Meway & Millis November 2017

Page 8 Medway & Millis Local Town Pages www.localtownpages.com November 2017
Millis SEPAC Gives Kids a Chance to Get
Comfortable with Police, Fire
By J.D. O’Gara
On Saturday, October 14th,
2017, the Millis SEPAC (Special
Education Advisory Council)
held a “Meet and Greet” event
in the parking lot of the Millis
Police Department. The goal of
the event was to give children in
Millis’ special needs community
a chance to become familiar with
first responders in their town, including
Millis Police officers and
Millis Firefighters and EMT’s.
Photos provided by Audra Noonan
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Kelsey Guindon, who cochairs
SEPAC with Audra
Noonan, conceived the event.
“It stems from my daughter
Jamie, she’s a sophomore in a
special needs class, and there
were a couple instances where
she needed an ambulance,” says
Guindon, who says Jamie is very
familiar with local police and fire
officials thanks to her teacher at
the high school, who has taken
pains to familiarize the students
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with the men and women in uniform.
She set the event up with
Chief Chris Soffayer and Officer
Dale Bickford, of the Millis Police
Department.
‘It’s very important for kids,
not just for special needs kids, to
become familiar with police and
fire. If Jamie needs to be taken by
ambulance, she’s comfortable, a
little less stressful,” says Guindon.
The event included the ability
to climb right into some of the
vehicles which had lights flashing.
Despite some morning rain,
Noonan says, “We had a pretty
steady turnout. The Millis Police
and Fire are definitely willing to
work on different events with us.
They really like the idea of getting
the community engaged and
involved.” Noonan says Chief
Soffayer actually suggested that
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SEPAC actually have a table at
an upcoming Halloween toucha-truck
event planned for the end
of October.
The two co-chairs of the Millis
SEPAC point out that they
would like to hold more events to
get word out about their group.
“It’s really starting up,” says
Noonan, who says the group,
which is required by law, had
become adversarial with the
school department in the past.
“This time around, we’re really
working well with the Pupil Personnel
Services Department,”
says Noonan. “Last year, there
were some budget cuts around
the school behaviorists, and they
definitely impacted children with
disabilities in the system.” The
SEPAC, she says, was able to
work with the school department
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Kelsey Guindon and Audra
Noonan are co-chairs of the
Millis SEPAC (Special Education
Advisory Council). They planned
a meet and greet event to
familiarize children with safety
personnel.
to get some items back into the
budget.
“When you have a group of
parents, if you can make the
case, Millis has listened,” says
Noonan. “If they’re willing to
listen that’s to their benefit and
that’s to ours as well. We told the
parents in our first meeting, it’s
our SEPAC, and it’s only as good
as we make it.”
The group has launched a
website, and they’re currently
working with the Millis Public
Library to create an area in the
library for special education resources.
The website states that the
SEPAC is comprised of individuals
involved in, or concerned
with, the education of students
with disabilities. Membership is
open to parents of students with
disabilities, teachers, administrators,
individuals with disabilities,
and members of the community.
To determine if the Millis
SEPAC is a right fit for you, visit
www.millissepac.org.
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