recently completed Pre-school, Elementary, Middle, and High School) in which parents with children entering that level of education could contact the "tier parent(s)" by either telephone or email during hours set by the" tier parent".
Remember when you and your child started out in each stage of the special education process; the uncertainty requarding procedures, tests, where to get information, and just plain where do you start in all this ... Help put your experiences to good use and help someone else benefit from what you've learned.
Tier parent support would be kept confidential and would be up to the tier parent how much time they could volunteer. If you are interested please contact

SEPTA by email at infor@specialeducationpta.org or
Call SEPTA at (732) 651-7157.

Help us make the phrase "Been there...done that" mean more that learning by trial and error... Let it be a way of offering knowledge and guidance to someone who could use it the most.


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.