Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Committees Special Ed topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Bordentown board debates committee structure, plans ad hoc special-education committee and district-led parent engagement group
Summary
Board members discussed whether to keep policy-listed committees that are unused, plan to circulate committee assignments by email, and agreed to consider an ad hoc special-education committee while reestablishing a district-run parent engagement group (CPEG/CPAC) led by the director of student services.
Board members spent significant time discussing how to reorganize standing and ad hoc committees and how to restore parent engagement for special education.
The chair said the board will send an email listing standing and ad hoc committees and asked members to indicate preferences; the goal is to finalize committee appointments at the board’s next meeting. Several members raised that policy still lists committees that have not been filled and suggested either filling them, removing them from policy, or updating the policy to reflect current practice.
Board discussion focused heavily on the special-education support group variously referenced in the transcript as CPAC or CPEG. Several members said the group has at times been parent-led and active in the past, but that a district-led parent engagement group — run by the director of student services — would better ensure regulatory compliance and effective communication. The superintendent and counsel recommended standing up an ad hoc board committee to address policy-level special-education matters while reviving a district-administered parent engagement group to handle programmatic, family-facing details.
A board member raised the concern that a parent-run group can devolve without administrative support; participants agreed a link to the director of student services would be appropriate. The superintendent said he would follow up with staff to confirm the status of the district engagement group and to ensure it is reestablished promptly.
The board also noted that an AI policy was placed on its second reading after the meeting took a template from the NJSBA and intends to customize it later.
Representative remarks from the meeting: “If you do stand up the ad hoc special education committee … and then we move this to a district-run CPEG, then there’s no need for base,” a board leader said while explaining the recommended division between policy-making and parent engagement.
The board scheduled to revisit committees and policy items at the next meeting and to coordinate member attendance to avoid violating open-meeting limits.
