Advocacy
Equity Advisory Council and the Office of Equity and Inclusion
The Chapel Hill-Carrboro City School District has a long-standing awareness of the importance of creating an equitable learning environment for all students and staff and developing collaborative partnerships with families and stakeholders that represent our diverse community. The Office of Equity and Inclusion will work to eliminate inequities by disrupting systems that have historically marginalized students through student empowerment and district support.
Gifted Program Advisory Council
The next meeting of GPAC will be held on September 21, 2021.
GPAC Purpose
To advocate for students who need differentiated approaches for advanced instruction in order to meet their academic and intellectual needs.
To improve the overall quality of gifted programming for students in K-12.
To foster clear and constructive communications among parents, schools, and the school district.
GPAC Function
To provide direct support for implementation of the focus practices of the 2019-2022 Plan Cycle.
To provide feedback to the parent and educational communities regarding the status and implementation of gifted programming at respective schools.
To recommend strategies for improving services and opportunities to students in K-12.
To serve as a liaison for sharing of programmatic successes and constructive feedback among the district, school and parent groups in our community.
Special Needs Advisory Council
The Special Needs Advisory Council (SNAC) strives to represent the interests of Exceptional Children (EC) students, with the goal of helping to improve the educational experience of EC students and promote inclusion and awareness to benefit all students in the CHCCS district. A full discussion of SNAC, including its purpose, meeting calendar, and Bylaws, are found at http://snac.chccs.k12.nc.us/home
Dear SNAC Members,
This is an important email with lots of information and we need your participation! Please read through and give a few minutes of your time for the important work we are doing on behalf of CHCCS students with disabilities.
Superintendent's 2022-23 Proposed Budget - EC Teacher Recruitment and Retention
SNAC's Twice Exceptional Workgroup has put together a petition on behalf of SNAC for Dr. Hamlett and the Board of Education to consider increasing pay for EC teachers and assistants in an effort to be more competitive with area districts in hiring and retaining EC staff. We will present this petition and include public comments with it during the March 17th Board of Education meeting, in which there will be a public hearing and work session on the proposed budget. We hope that you will take the time to read the petition and sign it. Every signature on this petition is important; the board will pay attention to numbers and your personal stories, which you can share anonymously.
Dr. Hamlett, shared her proposed budget with the Board of Education and community. This budget supports increased personnel and time that will benefit students who are in need of additional support, including additional interventionists for elementary schools, a full time Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) Coordinator for middle schools, and increasing instructional coaches positions to 11months. There is also increased pay for all classified employees (non-teachers, such as teaching assistants), and increased supplement for all certified employees (teachers) based on the number of years they have worked in the district. These are all very important steps to improving support for students who are behind academically and emotionally, and efforts to hire and retain quality teachers and teaching assistants across the board. However, we strongly believe that EC students in our district have been disproportionately impacted by teaching vacancies and turnover and the proposed changes to the budget do not reflect the dire need or offer a solution to resolve the inequity.
March Meeting Materials
Sol Pederson, OCRCC Safe Touch Program Manager, along with Margaret DeRamus and Morgan Parlier, Clinical Instructors with CIDD gave a fantastic presentation on Sex Health Education for Students with Disabilities. If you were able to attend the meeting, please take a few minutes to fill out this survey for the presenters.The presentation slide deck is attached below. Unfortunately, we had technical difficulties with the recording of the meeting and it is not available.
I also want to thank district EC teachers Teresa Kanu (Ephesus) and Amy Brande (Northside) for speaking to SNAC at our February and March meetings. We appreciate their time and sharing information about the important work they are doing. Thank you also for being amazing teachers!
April SNAC Meeting Announcements
The April SNAC meeting will be about post secondary (high school) transition, especially for students not on the college path. It is never too early to start planning for this big life transition, so middle school and even elementary parents will benefit! The meeting will have two parts: 1) presentation from CHCCS staff on transition programming overview and tour of the district website for transition services; 2) panel discussion with former district and SNAC parents, as well as community partners providing job opportunities for adult individuals with I/DD (Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities). In order to make sure the panel discussion covers topics important to you, we ask that you take a few minutes to fill out this survey with specific questions you have about the transition process.
Here is a useful link on the district website to get you started:
Turning 18 checklist --Starts 5 years before leaving the school district https://www.chccs.org/Page/10861
Thank you for your time and support!