Only Together We Can

build a world where all kids are included, cherished, & valued

WHO WE ARE

Welcome to the Newtown Sped PTA!

The Newtown Sped PTA is a non profit 501-3c organization focused on the special education needs of all children in the Newtown, CT school district. We invite anyone with an interest in improving the educational, social and recreational opportunities of children with special needs to join our membership. Together we can make a difference in every child’s life.

Amanda Perna

President

Deborah Lubin

Vice President

Mary Murphy

Vice President

Jennifer Endres

Secretary

Laura Kohley

Treasurer

“Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see” – Mark Twain

Newtown Sped PTA at a Glance

Mission Statement

The Newtown Sped PTA is a non-profit special education Parent Teacher Association® which aims to provide district-wide activities, advocacy, and resources to benefit special needs children (pre-K thru 12th grade) living in Newtown. Our goals are to help parents navigate their children’s special education needs as well as provide connection to other parents, and opportunities to have positive collaboration with teachers, administrators, and the community. The Newtown Sped PTA is dedicated to the pillars of inclusion, meaningful communication, and the sharing of education and resources to help parents and teachers support the needs of special needs children.

01.

— Inclusion

We aim to embody a spirit of acceptance and inclusion for all new and existing members to ensure all who want to play an active role in the PTA are given the opportunity to do so. Members are encouraged to propose the development of new programs, activities, or events of interest to sped parents and teachers in the district. The board will support these activities by forming new subcommittees and board roles to carry out said activities. We will also seek to remove barriers to members being able to attend PTA events by offering babysitters during meetings and streaming educational speaker events via Facebook live so that interested members can join online. We will launch the year with surveys to solicit feedback about what activities and events the membership would like to see the sped PTA to pursue during the year to ensure everyone’s voice is included in the sped PTA’s mission and goals. We aim to include all parents in Newtown whether they have a child in the school system or not (including children who are homeschooled, outplaced, or not yet old enough to be enrolled in school; 0-5 year olds).

02.

— Visibility

We aim to make ourselves known and highly visible to all schools within the district through ongoing advertisement and establishment of collegial relationships with parents, teachers, and administrators within the district. We will ask board members to regularly attend PTA and Presidents meetings as well as meet with sped staff at all schools to maintain open communication throughout the district. We will hold public membership drives to widely publicize the existence of this group and aim for all parents and teachers to know our stated goals and desire to have a diverse group of interested parties to join us.

03.

— Communication

We will maintain an Open Facebook group for septa to establish an ‘open door’ online presence in social media. We will regularly post resources relevant to sped parents and teachers and maintain an active facebook page that encourages frequent and meaningful communication between members and other interested persons seeking to reach out to us.

We will have a stated goal of having at least one building liaison for each school in the district to encourage the robust exchange of information throughout all the schools. We will send advertisement / reminders to sped staff and administrators in each building of the district to maintain visibility and promotion of sped PTA events that may be of interest.

04.

— Education

We will seek to survey the membership and community at large regarding sped topics of interest to parents and teachers in the district. We will invite speakers in to speak about topics of interest to help provide education for sped PTS members. We will also aim to provide educational fairs on topics of interest to the sped community.

05.

— Shared Experiences & Support

We aim for the sped PTA to be a place where people can come and expect to find support from other parents experiencing the challenges that come from having a special needs child as well as to celebrate the gifts that come from that neurodiversity. We will provide opportunities for members to have open discussion and regularly seek support from one another both in and outside of PTA meetings. We aim to become the sought-after centralized location for parents and teachers to find the knowledge and support they need in sped related topics and a place for all to share their experiences with one another.

PARTNERS

www.spednet.org

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