Pennsylvania's Education for All Coalition, Inc. - PEAC

06/16/2025

Register at https://tinyurl.com/BucksF2MAX. Hope to see you there!!

04/03/2025

Celebrating everything that makes you, you! 💙

12/26/2024

Just 5 days left!

The year is almost at an end, but there’s still plenty of time to make a difference for families of students with disabilities!

In the next seven days, we need to raise $3,000. Reaching that goal is vital to continuing our work in 2025, and we have so much we plan to do to empower families with the information they need to plan for their child’s success (not only in school but) in life!

In 2025, we want to

· Increase the number of families we work with individually by 50% or over 60 families. That includes those families who participate in our IEP Clinics. We plan for two in 2025.
· Host a conference for families and educators to discuss bridging the gaps for meaningful inclusive education in the schools. We want to keep the registration low or free of charge and offer a tier for students to learn and socialize alongside their peers.

We know you care just as much about inclusion as we do, and that’s why we know we can count on you to donate $25 to show your commitment to PEAC.

Will you donate today to help us help families?

https://paedforall.org/donate/

THANK YOU!!!

PEAC needs your help to Stay Strong! Pennsylvania’s Education for All Coaliton, Inc. (PEAC) empowers families of individuals with disabilities, educators, and community members with the knowledge to build and sustain meaningful and successful inclusive education. PEAC is a 501c3 nonprofit organiza...

12/03/2024

A limited number of parent scholarships are available to attend the Pennsylvania Department of Education Annual Conference in Hershey from February 5-7, 2025. Pennsylvania residents who have school-age children with a current IEP are eligible to apply: https://www.pattan.net/Training/Conferences/PDE-Conference/Scholarship-Opportunities-for-Parents
We hope to see you there!

12/02/2024

Post 1 – Breakfast and Setup
During this time of giving thanks and being grateful, I remember all those who made the 2024 PEAC Inclusion Conference a success! It truly takes a village to create a conference.
Please come along with me Facebook friends as I share the events of the day and thank those in our PEAC village who did the work!
Before we began, I send a HUGE Thank you to Lower Merion School District’s acting superintendent who gave her full support to the conference, and the principal of Black Rock Middle School who went above and beyond to make PEAC feel at home in an absolutely beautiful school!!

Thank you to the conference committee members who spent hours planning the day. Thank you, Dom, Diane, Cathy, Nithya, William, Blayre, Maggie, Tamia, Mary Beth, Marianne, Sharon, Maryann, Jacque, Gerry, Toni, Joan, Kim and Lavender.
Thank you to our silver sponsor, Values Into Action. We deeply appreciate your ongoing support! Thank you to our supporters, PA Department of Education’s Bureau of Special Education & PaTTAN, The Sean King Foundation, HUNE, TechOwl, Disability Equality Education, and Parent to Parent of Pennsylvania.
Thank you to all who set up the night before! Thank you to Black Rock Middle School staff, Maryann, June, and Maritza for setting up the venue the night before the conference. Helping to bring in materials, decorate and prepare the space for the event.

Thank you to Pierce, our photographer for the event who we are indebted to for taking all of the posted pictures!

Breakfast of pancakes, eggs, roasted potatoes and more was available for all who arrived. Vendors began setting up, and there was time to chat with new and old friends! Our awesome volunteers helped at the registration tables – thank you, Maryann, Cecelia, Alex, Isabel and Skeeter!

12/02/2024

Post 2 – PEAC’s Annual Meeting

We moved into the auditorium to begin PEAC’s Annual Meeting that is the update of the organization, and a focus on the work that needs to be done, and is being done to foster Inclusion in PA. Thank you, Diane for sharing the History of PEAC, and Dr. Gerry Arango Deely for developing and facilitating the discussions around inclusion in education. We heard from past Patricia J. Creegan award winners about their success. Thank you to those who could not attend but submitted video and words to share- Titania Boddie, Dr. Maria Agnew, and Amy McCann. We are sorry that Jerry Petroff could not attend at the last minute. We wished him well.

