5/2/2012 SEPAC Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Because PACs must comply with the Open Meeting Law, they are required to post a ® • • ®• - • • - • • notice about an upcoming meeting and •• • - -• allow interested members of the public to ® • • • - - -• . ® " attend, as well as maintain minutes of • - • - . •® - • their meetings to comply with the Public • . • • •® ® Records Law. Additionally, the PAC may • - ` " • establish guidelines for attendance of • - • - • non-PAC members, e.g., designating spe- cific time for their participation or .- • -.. -e involvement in the meeting. • ®- . - o - Other legal requirements or ramifications • . - • • .< of laws, regulations, or rules that pertain • .• to PACs include; f'# The State Ethics Commission has deter- In cooperation with the PAC, a district is mined that PAC members--as voluntary required to hold at least one workshop advisors to the school district—are not annually within the district on the rights deemed employees of municipalities, as of parents/guardians and students in spe- defined in the state's conflict of interest cial education. Every district has received law. training information that must be included. However, some districts engage A school district is required to demon- speakers or have created their own strate that it has established a PAC upon training incorporating the required infor- request of ESE. In addition, a referral to mation on the rights of parents/guardians ESE's Problem Resolution SysteM2 may in the special education process. Districts be in order if a district has not estab- may include other topics for training, but lished a PAC. Further, when ESE's must provide at least this training each Program Quality Assurance (POA)3 unit year. conducts a Coordinated Program Review (CPR)4 to monitor and review a school B. Additional Requirements district's compliance with special educa- tion regulations, it checks to confirm that There are other Massachusetts laws and a PAC is, in fact, operating. If no PAC is regulations, which, though they do not established, ESE will require the district refer directly to PACs, directly impact to establish a PAC and may require addi- PACs- just as they impact many govern- tional corrective action, if necessary. mental entities. Since the PAC is a responsibility of the The requirements of the state's Open district, the district has authority to Meeting Law', for example, apply to PAC designate the PAC it supports and is not meetings since the PAC is considered an required to support other parent groups. advisory council to the school committee, A district may not disband the established a governmental body. The Massachusetts PAC. Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (ESE) and the Massachusetts As for approved public or private day and Attorney General's Office have both con- residential special education programs, cluded that PACs are subject to the Open which include separately sited programs Meeting Law. run by educational collaboratives, 603 CMR 18.05(4) addresses parent involve- 4