Columbus Municipal School District trustees on Monday handed the task of forming a Special Education Parent Advisory Committee to Superintendent Philip Hickman.
SEPAC will consist of nine members — including parents, CMSD staff and representatives from the community — whose collective job will be to advise the board on the district’s special education services.
The board approved the application form during its regular meeting Monday, and Hickman will now open the application process.
There is no deadline to apply, Board President Angela Verdell said, but she hopes the district will begin filling SEPAC slots in the next few months.
“It’s important for the board to be able to hear firsthand from parents about concerns and opportunities that they may bring to the board in order to improve the services that are being offered to the SPED students,” Verdell said. “We want to make sure things that parents see on a daily basis are brought to the district, so that wherever it’s possible to implement those things that we try to do that.”
Parents of special education students have come before the board to address concerns before, most often with concerns that students were not getting the related services they needed, such as therapy, Verdell said. Parents have also been concerned about special education students in the district having certified teachers, and that those teachers have the proper, up-to-date equipment.
She added parents hadn’t specifically asked the board to set up an advisory committee, but board members agreed it was a positive step.
Board member Jason Spears asked Verdell to clarify that parents and members of the public with concerns regarding special education will still be able to come before the CMSD board itself, not just SEPAC.
“I just want to make sure if someone is not part of that particular committee, and they feel led to continue to help special needs students within our district, that … they wouldn’t have to go through this committee to talk to this board,” Spears said.
Verdell assured the board that any parents or other community members would still be able to come before the CMSD board directly, regardless of whether they were SEPAC members.
Purchase order issues
In other business, the board addressed a pair of unauthorized employee purchases with different measures.
Trustees tabled approving payment to a business that cleaned the Reserve Officer Training Corps uniforms. Regal Cleaners had cleaned the uniforms at the behest of a district employee who had not gotten a purchase order for the service, meaning the administration had not signed off on the expense.
The price of the cleaning was $743, Spears said during the meeting.
The decision came right after the board unanimously approved payment to another vendor that provided service to a district employee without a purchase order. Former Columbus High School basketball coach Luther Riley ordered two vinyl text banners from Giant Photos LLC for $875 last school year. Verdell read a resolution confirming Riley bought the banners without a purchase order and that Giant Photos LLC was not at fault for the error and should be paid.
CMSD policy is that district employees cannot make purchases without a purchase order.
Since there was no resolution for the cleaning service bill from Regal Cleaners, the board agreed to table approving the payment until one could be prepared.
Spears added, as the board had discussed two separate incidents with two separate employees in just one meeting, this may be an issue the district should address. CMSD should make sure employees understand and follow the policies regarding purchases, he said.
“Obviously that would be two separate incidents with two separate employees,” Spears said. “As we start this new school year, make certain … that those protocols are not just followed but enforced to ensure that we (don’t) have more and more occurrences.”
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