About Us

 It has been a blessing for our family to learn of and work with the Mesa Special Education Alliance over the past year. Our family has had children enrolled in Mesa Public Schools for over the past ten years with five of our children enrolled in special education. We have faced many struggles over the years in our efforts to help provide our children with a meaningful academic experience. We have had to navigate many uncomfortable IEP meetings, advocate for inclusivity, and have had to withstand 2 closures of very effective programs that affected our 2 most vulnerable children. For years we have watched our teachers support our children with less than adequate staffing and in sometimes very unsafe settings. The experience of trying to advocate for our children has often led us to feel isolated and without hope. The Alliance has allowed me to meet several other parents that have faced similar experiences when trying to advocate for their children. It is great to realize we are not alone in our experiences and other parents are trying to work with our district for change. I feel that many of our struggles exist due to the District's lack of communication with teachers and null communication with parents. There seems to be a great disconnect when decisions are made by the district as to what is actually required of our amazing teachers to maintain a safe and meaningful education experience for our children. The Alliance has dedicated a tremendous amount of time and effort trying to open lines of communication with the district. In this process they have given parents and our teachers a voice. The Mesa Special Education Alliance is such an amazing asset to our community and has truly given us hope for meaningful change. 

Mesa Special Education Alliance has given me the opportunity to collaborate with parents and other educators. Being able to talk with parents about their experiences has been a very valuable experience for me as teacher. I think sometimes we take for granted how overwhelming the special education process can be for parents, and this collaborative effort has allowed me to identify ways that I can be more responsive. 

Given the complexity of special needs and the intricate regulations and policies governing special education, many parents find it difficult to find the proper assistance that has the knowledge and special expertise/experience in advocating for their child(ren). Parents are often faced with situations where emotions run high, and parents often felt isolated and lost. Mesa Special Education Alliance has provided the support needed in order to have a necessary and meaningful parental participation which is essential in order to protect the parents and students rights. Mesa Special Education Alliance plays an important role in an effort to ensure the collaboration between families and our district to provide a quality education for our child(ren) that prepares them for a higher education, meaningful employment, and a good quality of life in his or her community. 

Mesa Special Education Alliance has helped restore my faith that there are genuinely good people looking out for our district's most vulnerable students. This group is full of courageous leaders who jump right in to being solution focused, productive, and supportive of parents and students wherever they need help. I am proud to have joined this group. I look forward to seeing it grow and thrive for the sake of special education. Including parents in their student's education can only be beneficial in their futures in Mesa Public Schools. Thank you! 

What makes Mesa Special Education Alliance important for me is the ability to communicate with others who share the same mindset when it comes to our children and their education. Mesa Special Education Alliance offers a comfortable place for parents and educators to pose questions, provide answers and give support, giving us all a voice and the confidence to speak up about what the district is doing.  The Alliance is giving parents the ability to learn and grow as a community within Mesa Public School system and gain an understanding of what the district is doing and how that choice effects the students and the families.  For me personally it has given me more of an understanding of how to ask the right questions, navigate the MPS website and understand how the district operates for all students with a disability. This truly is an amazing group and I’m lucky to be a member.  

Thanks to the Mesa Special Education Alliance we have a voice for a somewhat voiceless community! Since MPS struggles with seeking input from their stakeholders, the MSEA works with parents, community members, and teachers/valuable staff members to help advocate for student/programming needs within Special Education. Together as a community we support each other with ideas on how to approach something, gameplan action steps that need to be taken, or seek additional input from other stakeholders. Thanks to MSEA I feel that we are finally making a difference in our district, at least with being a sounding board for each other. Who knows what the future holds!! 

Mesa Special Education Alliance helped me realize I'm not alone, my experiences with my kids are not as isolated as I was led to believe. There are other parents as passionate as I, who are willing to stand up and advocate for positive change and honest dialogue with our district. If MPS would tap into the powerhouse of parents in the Alliance the district would realize how supportive and compassionate we are for special needs children and the amazing teachers and staff who work with them. 

Mesa families, educators and community members need a voice in MPS. Many parents of children with needs in the district have left MPS as their voices weren't valued nor was an avenue of effective communication established. Ongoing individual and group advocacy efforts with MPS have been met with resistance from the district. The Alliance is actively championing family, educator and community member efforts with the goal of creating a highly effective alliance with MPS that improves education. The Alliance collects district-wide data and conducts meetings with parents and educators. Their highly informed efforts have resulted in the opportunity to share data with District Administration. The Alliance also provides community-wide outreach and resources. Collectively, the Alliance is a powerful united voice striving to improve MPS. 

Mesa Special Education Alliance is hugely important, not only to us personally, but also to us as a community! Parents, when they bond together, can make changes that are important to their own family, their students and the entire local community and schools. Inclusion in schools allows every student to see that they are each valued in their own way. Inclusion allows the other students to see that everyone has worth, talents and gifts. 

Mesa Special Education Alliance has given me the opportunity to get to know and better understand the experiences of many parents across the city, as well as teachers, service providers and Principals. Most of us attended MPS.  It's been so encouraging to hear how caring and committed our educators are in our District. We all agree we can't improve unless we're willing to sit down and have honest conversations about real issues. Mesa Special Education Alliance provides that environment to have frank conversations, which allows us all to grow and learn. We're hopeful our district will recognize these conversations among stakeholders are an important foundational base for a healthy and inclusive community. Coming to the table to collaborate and improve systemic issues is not only good for our students - it's important for every aspect of our community and our city.