MEMBERS PRESENT:  Cheryl Harshman (President), Patti Kem (President-elect), Steve Wornhoff (Treasurer-June 2012),  Lisa Waber (E–June 2013), Saundra Lange  (SW-June 2012), Bev Garrison (SE-June 2011), Tom Barth (NC-June 2011), Wendy Hite (Secretary-June 2014), Tom Adams and Joan McCormick (Co-Chairs Legislative and Research Committee June 2011), Dave Chastain (Chair Membership and Fiscal Management Committee-June 2012), Tom Bell (C-June 2013), Paula Nichols (NW alternate--June 2013) Jada Conner (NW-June 2012 ), Kathy Hensley (Chair Professional Development Committee-June 2012)

ABSENT:  Denise Bashore (Deputy Treasurer), Vendetta Gutshall (Past-President), Jane Sanderson-Winkoff, Fran Wood Osborne (President-Elect 2011-12)

OTHERS PRESENT:   Jeff Young

I.                   APPROVALS

A.    Minutes – Cheryl Harshman called the meeting to order and asked for a motion to approve the March 17, 2011 minutes. MOTION: Saundra Lange moved to approve the March 17, 2011, minutes as presented. After a second by Paula Nichols, the motion was unanimously approved.

B.     Treasurer’s Report and Claim Docket – Steve Wornhoff presented the ICASE Statement of Cash as of March 31, 2011, showing a balance of $266,224.63. He explained that we started the month with $30,000 more in the bank because we finished the month with the receipts from the conference but hadn’t paid all of the bills. This statement reflects the expenses from the conference. At this point we don’t have an amount on what we made for the Spring Conference. Becky will get that report to Steve. Steve will begin developing the budget for next year. He would like input from each committee chair that shows what was in the budget last year and get input from us regarding what the budget should look like. At next month’s meeting Steve wants to present the budget for the first reading. Ideally we approve at the May meeting, otherwise we have to get back together before July 1. Steve will contact the committee chairpersons. Three committee members, in addition to exec members, were approved to go to the legislative conference in Washington, DC. It is about $1500 per person to go.

The March docket of expenditures, totaling $70,906.48, was presented by Steve for approval. MOTION: Joan McCormick moved to approve the March docket of expenses as presented. After a second by Jada Conner, the motion was unanimously approved.

C.     ICASE Calendar 2011-2012 – New Director’s Meeting and ICASE Executive Meeting will meet on August 2^nd. This was originally going to be held on August 3^rd, but is changed due to the Transition conference. The Transition conference is on August 3^rd and 4^th. ICASE Spring conference dates are being discussed. We don’t know dates for the Midwest conference or ICASE Leadership for 2012. Meetings will still be held at Hamilton-Boone-Madison. Thank you to Steve for allowing us to meet here.

II.                IDOE REPORTS

The following minutes are from the questions sent via email to Anne Davis from Cheryl:

Who will actually receive the APC monies? Will the Non-Public schools receive APC monies?

AD: Article 7 has not changed in regards to Rule 34 (nonpublic schools). 7-34-7 addresses control and administration of Part B and state funds. Therefore, the LEA still is responsible for administering these funds, as well as making the final decision as to the use of the funds (7-34-5).

Will the funds for alternative residential dollars still be available?

AD: The amount of dollars available will be dependent upon the legislature, as that amount is a state line item. Our office is not aware of any conversation that the amount may be changing.

What actually migrates over from ISTART7 to Indiana IEP – name, DOB, school, gender, ethnicity?

AD: Those pieces shared at ICASE by the vendor will be migrating: name, DOB, gender, race, STN, school, district/corporation, last IEP date, initial eligibility date, and eligibility category. Additionally, we are currently working with the vendor to have progress monitoring information migrate as well. Schools will need to ensure that LRE is included. We are currently in conversation with our IT folks to determine the best way for data submission during the first year. We want to create a more straightforward data submission process via Indiana IEP, but at the same time for the first year we don’t want districts to have to rush and/or panic in terms of adding additional data in order to be ready for December 1 reporting.

What is the vision for the new alternate assessment? Will it actually replace ISTAR? When will it be available? It appears that the survey questions were not very comprehensive or in depth to provide enough information about the most significant students.

