AJE news, events and resources to help you feel informed and ready to exercise your power.
As we await Spring, we are providing families with information and updates you can use. This edition includes -
- Trainings to help children and youth access telehealth services.
- A new resource from AJE to help with social media and advocacy.
- Focus group opportunities for families to share their opinions on special education and health services.
- Information on free meals for DC youth, upcoming testimony opportunities, Know Your Rights material for LGBTQ students, and more!
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Announcement: AJE has a new text list! |
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Text AJE to 202-953-4355 to join
Join AJE's text list for updates and announcements about events, resources, and trainings specific to you. In order to receive these updates, you have to opt-in by texting AJE to 202-953-4355 (this is a different process than joining our email list). Messaging rate apply.
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Monthly Special Education Thursday Trainings
Join AJE for the last of our monthly parent training series on the last Thursday of January, February, and March at 5:00pm EST via Zoom! These virtual webcasts present information you need to know as a parent of a student with a disability.
At our January training, we discussed the Special Education Process and February's training was all about the IEP!
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Click HERE to access the recording of February's All About the IEP training in English.
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Click HERE to access the recording of February's All About the IEP training in Spanish.
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Parent Cafés
Calling all parents of children ages birth to 5 years old!
Join AJE for one of three remaining cohort sessions of our Parent Café in Spring 2021 to connect with other parents of young children.
Please choose one of the upcoming dates to attend:
After attending one of the cohort dates above, two subsequent meetings will be held for each cohort.
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Telehealth Services
AJE is partnering with Family Voices Inc. to provide parents/caregivers of children, and older youth with special health care needs and/or a disability with a device, internet services, or both to access telehealth services.
Review the application HERE and apply today! |
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TelehealthTrainings
AJE Nuts and Bolts of Telemedicine: Essentials for a Family-Centered Experience (Series)
AJE is partnering with Family Voices to host a four part series of webinars regarding accessing telehealth services! They are held every Thursday in March at 5:00pm EST via Zoom. REGISTER HERE!
The curriculum includes four webinars:
- Are you Connected?
- Do you Have a Device?
- Can You “See” Your Provider?
- Your Family’s First Telemedicine Appointment.
We are looking forward to seeing you!
These events will be recorded and posted online as well!
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Advocacy Bootcamp
During this advocacy season in a time where the District of Columbia is facing numerous budget cuts to the programs and services that help our children most due to recent crises such as COVID-19, it is important that you tell YOUR story.
Get ready to tell your story in 5 short steps:
- Watch our video on how to take your advocacy to the next level.
- Draft your written testimony. To sign up for a one-on-one time to talk through your written or verbal testimony click here. If you are new in your advocacy journey and would like to work on telling your personal story click here.
- Testify alongside AJE staff and parents at upcoming hearing: March 9th - Education Agencies Performance Hearings (OSSE, DCPS, SBOE, DCPCSB, Office of Deputy Mayor of Education)
- Check-out our social media toolkit (more information below) on our website for use in your advocacy.
- Share this flyer with your family and friends.
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Social Media Toolkit
AJE has designed a toolkit to help you turn your everyday social media platforms into a tool for advocacy!
We have provided the social media handles for the DC Council members, examples and quotes taken from previous testimony given by AJE's staff, as well as sample graphics to use on your platforms. Use the sample tweets and graphics as a guideline on what to share on your own Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook accounts. This simple and easy guide is a great way to have your voice heard and share your opinion about the things that matter most to you!
Access the social media toolkit HERE! |
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Navigating the 2021-2022 School Year
Here are some of our favorite resources for families that we hope will help you navigate selecting a school for the 2021-2022 school year.
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How to file a complaint with the Office of Civil Rights under the US Department of Education.
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Community Events and Resources |
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Committee of the Whole Oversight Hearing on March 9, 2021
The Committee of the Whole will hold a Performance Oversight Hearing beginning at 9:00am EST on March 9th.
The following agencies will testify (Public Witnesses Only):
- District of Columbia Public Schools
- Office of the State Superintendent of Education
- Office of the Deputy Mayor for Education
- D.C. Public Charter School Board
- State Board of Education
- Office of the Student Advocate
- Ombudsman for Education
Watch:
– On TV, usually Channel 13
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"Meet with Mendo"
On Monday, March 8th at 5:00pm, the DC Council Chairman, Phil Mendelson is hosting a Facebook Live event to answer questions, comments, and concerns about anything happening in the district. You do not need a Facebook account to watch the event and it can be viewed at https://www.facebook.com/ChairmanPhilMendelson/.
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Navigating Support Services for School-Age Children in DC Virtual Series
AJE is delighted to share the Edlavitch DCJCC Parenting Center’s FREE virtual series, Navigating Support Services for School-Aged Children in DC, on April 13th, 20th and 27th from 8:00pm to 9:00pm EST hosted by AJE’s Maria Blaeuer, Director of Programs and Outreach, and Lauren Siegel, Psy.D, Director of Clinical Services at the Kingsbury Wellness & Learning Group!
April 13th from 8:00pm to 9:00pm EST: When to Worry and What to Do With That Worry.
- How do you know what is outside the range of normal when it comes to your child’s behavior, social skills, and learning abilities? What information can help you make good decisions about your child’s development? What resources are available to help you answer your questions?
April 20th from 8:00pm to 9:00pm EST: Going Through the Evaluation Process
- Once you decide you need more information, what are your next steps? What are the obligations of local government agencies and what does that process look it? What evaluations are out there and how do you decide what your child needs? What does a quality evaluation look like at various ages?
April 27th from 8:00pm to 9:00pm EST: Where to Go From There?
