20230922 - Ridgewood Access Committee Minutes

Ridgewood’s Community ACCESS Committee

Meeting Minutes September 22, 2023

The ZOOM meeting opened at 2:04 pm.

Present: Ines Bunza, Robin Ritter, Paul Vagianos ,Siobhan Winograd, Joanne Stolfo, Jan Philips, Jaimie Davis, Surbhi Kapadia, Joanne Van Sant, Deanna Schablik, Caroline Meier, Erica Dunckley

Item 1: Welcome

Ines welcomed everyone to the meeting. Minutes from the August meeting were approved. Motion by Robin, Second Ines and motion carried.

Item 2: Report of Village Council, Siobhan Winograd

The decision to place anything (the bakery) in the library is a library board decision. Evan Weitz, the library liaison and the Board of Trustees have now begun conversations with Lorri Steinbacher (director). Both Evan and Lorri had spoken to Sheri (baker). They are trying to sort out the bakery’s business and the renovations at the library. Siobhan checked in and it’s up to the board and Lorri now and they are having those conversations. 

Ines thanked Siobhan for all her work as our liaison to the Village Council. 

Siobhan mentioned that the only other updates were that they have purchased new software for the new website which will be coming soon and that they are grateful for the guidance about online ADA guidelines. The purchase order has been placed and it is being rolled out. Siobhan suggested that our committee think about how we’d like to be perceived on the new website. She said that she will let Robin and Jaimie report on two other meetings and that she was impressed with their organizational skills.

Item 3: SEPAG, Jaimie Davis, President

The State of NJ requires that every school district has a special education parent advisory group. And the acronym SEPAG is how it is known. This is why the LSHSA is now Ridgewood SEPAG. Also the LSHSA was perceived as a support group for the segment of the special ed community of students who are mainstreamed with supports but not for students who have more significant needs. Additionally, she has seen some discord between the parent community and the administration with IEP battles. She doesn’t like when parents have to spend thousands of dollars, all done in private but nothing improves in the program. Feedback from the community needs to be better communicated to the administration. With the new superintendent, this was an opportune time to do this. She has set up coffee events at the  different schools to get the word out about their 2 main goals: improving the relationship between the parents and the district and also a social inclusion piece. She’s been meeting with the HSA presidents to find out what kinds of special accommodations are needed when they have events at their schools. For instance, at Ridge, where Jaime’s son is in the RISE program, the school held their back-to-school picnic with all the families and music. Not an optimal environment for autistic children.  So they were able to go on the playground before the crowds came and gathered in groups away from the speakers. All the schools did this.

The dinner idea came out of this. It’s wonderful for both parents and their special needs child to be able to go out to dinner without feeling like they’re disturbing the other diners. For now she is calling it the “Come as you are” dinner. She wants to make sure that the term isn’t offensive to anyone though. If this goes well, they’d like it to happen more often. It’s also a great market for the business owners. And it’s a great way to teach the kids how to “restaurant.” How to order, etc. She had a good conversation with Michael Kilcullen at the activities fair and the STEPP students could be a part of this. They talked about maybe creating activity kits that they could place on the tables. Jaimie and Siobhan also had a good meeting yesterday with Glenn from The Steel Wheel and he’s on board and had some great ideas. They’re looking at the Wed. evening before the teachers’ convention. Glenn is giving them the non-bar side of the restaurant, but not charging a private event fee. Glenn is also the Pres. of the Chamber. He has room for 60 people to dine. Michael Kilcullen will create the flier. They’re also considering doing something in advance of the tree lighting where they would go at twilight and lead up to the lighting. 

Another idea for the restaurant was to maybe have 2 seatings, one at 4, another at 5. Jaimie’s board members are very excited about the idea. She’s thinking of having a sub-committee to handle community outreach for events like this. Paul thinks this is a terrific idea and would be happy to connect the group with the other restaurants. And Glenn even suggested sending emails from the restaurant offering coupons or a quiet table, etc. Jaimie's also thinking about doing a one-off training for restaurant staff about the special kids.

Another idea was that not all families can go away over vacation breaks so this would be a good time to plan to eat out locally and attend a special event.