AD: With Indiana moving along to the Common Core Standards, it will be necessary for all assessments to reflect that shift, including ISTAR. The information that has been shared via the last few Director Updates deals specifically with this initiative. Since this is being facilitated through the Assessment department, Dana Daudelin may be able to provide more comprehensive information.

The following information was provided from Anne Davis via phone:

·         Indiana IEP training dates – 25 people can attend each session for the training in June. PCG will provide an online registration process. If people need more slots, contact Amy Startzynski or Cheryl Hartman, as they want to make sure that there are enough computers for each attendee. Anne thanked directors for letting them know if they didn’t need the number of slots allotted so others can have extra slots if needed. District Administrator training – This will be a 2-hour session and will be an overview of the system. The intent for this training is for those who aren’t using the system on a daily basis. Basics will be provided. Your data entry person (formerly CODA staff) should attend as well.

·         Child Count from new Indiana IEP on Dec. 1 – We want to make sure we have accurate data when the report is generated. It is the consensus of the ICASE executive group to wait one year before pulling that data from the Indiana IEP. We informed Anne that we would like to do a trial count with the system so we can look at the errors and correct before submission of the report. This may occur for the April 2012 count.

·         New Alternate Assessment – There will not be an IMAST version for the new Common Core Assessment. IMAST is based on the state standards. The committee consists of a consortium of states that are working on developing the alternate assessment. Dana Daudelin is on the assessment team and is leading this group. Multiple states will be creating this test. This will not become effective for a few years. They want teachers from every level to participate on this group so input from Indiana is given into this consortium 

III.             EXECUTIVE STANDING COMMITTEE REPORTS

A.    Governmental Affairs Committee Report – Joan McCormick and Tom Adams reported that SB 575 collective bargaining bill has passed and was signed by the governor on April 20, 2011.

·         SB1 teacher evaluation – Dr. Bennett asked to meet with Tom and Joan afterwards to set up procedures.

·         HB 1002 is the charter school bill. It passed the Senate. Dissent was filed by Speaker of the House which means it will go to committee and be voted on next week.

·         HB1001 is the budget bill. On page 80 is where the alternative residential dollars are listed - $24,750 million for excess costs. The budget has not passed as of today. According to the House and Senate, special education dollars will either remain the same or it may be slightly increased.

·         HB 1003 is the voucher bill. It passed 28-21. It has to be signed by the governor. We have stated that this is discriminatory to students with special needs. It doesn’t affect affluent districts because it is focused on free and reduced students. This does not change anything as to what we do at this point. This bill takes money from your district and it goes to the private schools. Make sure you go back and check the votes on HB 1003. If your legislator voted against the bill, contact them and thank them.

·         HB 1341 has passed in the House and Senate and is now going to the governor’s office for signature. We will receive further direction on this but a proportion of your state APC funds must be expended on public school services. Transportation, child find, and assessments can count as expenditures. It is still general fund money that you are expending on students with special needs, so it counts towards your maintenance of fiscal effort. There are many questions we have regarding this piece of legislation. Having a side by side document to compare and contrast the federal proportionate share and the state APC dollars would be helpful once we have more information. Guidelines for the interpreter bill will be distributed. The legislative session ends on April 29, 2011. Please continue to contact your legislators.

·         On April 17, Tom Adams, Cheryl Harshman, Jan Dunham and Liza Bates met with Senator Kruse, Senator Eckerty, Rep. Behning, and Rep. Mahan to advocate that public, charter and private schools be held to the same standards regarding the provision of special education services. Special education teachers working in charter schools need to be licensed or working toward licensure. Financial concerns were also expressed by the group, including the need to continue with the same level of support for funding of excess costs. It is apparent that ICASE is very well known among the legislators. As a roundtable activity, you can invite your legislators to inform them about issues with special education. This went well with the East roundtable. This committee has done a great job keeping up on all of the changes in the legislation. www.in.gov/legislative is the website where you can go to view the bills and amendments. The legislative team will meet in Washington DC on July 17-20.

B.     Membership Committee Report – Dave Chastain stated they have reviewed the list of directors on the IDOE website. We don’t know where this information came from. It is believed the list began from the ISEAS directory. The committee wants to compile the list and put it on the ICASE website. The ICASE membership application form should identify one’s job title. There are people who are directors of special education that have a different job title. We will work on compiling the list and making sure it is accurate.