- Once you have an evaluation and perhaps a diagnosis, what do you do with it? What, if any, legal obligations of schools (public and private) are triggered by an evaluation? How do evaluation recommendations translate into the everyday school setting? What options do you have for accessing services, including through the DC public school system?
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FREE Grab and Go Meals for all Washington DC youth under 18 years old
Per updated USDA guidelines, all DC youth ages 18 and younger may receive free grab-and go meals at DCPS and DPR meal site locations through June 30, 2021. Please note that during this period, DC youth are not required to be enrolled DC Public Schools students to receive meals. Effective February 16, 2021, youth and or parents/guardians on their behalf may receive up to 3 breakfast and 3 lunch meals daily.
Please see the flyer for meals sites and grocery distribution sites for DC youth age 18 and younger! |
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OSSE Focus Group
The Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE), DC’s state education department, is seeking family feedback on how continuous learning is progressing for your students. OSSE will use this feedback to update the Guiding Principles for Continuous Education for school year 2021-2022.
The Guiding Principles support school leaders, teachers, and families in several ways:
- Provides clear and consistent expectations for the continuous education that will take place during the 2021-2022 school year.
- Helps schools develop effective and equitable continuous education plans that meet the needs of all students and are developed in partnership with families.
- Helps families understand what you should expect for your students and the two-way communication that schools should establish with you.
To ensure this updated guidance addresses the needs of all students and families, OSSE invites you to share your feedback during an upcoming focus group session:
- Tuesday, March 9, 6:00-6:45 pm (in English)
- Wednesday, March 10, 5:00-5:45 pm (Spanish language only)
If you are interested, please register HERE. |
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Improving Children's Behavioral Health Services in Washington D.C. Focus Group
Children’s National Hospital along with several other organizations (including Children’s Law Center, the DC Behavioral Health Association, Health Alliance Network, MedStar Georgetown University Hospital Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Parent Watch, and Total Family Care Coalition), are collaborating on a report that identifies recommendations for improving the behavioral health system for children in DC.
For this project, they are seeking input from parents/caregivers and youth through focus groups, which will be held over the next two months. Focus group participants will be in a 75-minute focus group session with other youth, be asked questions about their use of mental health services, and receive a $60 gift card for their time. Participants can share as much or as little as they want.
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Project Sunshine's Teleplay Program
Project Sunshine’s TelePlay program is a live play experience, using a HIPAA compliant technology platform. TelePlay provides developmentally appropriate, engaging activities and games led by volunteers, including skilled volunteers like artists and musicians, and is open to any child facing medical challenges in or out of the hospital.
The Teleplay program offers games for children ages 5 and up! The list of Zoom activities and games can be found HERE!
All participants must sign a consent form before every session that assures and reinforces their commitment to privacy. Once participants have registered for a session an email will be sent from teleplay@projectsunshine.org with the consent form. |
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OSSE's School Discipline Report
The Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) has released their School Discipline Report for the 2019 - 2020 school year. OSSE aims to assist students, administrators, teachers, and parents in ensuring a positive and safe school environment in order to promote learning and limit missed instructional days due to exclusionary discipline practices.
Through this report, OSSE fulfills local reporting requirements and provides the public with transparent data on school discipline. The data included in this report satisfies local reporting requirements, specifically the Pre-K Student Discipline Amendment Act of 2015 and the Student Fair Access to School Act Amendment of 2018. Please note that due the COVID-19 public health emergency, which led to remote instruction across the District, this report includes data through March 13, 2020. This report explores the comparative rates of exclusion for different student groups, so it is not impacted by the smaller number of overall incidents due to a shorter data collection period.
AJE will be sharing our insights and perspectives on this report and our suggestions for the way forward on school discipline later this month, but we wanted to get OSSE’s latest report on school discipline to our families as soon as possible. Our thoughts will be posted on our blog, which regularly features resources and event for the DC community. |
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Know your rights at school - resources for LBGTQ educators and students
We are happy to share these updated resources on LGBTQ+ Student and Educator Rights that were created in partnership with PFLAG National, ACLU, and National Women’s Law Center.
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Legal Resources for DC residents
There is a new COVID-19 resources page at www.LawHelp.org/DC that has information about legal resources and social services available in the District of Columbia during the COVID-19 public health emergency.
This “one-stop-shop” of useful information can help answer questions about:
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March is Developmental Disabilities Month |
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Each March, the National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities (NACDD), and their partners work together to create a social media campaign that highlights the many ways in which people with and without disabilities come together to form strong, diverse communities. The campaign seeks to raise awareness about the inclusion of people with developmental disabilities in all facets of community life, as well as awareness of the barriers that people with disabilities still sometimes face in connecting to the communities in which they live. For more information, click HERE!
A special element of the campaign that they began last year is to highlight the artwork created by people with disabilities. With the artist’s permission, they will highlight their art in the DD Awareness Month campaign imagery. Please note that any artwork submitted to NACDD may be subject to modification by NACDD. All artists will be given credit. If would like your artwork to be featured, please send them to Rafael Rolon-Muniz at rrolon-muniz@nacdd.org.
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Social Story: Getting the COVID-19 Vaccine |
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From the University of Cincinnati Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities
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About AJE:
Advocates for Justice and Education is the federally designated Parent Training and Information Center and the Health Information Center for DC. AJE seeks to empower families, youth, and the community to be effective advocates to ensure that children and youth, particularly those who have special needs, receive access to appropriate education and health services.
Our passion is empowering families by equipping parents and students with disabilities with the tools they need to be their own advocates.
Have questions? We are here to educate, advocate and empower. Contact us today!
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Advocates for Justice and Education, Inc.| (P) 202.678.8060 | (F) 202.678.8062 |
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