Parents / Guardians

Communication with parents is an essential part of the Clearway School program. There are many opportunities for parents to work with our staff. Each student’s educational counselor has weekly contact with parents to discuss any insights and/or issues that develop over the week. In addition to the yearly IEP meetings, parents may request additional conferences when needed.

Scheduled parent evenings include a Back to School Night held at the beginning of the school year; Art’s Night in January and May; and in June, an evening graduation and awards ceremony. In addition, families are readily invited to other events throughout the school year such as athletic contests and art openings. We are fortunate to have an extremely active and engaged group of families who attend many events listed on the Calendar.

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All parents/guardians are invited to join the Parent Advisory Committee (PAC). This group gives the administration of Clearway School feedback, support, and ideas on policies and programming. The PAC is also used as a clearinghouse for sharing any information concerning the special education field. The PAC has a parent leader and a representative from the school’s administration. Parents/guardians are encouraged to join at the Back to School Night held in the beginning of the school year. The PAC has thus far been instrumental in facilitating social activities for students and supporting families new to our program.

 

During the 2022-22 school year, the PAC has met monthly over zoom. Evenings have included discussions related to supporting each other during the Pandemic, reopening policies, and safe, social activities in which Clearway families could participate. There have been two information sessions as well.

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Lindsay Schelhorn, Clearway’s speech and language pathologist and assistive technology specialist,  presented information regarding Assistive Technology that can support our students. Kerry Dougherty, Clearway’s transition counselor, welcomed back three parents of alumni to lead a discussion on the transition process. The PAC is looking forward to another January event that will involve Alumni and discussion of transition.

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All of our families are surveyed at the end of each year to assess their satisfaction with our program and to solicit feedback as to how to improve the quality of our programming. This feedback has led to the development of  after-school programming including sports, new elective ideas, and increased use of technology, and new family/returning family partnerships.