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Executive Committee Listserv <executive@icase.org> DOE/DEL (Riley Room) December 13, 2007 Minutes (These minutes are considered a draft until approved at the next scheduled meeting.) MEMBERS PRESENT: Pam Wright (President), Tom Adams (Past-President), Vendetta Gutshall (Treasurer), Gary Collings (Secretary), Larry Bass (SW), Margie Labelle (C), Cheryl Corning (SE), Jan Dunham (E), Mary Beth Hamilton (NE), Donna Krol (NW), Cheryl Harshman (NC), Denise Bashore (Membership and Fiscal), Patti Kem (Professional Development) MEMBERS ABSENT: Lynn Gosser (President-elect), Joan McCormick (Legislative and Research) OTHERS PRESENT: Bob Marra GUEST PRESENT: Cheryl Shearer, Chief, Bureau of Children's Services, FSSA Division of Mental Health and Addictions briefed members on Indiana's five-year grant, Community Alternatives to Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facilities (PRTFs), from the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) to the FSSA Division of Mental Health and Addiction and the Office of Medicaid Policy and Planning. The grant is to further develop intensive community-based services for youth who are either residing in PRTFs or way may be eligible for admission because of their high level of need for mental health services. There are currently 40 access points across the State. Families must meet the following criteria to be eligible: (1) child/youth must be eligible for Medicaid, (2) family resides in a county that is an access point, (3) child/youth being served must be between ages 6 to 20 years, and (4) child/youth must have an assessment completed at the access point, which identifies them as needing this level and intensity of service. Grant services will be provided through the Wraparound process including a technical assistance center for on-site coaching for Systems of Care to be operated by CHOICES in Indianapolis. Mary Beth Hamilton (Elkhart County) is a member of the Advisory Board for the grant. For additional information, contact the grant director, Rebecca Buhner (317/232/7892). Cheryl concluded by noting her discussions with Paul Ash about ways to get schools more involved with mental health resources. She encouraged members to work with Paul on a pilot for capacity building around Alternative Residential Services. Pam Wright endorsed the proposal and asked for volunteers from the ICASE board. Margie Labelle will chair the work group to include Mary Beth Hamilton, Tom Adams and Cheryl Corning. Approvals B. Treasurer's Report and Claim Docket Vendetta Gutshall distributed the financial report showing a remaining balance of $164,999.21 in the $242,000 budget and a docket of expenses in the amount of $ $55,088.23. MOTION: Donna Krol moved to accept the financial report and approve the docket as presented. After a second by Cheryl Harshman, the motion was approved. Vendetta noted that the Fall Conference expenses included an ICASE subsidy of overnight room expenses to reduce the room costs to registrants. Vendetta reported that 12 registrants had yet to pay the additional meal cost for a guest. Members confirmed that she should do a follow-up billing to those registrants. Vendetta estimated that Fall Conference proceeds after expenses will be $7,300+. The Scholarship balance on hand is $4,486.49 plus $8,200 held by CASE. The total balance in the Roundtable Account for distribution is $16,392.06. MOTION: Patti Kem moved for a $100 memorial contribution for Amy Cook Lurvey, who passed away on December 12, 2007. After a second by Mary Beth Hamilton, the motion was approved. Members reviewed the IAPSS 2008 Winter Program for January 31, 2008, which includes George Batsche as the keynoter, whose fee and expenses are to be paid for by ICASE. II. STRATEGIC PLAN (2006 - 2009) Pam Wright distributed the grid sheet on legal size paper for review and update. Lead persons are to provide action plans across the following goals of Supporting the Membership, Promoting the Organization, and Advancing the Organization. As part of the Strategic Plan, Pam posted a Needs Assessment to members on November 1, 2007. Pam will attempt to merge elements of the plan with the new agenda format for future meetings. III. CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS A. Executive Standing Committee Appointments: Pam Wright distributed a 12/13/07 list of ICASE Committee Appointments across the following three areas as well as Nominations: 1. Legislative and Research Committee -At the October 2007 meeting, Pam Wright's recommendation for Joan McCormick as chairperson of the Legislative and Research Committee for 2007-08 was approved. A member from each roundtable serves on the committee. The President-elect and Past President are standing members. Tom Adams reported that he and Joan McCormick recently had lunch with both John Ellis (IAPSS) and Frank Bush (ISBA) to discuss areas of mutual interest. The committee is considering a January 8th meeting with key legislators. He and Joan will meet with Representative Reardon tomorrow to give her a plaque of appreciation for her work on the legislation related to the SLP emergency permits. 2. Membership and Fiscal Management Committee At the November 2007 meeting, Pam Wright's recommendation for Denise Bashore as the chairperson for Membership and Fiscal Management for 2007-2009 was approved. The Secretary and Treasurer are standing members. Denise reported that she is reviewing the scope of her responsibilities. 3. Professional Development Committee - Pam Wright nominated Patti Kem as chairperson of the Professional Development Committee (2007-2010). MOTION: Cheryl Harshman moved to approve the chairperson appointment. After a second by Cheryl Corning, the motion was approved. Both the President and Deputy Treasurer (yet to be selected)
are standing members. At the November 2007 meeting members
approved a motion to pay the chairperson's expenses to attend
the CASE Winter Institute. Pam reported at last month's meeting
that Nan Records (CASE) has offered to meet with this committee
