SEPTA Mini-Grant Program for APS Teachers and Staff
The application period for 2025-26 school year mini-grants closed on October 3rd.
Decisions have been sent to applicants and the awarded projects can be viewed below.
Do you have a great idea to enhance the education of your students?
SEPTA (Special Education PTA) Mini-Grants fund creative endeavors that enhance the education of students receiving special education services in Arlington Public Schools. The Mini-Grants aim to promote collaboration, inclusion and equal access for all students with an IEP and 504.
The Mini-Grants are up to $500 awards to support
any teacher or staff (OT, PT, SLP, etc)
who works with students with an IEP or 504.
The grants are awarded once a year for the current school year. Awardees will be asked to share the successes of their project through a short report. Your successful project could be a model for other staff members, and positively impact student learning!
Interested in joining the Mini-Grant Committee? Learn more here: Letter from the Co-Chairs
I would love to see the Mini-Grant process develop into best practices that many classrooms, students, and schools could benefit from. If we continue to get the kind of innovative proposals we got this fall, there will be a lot of great things happening in classrooms for kids with IEPs and 504s.” Mini-grant committee member
Details and Guidelines
Details:
- Deadline for applications is October 3, 2025
- Awards will be announced the week of November 3, 2025
- The grants are awarded once a year for the current school year
- An individual or a team of teachers or providers may apply together
- Some grant payments require follow up with receipts
- Awardees may be asked to present SEPTA with a blog post or meeting presentation on success of the grant project
- SEPTA may work with other entities (local school, PTA, APS) to source funds
Some examples of mini-grants:
- Resources to enhance specialised education (books or materials for specific activities)
- Inclusive social clubs
- Leadership opportunities for students with disabilities
- Community engagement opportunities
- Disability peer events
- Sensory regulation equipment
- Professional development will be considered in some circumstances See Guidelines for excluded items
Mini-Grant Principles
Working Together
Parents supporting APS teachers and administrators to enhance specialized education through collaboration.
Cultivating Inclusion
Working with APS to support inclusion and integration of students with disabilities into all school environments and have their unique identities understood, celebrated, valued, respected, and embraced.
Maximizing Impact
Looking for opportunities to amplify impact; allocating Mini-Grant funds in a way that reaches the maximum number of students, fosters innovation, and has a lasting impact.
Ensuring Equity
Ensuring SEPTA Mini-Grant Program provides fair access to support, resources, and opportunities for all students with special needs.
Enhancement not Replacement
Allocating Mini-Grant Funds to enhance specialized education, not to replace IEP or 504 requirements.
2025-26 Awarded Mini-Grant Projects
| Educator | School | Project |
| Abby Brocato | Taylor Elementary School | Alternate literacy tools for AAC users in lower elementary |
| Ally Washington | Kenmore Middle School | Improved accessibility to Watershed Educational Experience |
| Amanda Thiel | Barrett Elementary School | Adaptive musical instruments for inclusive education |
| Becca Reid | county-wide | Community Based Instruction for secondary extended school year students |
| Brendan Blackburn | Kenmore Middle School | Support for students with disabilities to attend the University of Virginia’s Society of Women Engineers Middle School Visitation Program |
| Briana Gallagher | Glebe Elementary school | Flexible seating options for 2nd grade students |
| Bryan Tubbs-Herring | Swanson Middle School | Cooking groups and Community Based Instructions to enhance functional life skills |
| Candy Sinoc | Randolph Elementary School | Flexible seating options for pre-K classroom |
| Carmela Del Vecchio | Gunston Middle School | Improvements to the Sensory Regulation Room |
| Christina Kirsch | Arlington Career Center | Hats by PEP – Internship to design, create and sell hats |
| Colette Holland | Wakefield High School | Community Based Instructions to enhance functional life skills |
| David Groh | Arlington Career Center | Community Based Instruction for leisure activities for PEP students |
| Debbie Strauss | Wakefield High School | Social cooking group to build confidence and engagement |
| Devyn Lee | Carlin Springs Elementary School | Enhanced Speech/OT through food and craft group |
| Don Clinger | Claremont Immersion School | Sensory regulation tools for general education classroom |
| Eurith Bowen | county-wide | Support for county-wide Student Neurodiversity Conference |
| Fallon Keplinger | Arlington Career Center | Adapted materials, such as social stories, to enhance independent living and employment preparation classes |
| Gwenn Zaberer | Washington Liberty High School | Adaptive art tools for inclusive art classes |
| Hannah Geller | County-Wide | Support for blind and visually impaired students to attend touch tour of Beauty and the Beast |
| Jeff Pabotoy | Wakefield High School | Adaptive art tools for inclusive art classes |
| Jennifer Stacy | Integration Station | Tactile literacy tools to enhance literacy education |
| John Moore | Washington Liberty High School | Breakout boxes – Enhanced and inclusive math lessons |
| Kelly Cohen | Drew Elementary School | Enhanced Speech/OT through a recipe group |
| Lauren Jones | Swanson Middle School | Flexible seating options for 6th grade literacy students |
| Megan Zelasko | Campbell Elementary School | Sensory regulation tools for general education classroom |
| Morgan Johnson | Kenmore Middle School | Passport to the planet – geography classes designed using universal design for learning |
| Rachel Kipperman | Montessori Public School of Arlington | “Peace corners” for self-regulation, calming and centering activities |
| Rachel Robyn | Eunice Kennedy Shriver Program | Cooking groups and Community Based Instructions to enhance functional life skills classes |
| Randy Lott | Long Branch Elementary School | Sensory regulation tools for grade 3/4 students |
| Renee Sturgill | Arlington Traditional School | Adaptive PE equipment for MIPA class |
| Sabrina Troisi | Innovation Elementary School | Inclusive seating and play equipment for pre-K students |
| Sara Harrison | Arlington Career Center | Designs by PEP – Internship to design, create and sell artworks |
Questions? email: minigrants@arlingtongsepta.org
I want to thank you again for the SEPTA support of the OT/PT professional development day held in March. It was well attended and everyone gave positive feedback. Our follow-up survey indicated that attendees were already using new strategies and practices from the presentations to help meet students’ IEP goals.
Alice Blair, Occupational Therapist, Tuckahoe Elementary & Arlington Science Focus