Letter: Bram, Nadeau pledge to move SEPAC in a collaborative direction

Since the SEPAC Zoom meeting on September 11, we’ve given a lot of thought to what we’d like people to know about us as they consider their vote for co-chair of Grafton’s SEPAC. 

During the call, someone asked a really important question, along the lines of, “why are people who haven’t been involved suddenly running?” We were hesitant to address this directly as we did not want to disparage folks who had been showing up and participating when we, admittedly, had not been.  But in the end, we think this is the most important question about why we are running.

Over the years, we have both attended a few SEPAC meetings — and both of us walked away feeling like the leadership’s experience with, and attitude toward, the Grafton Public Schools did not mirror our own. They seemed angry, convinced that the district was working to deny their children services.  Because our experiences were so different, we did not feel like the SEPAC group was for us. Both of us tried to stay connected online, but the tone and tenor in Facebook groups mirrored what we experienced in real-life meetings. 

Both of us are knowledgeable and informed advocates for our children. Heather is well-connected in the autism community and has connections with parents and educators across the country. As a result, she can accurately and fairly assess how our district performs in terms of inclusion, accommodations, and service delivery.  Liora is active in the Massachusetts Down Syndrome Congress, serving on its Communications Committee, and knows first-hand that Grafton schools compare very favorably to some of the top districts in the state in terms of services offered and a commitment to inclusion.

This is not to say that we’ve never run into issues — but both of us feel that problems can be overcome with a collaborative, rather than a combative, approach. It is possible to be passionate advocates for our kids while also assuming good intentions on the part of the Grafton Public Schools. We are interested in moving the Grafton SEPAC group in that direction, and invite others in the Grafton community to join with us to make SEPAC an integral and active part of our schools and our town.

Liora Bram

Heather Nadeau