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Partly cloudy. Low 9F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph..
Partly cloudy. Low 9F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph.
Updated: January 15, 2022 @ 8:53 pm
Colette Cox, St. Joseph SEPTA (Special Education Parent-Teacher Association) planning committee chair, speaks Friday on organizing her new group for the benefit of local students in need of individualized education services based on a medical diagnosis or disability.

Colette Cox, St. Joseph SEPTA (Special Education Parent-Teacher Association) planning committee chair, speaks Friday on organizing her new group for the benefit of local students in need of individualized education services based on a medical diagnosis or disability.
A new group intended to represent the families and educators of special needs students in the St. Joseph School District is intent on raising public awareness, while combating discrimination and bullying from a centralized platform.
Colette Cox, planning committee chair for the St. Joseph SEPTA (Special Education Parent Teacher Association), is promoting a virtual event scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Monday with the backing of the statewide SEPTA, which has established three other such chapters since its 2019 founding in Columbia, Missouri.
“The objective would be to bring all the parents, teachers, staff, all under one PTA umbrella, to have a collective voice for students in our district,” Cox said. “The experiences are different for each student. Getting everyone in the same room and kind of talking through what’s working in some schools, what’s not working, and breaking down some of those communication barriers, that’s the big idea.”
Cox said most of the members who are signed up so far are educators keen to acquire new opportunities to obtain training and guidance on the education of special needs children. She estimated that several thousand kids in the area are likely to benefit from this process.
“We hope to use plain language and give a chance for everyone to be involved,” Cox said. “We hope to promote inclusion throughout the district. I know that some parents on the planning committee feel that some children involved here are perceived to use a lot of resources or maybe would be better served if placed away from their home schools. We want to be more inclusive than that and focus on why students with disabilities should be included.”
Educators understand this well, Cox noted, they just sometimes lack the professional development resources to most effectively serve children in need of special education.
“I feel like it’s time to have a parent-led group, although we have a lot of teachers signed up, and it’s a collaborative process,” she said. “I think that a lot of parents would benefit, and students would benefit, from a parent-led advocacy organization for students with special needs.”
Any parent, educator or other resident is eligible to participate in the St. Joseph SEPTA meeting via https://sjsdsepta.eventbrite.com/.
Marcus Clem can be reached at marcus.clem@newspressnow.com. Follow him on Twitter: @NPNowClem
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