Ines brought up the idea of considering our older special needs individuals. She gave an example of her son Dougie going to Applebee’s with his friends and not knowing how to figure out the tip. She said that she hoped the restaurateurs in town would be more sensitive to them, like they are at Applebee’s. Dougie’s group enjoys going back there because the staff is so nice to them. Jaimie said that maybe it could become a joint Chamber/ACCESS initiative, where ACCESS could make the suggestions for restaurant staff and the Chamber could communicate them to the businesses. 

Paul is thrilled at all the work ACCESS has been doing. Any support we need he will be happy to provide. He said that he never realized how difficult it can be for families of special needs kids to eat in a restaurant. Families will become loyal to businesses that support them. It’s a win-win.

Jan Philips thanked Paul for agreeing to come to the Sunday Friends-to-Friends part of ACCESS Weekend. She asked Siobhan and him if they are now considering closed captions at the council meetings and allowing people to move closer to hear. Siobhan said that they did get 

a quote about closed captioning, but it is significantly expensive. But they are improving the audio. During the Schedler discussion they did get a complaint that they weren't compliant because the audio was causing problems and they’re dealing with that. Additionally she has reached out to RHS because ASL is now a curriculum study there and they’ve tried to make some meaningful connections with them, possibly for ACCESS Weekend. They have an arts project. They looked into it and have priced it. She thought it was $34,000/year per contract which was just too much. The ASL students seemed to be very excited to participate. They just weren’t sure how we would incorporate them. Siobhan sent some samples to Ines. Paul said that they are getting better audio equipment. They will keep pushing in the direction of closed captioning.  Hopefully the cost will come down. 

Item 4: ACCESS Weekend

Deanna couldn’t be at the meeting but Ines said that she is always on top of things. She works closely with ACCESS committee members who help on the day of.

Technical issues: Robin and Ashley

Robin said that Siobhan had called a meeting yesterday to review. Rich Tarleton from Signal was there and John Young from Fire, Dawn from Health, Charles from the library. Last year was the first year we had the School of Rock. We didn’t realize then that she needed all kinds of amps, mics, equipment etc. So thank you Siobhan for coordinating that. Charles figured out what they need. No overtime for Rich. Deanna will be there. We have the 2 banners, one on Maple and one facing the parking lot. Surbhi connected us with the train trellis, which will go up on Monday and run for 2 weeks. From Lisa, we did get the confirmation from Freedom Bank for $500. And the ramp is all set. 

Caroline: she got emails from a few parents wondering if their kids could see the ramp before they go on it. Robin said yes early on Sat. a.m., even when Marlene Pillow is on would be OK. It will be installed on Thurs. a.m. so there will be other times as well and Robin will let her know.

Lauren is confirmed to do total captioning. Siobhan mentioned that the ASL kids at RHS need a bit more knowledge. They had admitted they could say hi but not much more.

Caroline said that there will be lots of new, younger kids and from other towns too. 3 performers too. Working with Rachel. Alexandra and Audrey will be the MC’s and they’re very excited.

Robin said that Lela sent her info about Marble Jam, an organization from young kids through adults. They have day programs and do a lot with art and music therapy. They came by the other day. They’re doing the art display.

Deanna: Ready to go with the ACCESS to fun program with the health dept and Age-Friendly Ridgewood. She has a lot of help and some good volunteers. She’ll be there all day Sat. Age-Friendly Rwd is providing the hot dogs for the senior lunch so she wanted to thank them. They’re coming from Mike’s Hot Dogs in Oakland. Siobhan said that the Board of Health is very confident with Deanna. She was certified during Covid.

Project Interact kids will arrive early to help with the Fashion Show. We thought it was a 10:30 arrival time.

Erica: food. Listed the vendors who are participating.

Sun event: Joanne: everything good.

Robin - tabling. If Stigma-free and the Health dept. can’t be there Deanna, Ashley and she will be there. Surbhhi said she will be there and wouldn’t miss it.

Jan asked if anyone from ACCESS will be there on Sunday so we can be acknowledged? Siobhan will be there. 

Ines thanked everyone for all our hard work!

Joanne Stolfo has the 2023 Resource Guide for the State of NJ. There are 5 copies that will be in the library. Next year it will only be online.

The meeting ended at 3:00.

The next meeting will be Friday, November 17 at 2:00 via ZOOM.