C.     Membership Committee Chair  – Cheryl will identify someone to chair this committee.

D.    Professional Development Committee Report – Fall 2011 Conference – Kathy Hensley reported that if will be held at the Indianapolis Marriott East on September 28-30. This is the 50^th anniversary of ICASE. The cost of the conference was discussed. There was discussion if there could be a group rate if several people from the same district attended. Kathy will explore this option and bring to the group in May. You have to expend a minimum amount of money on food. The sooner we can receive the registration forms the better for local budget purposes.

We want to make sure that the agenda is not simply geared towards IDOE sessions and provides a balance of professional development. Suggestions were provided such as university partnerships, vendor sessions, PATINS, budgets and grant writing, best practices in district, leadership training, DCS, Division of Mental Health, etc. The importance of helping new directors was discussed. Jeff Young may survey the roundtables to see who has expertise in each area.

Spring 2012 conference dates may be Feb. 15-17 or Feb. 22-24.

Jeff Young shared ideas on the ICASE 50^th anniversary celebration. There will be a golf outing. It was agreed to set aside $15,000 for the committee. Jeff discussed keynote speakers. It is the roundtable’s responsibility to contact former directors and notify them of this event. MOTION: Tom Bell made a motion to approve the budget for the committee. After a second by Joan McCormick, the motion was unanimously passed.

IV.             SPECIAL COMMITTEE REPORTS

President’s Appointments

1.      Licensing Focus Group – No report

2.      IASP/ISHA Best Practices Task Force – No report

V.                SUPPORTING THE MEMBERSHIP

A.    Identifying and Addressing Membership Needs

1.      IAPSS Coalition of Organizations – Cheryl will be identifying someone to take Margie Labelle’s place.

B.     Improving/Facilitating Communication

1.      Roundtable Topical Proposals – Tom Bell (C) Executive Functioning Disorders on November 20, 2011

2.      Roundtable Reports

·        C – Tom Bell shared there were many positive compliments on the ICASE Spring Conference. Discussion centered on supporting new directors and how to harness the knowledge and resources from veteran directors.

·        SW – Saundra stated that they did not meet in March. May 25^th is the Effective and Compliant IEP and SLD eligibility guidelines with Leah Nellis and Jolly Piersall. Concern was expressed on ensuring compliance with Indicator 13 and sustaining the quality of goals in IEP’s after staff has been trained. Ideas were generated as to how to proof IEPs for quality.

·        SE – Bev stated they discussed the Indiana IEP.

·        NE – Jada shared that Monica Conrad and Michael Flahive spoke on central auditory processing disorders. Leah Nellis is coming on May 9^th to discuss SLD eligibility guidelines.

·        NW – Paula shared they discussed the compliance report on ISTAR, Interpreter Licensing Exam, SLP/SLA discussion. Topical was April 6^th on autism with Dr. Cathy Pratt. Projected profit was $8,415.67.

·        E – Legislators attended the last roundtable meeting. The regional Effective Goal Practices conference will be held at IU East on April 21.

·        NC – Tom Barth stated there was discussion on the role of the school psychologists with the Indiana IEP. Leah Nellis and Jolly also met with their roundtable.

VI.             PROMOTING/ADVANCING THE ORGANIZATION

A.    Examining Organizational Structure

1.      Future Revision of Strategic Plan – ICASE Executive members will work on finalizing the Strategic Plan at the June 2011 meeting.

2.      Mock case conference video – Patti stated that the video is done. It will be distributed most likely through the Learning Connection. A real parent, student, general education teacher and special education teacher were utilized.

3.      Executive Committee Handbook – No report 

B.     Strengthening National Connections – No report

C.     Promoting State Partnerships – No report

VII.          OTHER BUSINESS

A.    Bob Marra was not able to attend this conference. He may be attending in May to provide information on Charter Schools.

B.     Becky Bowman’s husband passed away. A donation will be made to one of the charities listed in the obituary.

C.     Saundra asked if we can explore meeting via Skype or another avenue during some of the winter months.

VIII.       MOTION TO ADJOURN

 Motion to adjourn was made by Dave Chastain and seconded by Bev Garrison.

IX.             Next Meeting

May 19, 2011, Hamilton-Boone-Madison, 10:00 a.m.