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End of Year SEPAG Newsletter
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Dear Special Education Families,
This has been such a special school year for our community. The Learning Services Home & School Association was rebranded as the Ridgewood Special Education Parent Advisory Group, and with that we grew even stronger as an organization. We expanded on our legacy of supporting, enriching and educating students and families to include an emphasis on advising and working with our district's administrators to improve services and programs for our students. It has been beyond a pleasure getting to know so many of you, and I look forward to many more good things to come in the 2024-25 school year.
Looking to next year, we will continue with all our initiatives, including supporting inclusion of students with special and other needs (e.g., sensory) in district- and HSA-sponsored activities and collaboration with the district to improve on the referral, evaluation, eligibility and plan drafting processes in special ed. Please contact us at contact@RidgewoodSEPAG.org at any time to share your questions or ideas on other topics of interest that you think we should focus on!
Last, I want to send heartfelt congratulations on behalf of the Ridgewood SEPAG to all your students graduating from STEPSS, Ridgewood High School and other schools in our district and out-of-district programs! These kids work so hard, and we are all proud of them!
I hope you and your families all have a happy, safe and restful summer. See you in September!
Jaimie Davis
SEPAG President
Ridgewood SEPAG Scholarship Winners
At Ridgewood High's School's annual Senior Awards Ceremony on June 11th, the Ridgewood SEPAG's VP-Scholarship, James Coviello, presented awards funded by our organization to three graduating RHS seniors. This year's scholarship recipients are:
Robert McCabe
Thomas J. Agnello Award
Elyse Jacoby
William J. Cobb Award
Michael Granin
Kerry Huntington Scholarship
👏 CONGRATULATIONS! 👏
For more information about the Ridgewood SEPAG's scholarship program, go to the Scholarship Information page on our website.
Gifts for Graduates of STEPSS
This year, the Ridgewood SEPAG started what will become an annual tradition: gifts to each of the students graduating from the STEPSS program.
At the STEPSS graduation on June 17th, the Ridgewood SEPAG announced that it has arranged and paid for each graduate's first post-STEPSS year of membership to the Ridgewood YMCA. While at STEPSS, students spent time nearly every day at the Ridgewood YMCA, using the gym facilities and enjoying other activities there together. It has become a social hub for the students, and we are thrilled to facilitate their continued participation! In addition, we gave each graduate a $75 Visa gift card.
👏 Congratulations to the STEPSS graduates! 👏
Claire Curley
Paul Inoue
Justin McAleer
Harry Schreiber
Doha Sim
We hope you'll join us at our Information Meetings next year!
FREE Online Program About Special Education
The Arc of the United States is offering a FREE online program outlining the basics of individual education programs (IEPs), 504 plans and special education in general. Ridgewood SEPAG President, Jaimie Davis, completed this program earlier this year and found it thorough and extremely helpful.
Go to this link to register and secure your access: https://thearcus.surveymonkey.com/r/JS8SP8F
Contact us at contact@RidgewoodSEPAG.org