to share her national experiences in this role. 2. Other: b. Recognition/Awards Pam appointed the Past President, Tom Adams, as chairperson at the October meeting. At the November meeting, members submitted a candidate's name for consideration to receive the Distinguished Service Award. MOTION: Tom Adams moved to recognize Dr. Cathy Pratt with the Distinguished Service Award. After a second by Margie Labelle, the motion was approved. Pam Wright called for any other awards or recognition. Tom Adams reminded members that Dr. Jan Rees was granted honorary membership at the September 26 Executive Committee meeting and will be recognized at the February 2008 conference. 3. Duties of the Officers is an evolving discussion as a
result of the new constitution. 3. June 4, 2008 (Southwest) Larry Bass requested approval for Southwest to host a topical on "Successful Strategies for General Education Teachers" by Susan Fitzell at an Evansville school building. He estimates costs at $5,000 with no facility rental expenses. MOTION: Margie Labelle moved to approve the Southwest Topical as presented. After a second by Patti Kem, the motion was approved. 3. Fall 2008 (East) - Jan Dunham commented that they are also considering a session by Dr. Rob March. 4. Spring 2009 (Southeast) Cheryl Corning said they are talking with IU Southeast faculty about a seminar on assessment of ESL students as well as a Spring 2009 topical. B. Conferences/Activities/Reports Wednesday (February 27) will be board meetings and the Past
Presidents dinner (6:00 PM). Thursday (February 28) AM will
include a motivational speaker followed by Bob Marra's status
report on Article 7. Cathy Pratt will make a luncheon
presentation. The afternoon will include break-out sessions yet
to be determined. The evening will include a reception. Friday
(February 29) will include the business meeting, DEL report by
Bob Marra, and a business luncheon for members of both the ICASE
Executive Committee and ISEAS University Forum. C. Roundtable Reports of Activities None due to time
constraints VI. PROMOTING the ORGANIZATION B. Division of Exceptional Learners Bob Marra reported that the USDOE is uncertain about how to report students in residential facilities for purposes of disproportionality. The federal officials are currently requesting disabilities of all types, placements, and suspension/expulsion rates. DEL is considering a tiered approach showing districts by levels of need for technical assistance with disproportionality. The challenge is identifying available strategies to address the needs. The group size (N) may be changed from 10 to 30 to align with the AYP number used by IDOE. There is a complication on how to use the 15% for K-2 interventions from Part B funds, which includes both Sections 611 and 619, along with the requirement to use some Part C funds. The RTI Summit on December 6 7, 2007 in Alexandria, Virginia was a collaborative effort among the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE), the Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA) and the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) to assist SEAs with planning for the implementation of RTI. This was an invitational conference of 11-person teams from each state. The teams were to be comprised of a combination of key stakeholders from the State Department of Education (6 members) as well as representatives from state affiliates and several national organizations/networks (5 members). The purpose of this meeting was to provide training, information, and planning time for educational teams working on the implementation of early intervening services and response to intervention instructional approaches. The RTI Summit had three primary goals: (1) to gather teams of key state education leaders and selected state affiliate organizations to learn about components and models of Response to Intervention (RTI), (2) to assist States in scaling up comprehensive models of RTI in their schools and districts, and (3) to help States develop a state plan for implementing RTI and provide information about accessing various federal and state resources to assist with implementation. The Indiana DOE sent the following team to the federal RtI Summit: Bob Marra, Sharon Knoth, Tara Rinehart, Darlene Slaby (Division of Migrant and Minority, Jayma McGann (Reading First). Others members could not attend. Forty-nine states sent a team for a total of 650 participants. Indiana drafted its state plan that will be reviewed by the state team of eleven members in January 2008. In regard to the progress of Article 7, Bob reminded members that the six components of a private school service plan had been negotiated with Tom Adams, Pam Wright, Lynn Gosser, and Pat Pierce. At its last meeting the State Advisory Council removed both the 12.5 hours and caseloads for preschool. The standing proposal is that a change in the continuum requires a parent signature. The last subsection of ESY was removed. The due process section was refined. The statute for APC is being reviewed to see if 22 year olds can be included. For RtI purposes, schools would declare student specific interventions and for a given period of time such as 10 weeks. If, during the period of intervention, progress is not evident to either party, an eligibility referral may be in order. The evaluation timeline was presented in two tiers: the first 10 days notice period can be put on "hold" for RtI purposes unless the parent requests a report and/or conference that would trigger a 55 day period. Students who had been through the RtI process would be under a 10 days notice + 20 days for the eligibility evaluation + 5 days for the report prior to the case conference. Bob commented that under current PL 221 provisions the State Board of Education allows local school corporations to waive requirements for a licensed principal in the building. The State Board may also seek to remove the stipulation to employ a licensed director of special education as a provision that goes beyond federal requirements. Once the Article 7 proposed revisions are presented to the State Board, the draft will first be reviewed by a deregulation subcommittee. C. Liaisons Members Designated by the President D. Appointees Other Agencies/Associations VII. OTHER BUSINESS None |