Special Education Parent Advisory Council (SEPAC) is a parent-run organization that serves as a resource and advisor to parents and guardians of children with special needs and learning differences. If you are interested in holding a SEPAC position, please email SEPAC@nhcsb.org.

Please complete this brief survey to indicate your best availability to attend future meetings and to indicate topics that you are interested in learning more about. We hope you and your scholar have had a safe and healthy summer and are refreshed and ready to begin a new school year! As we enter the 2024-2025 school year, we are excited to see your child continue to learn and grow. At your child’s yearly IEP Team meeting, we will discuss their progress and set new goals for them together.

When it is approaching the time for your child’s annual review meeting or reevaluation meeting to take place, you will be contacted by our Administrative Assistant, Yesenia Palacios. We also wanted to take this opportunity to introduce you to our new Director of Special Education, Lauren Robinson. Lauren is licensed in Special Education-Moderate Disabilities and Elementary Education.

Enclosed with this letter is the Parent’s Notice of Procedural Safeguards document, which the district is entitled to ensure you receive each school year. You can also pick it up from us at the school at any time or find it on the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s website at https://www.doe.mass.edu/sped/prb.
The PNPS has been updated to include information to meet the annual notice requirement regarding the school district’s use of MassHealth.
Memo to School Districts — Updated December 18, 2013.
Parent’s Notice of Procedural Safeguards — English Version — Updated November 2023

The Parent’s Notice of Procedural Safeguards was updated in November 2019. The changes incorporated into the English version are available in the languages listed below:
Cape Verdean | Haitian Creole | French | Portuguese| Spanish |

Definition – Students in Foster Care

Students who are in:

  • 24-hour out-of-home care, placed away from their parents or guardians, and for whom the Department of Children and Families (DCF) has placement and care responsibilities.
  • Foster homes, including, but not limited to:
  • Treatment Residences (formally Group Homes)
  • Foster homes
  • Kinship foster homes
  • Emergency Residences
  • Transitional care units (TCUs)

Overview for Families and Community Stakeholders

New Heights Charter School of Brockton is committed to the educational stability of students in foster care. Under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESEA) Title I educational stability provisions, our school works in close collaboration with the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families (DCF) and other local agencies to ensure that students in foster care can remain in their “school of origin” — the school they were attending when they entered foster care or experienced a placement change — whenever it is in their best interest to do so.

When staying at the school of origin is determined to be in a student’s best interest, we work with agencies, school districts, and transportation vendors to arrange and fund the transportation needed to make that possible.

Our Commitment

New Heights Charter School of Brockton partners with DCF to uphold these federal protections, ensuring that a change in living situation does not have to mean a change in school for our students in foster care. 

Resources

https://fcsn.org/calendar/

https://fcsn.org/resources-for-families/

https://ppal.net/family-support-services/

https://www.doe.mass.edu/specialeducation/iep/688/referral-brochure.pdf

Important Announcements

Please download the PDF version of the DESE letter here.