Thank you, David for helping with the introductions, and thank you, Dr. Graciela Slesaransky-Poe, a past Patricia J. Creegan award winner, for a wonderful presentation on equitable and social justices for full inclusion for all! The questions and answer period were learning experiences for all. Thank you Blayre, Maggie, Tamia, and Tamar for helping to do what was needed to prepare for the annual meeting.

12/02/2024

Post 3 –The Patricia Creegan Award

Gerry introduced Natalie Reed, a Spanish teacher, who was honored with PEAC’s Patricia J. Creegan Award. She shared an amazing acceptance speech that expressed her passion for inclusive education and warmed our hearts! She is the 13th winner of the Patricia J. Creegan Award.

12/02/2024

Post 4 – Tribute to Joseph Gaskin

Thank you, Alex and Isabel, for introducing our tribute to Joseph Gaskin with words from Amy Goldman. Diane, Maggie, Elizabeth, Jill and others shared the impact that Joe had on their lives. Our special guest, Judith Gran shared stories about Joe as a person, a fierce advocate for inclusion, and as one of the key families in the Gaskin Settlement who made the PA Department of Education accountable for school districts adhering to the IDEA law.

12/02/2024

Post 5 – Lunch, music, photobooth and networking

We moved to a wonderful lunch buffet, lots of networking and D.J. Shaun who played music and had us guess the movie where it appeared. Thank you Shaun! Thank you also Cathy, who made sure lunch arrived and was set up, and Maritza, who staffed the baskets that were displayed to be raffled. Thank you, Jacque, for the door prizes that were announced at lunch.

We had an amazing photo booth with Marianne working it and photo bombing pictures of individuals and groups! Everyone had at least one picture to take with them. We had vendors providing resources from PaTTAN, the Sean King Foundation, the PEAL Center, the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation, Liberty Resources, Disability Equality Education, Values into Action, and more at the resource table. Thank you, Dan, Jenny, Diane, Tina, Sharon, Lisa, Pamela, Jacky, Pamela, Colleen, and Mary Beth.

Toward the end of the lunch period, Jaresiah expertly introduced each of the presenters for a one-minute summary of their presentation. The audience could then choose the presentation to attend. Thank you, Jaresiah and Joan, for working together for the introductions.

12/02/2024

Post 5 – The Sessions

As the attendees made their way to the rooms, Peter, Tamar and Tamia helped them find their destination. Along the route, incredible artwork was displayed by Ana Housel. Ana was at the table to answer questions. SMB also displayed her artwork for all to see along the corridor. Thank you, Ana and Jill for making this art walk possible.

Thank you Tina, Jamie, Lisa, William, Lisa, Sandy, Izzy, and Nova for sharing your time and expertise with us on topics of The True Friendship Project: Friendship for All, The Framework for Access and Belonging (FAB), The Disability Inclusive Curriculum, Inclusion in Early Childhood Programs, AT and Education, and an interactive session on healthy relationships called Empowered Encounters: Making Connections with Yourself and Others.

12/02/2024

Post 6 – The Dinner

After the sessions, we prepared for dinner. A filling buffet that included a potato bar! Dinner was followed by a cake that celebrated PEAC’s 20 years of operation! We announced the final door prizes and basket winners. Our entertainment for the evening was Mia Rodgriguez who sang two selections and wowed the crowd! Ben Hartranft followed with an presentation that cannot be described. It was engaging, entertaining, informative and full of energy (as an understatement)! We thank his mother, Sandy, who shared her book as a door prize and was available to answer questions about her part in Ben’s journey. It was a fitting end to the day!

Thank you, Mia, Ben, Natalie and Sandy for helping to energize the audience! Thank you to the crew who stayed late to clean up--Joan, William, Maryann, Mary Beth, Marianne and Maritza! You all are awesome!!

12/02/2024

PEAC is here to encourage families to persevere and do the hard work for meaningful inclusion. Know that you are not alone even in the small things. We help with collaboration, sharing resources, and informing families and educators on ways to successfully and meaningfully include all children with disabilities into general education. We’ve made strides over 20 years. I am excited to see where we will be in the next 20 years.