Massachusetts mandates partnerships between school districts and caregivers in support of students with disabilities. This happens through Special Education Parents Advisory Councils, or SEPACs, required in each public school district in the state. It is the responsibility of school committees as the governing bodies of public school districts to ensure their communities have an active SEPAC.

Recently, local school advocates have expressed interest in how Northampton’s SEPAC supports students with disabilities in Northampton Public Schools. Their curiosity creates an opportunity to share with the whole community a range of advocacy strategies we can deploy on behalf of disabled students. All of these are drawn from my experience as a former SEPAC co-chair in Northampton.

1. Volunteer with SEPAC! This includes as an active member and running for office when the next election happens. SEPAC operations are dependent on volunteers. My fellow officers and I struggled to find volunteers to join or replace us, whether we tried an open call for candidates or by directly asking caregivers who were champions for their own children. You don’t even have to be a caregiver; the SEPAC is open to anyone who cares about educational equity for disabled students. If you are a caregiver, volunteering naturally transforms the energy you would spend on your own child into support for all students. It’s an efficient way to spend your time.

2. Be a budget advocate! Work with the SEPAC to develop and request funding from NPS during budget season, as school districts can fund their SEPACs as a line item. Northampton has taken a more informal approach in recent years, with the Office of Student Services providing basic resources to pay for annual trainings or to host events. People with budgetary experience would be a tremendous resource for the SEPAC.

3. Start a “Friends of” group! 501(c)(3) “friends of” entities are another way to fund SEPACs in Massachusetts. This nonprofit model could be tapped to underwrite programs or resources that students with disabilities often miss out on, such as inclusive extracurricular activities. It could even be a countywide group for all local SEPACs with some area organizing and co-planning, operated as a fund at the Western MA Community Foundation. This solution needs donors and organizers. Which one are you?

4. Advocate for district staff support for the SEPAC! In Northampton, the English Learner Parent Advisory Council, or ELPAC, benefits tremendously from a part-time staff coordinator paid for by the district. Former officers, including me, asked the last student services director repeatedly for a similar staff person for the SEPAC, given how hard it is for volunteers to consistently commit the same time and effort as a paid coordinator. This is a concrete request to the district that could make an enormous difference for the SEPAC’s ability to support member families.

5. Finally, speak up for students with disabilities! SEPACs have flexibility to decide how they want to partner with their school districts. Although some may take a more activist stance, most understand the state law as one of cooperation and collaboration. This may curtail how much political advocacy they are willing to take on as an official body, especially because the individual caregivers volunteering their time are also navigating relationships with teachers and other personnel responsible for their children’s education.

Engagement with the SEPAC is a great way to understand what families need from our schools, and volunteers are free to advance those needs through public comment, in op-eds, at PTO meetings, and similar opportunities.

As some readers know from personal experience, caregivers of students with disabilities often have the least time or energy to volunteer, a paradox the state mandate does not address. The Northampton SEPAC, like many others throughout the state, has gone through periods of dormancy when no caregivers have been willing or able to run it. When I first became involved in our SEPAC in 2017, it had just been reactivated by one local mom who is a force of nature for her own kids and generously dedicated that energy to the community’s children as well. A year later I became her co-chair, where I remained for four years.

Caregivers cannot do this work on our own — advocating for students with disabilities is a welcome and necessary community effort! Join us.

Leigh Graham lives in Northampton.