In February, representatives of parent councils from seventeen school districts met to talk about their individual parent advocacy groups and systems change in special education.
At the one-day meeting, the groups discussed advocacy strategies; training and council development; the challenge of being advisory versus having a genuine advocacy role in the district; how to best share resources and information between groups; how to best use the law; engaging parents from diverse backgrounds; special education law resources and a variety of other topics.
The parent groups were mostly representative of the I-5 corridor of Washington state, ranging from as far south as Vancouver, and as far north as Marysville. The group discussed ways to reach out to parent councils on the peninsula or in Eastern Washington. Disability Rights Washington facilitated the meeting, which was held at the Washington Education Association in Federal Way.
The State Special Education Coalition and the State Education Ombudsman provided support and resources for the day. Open Doors for Multicultural Families also attended.
The groups have begun to share training and resource information, and will meet again in June.