February 06 Business Meeting

ICASE Business Meeting

Feb. 17, 2006

Radisson - Indianapolis

(These minutes are considered a draft until approved at the next scheduled general membership meeting.)

Executive Committee/Past Presidents' Dinner (2-15-06): George Van Horn hosted the after-dinner meeting with Dr. Louise (Loui) Lord Nelson (COVOH) as guest speaker.

OFFICERS PRESENT AT BUSINESS MEETING: Cindy Pittman (President), Tom Adams (President-elect), George Van Horn (Past-President), Vendetta Gutshall (Treasurer), Gary Collings (Secretary)

1. Minutes – Cindy Pittman called the business meeting to order at 8:30 AM and requested approval of the September 30, 2005 minutes. MOTION: After a motion for approval by Pat Pierce and a second by Tammy Ummel, the minutes were approved as presented.

2. Treasurer's Report - Vendetta Gutshall presented the Financial Statement as of February 13, 2006 noting year to date expenditures of $58,739.20 of the $110,600 budget, with a favorable revenue balance of $143,802.83 pending expenses related to the Spring Conference. Sale of products ($753) and the basket auction ($450) at the Spring Conference has added $1,203 to the Porter Scholarship Fund for a total of $10,596.35.

3. Awards - Bill Dreibelbis (RISE) was presented the ICASE Distinguished Service Award. Honorary Memberships were granted to Phyllis Craig (Kokomo), Linda Duncan (Carmel), Ann Smith (Hamilton Boone Madison), Eileen Schellhammer (Martinsville).

4. Election of Officers – Tom Adams, President-elect, presented the following slate of officers: Dr. Pamela Wright, President-elect 2006-07 and Dr. Gary Collings, Secretary (2006-08). MOTION: Patti Kem moved to accept the slate of officers as presented. After a second by Bill Dreibelbis, the motion was approved.

5. ICASE Reports:

a. Strategic Plan 2006 – Cindy Pittman explained the time has come for a full revision of the current plan to be accomplished through a facilitated retreat as early as June 2006 .

b. Legislative – Tom Adams reported Joan McCormick has accepted the chairperson role and is the liaison to the KWK Management group. Planning meetings have been set to organize the process to track bills, hearings, and other legislative action.

c. CASE – Vendetta Gutshall reminded members of the September 12, 2005 CASE Task Force final report titled Design for the Future. She noted Cindy Pittman had presented details about the annual ISEAS Secretaries and Support Staff Seminar at the last CASE Executive Committee meeting.

d. Membership – Vendetta Gutshall reported the committee is developing a brochure, membership packets, and has received its first Patron Member (MeccaTech). The products subcommittee is seeking additional products of interest to the membership. The website subcommittee has added many improvements www.icase.org .

e. Rule 26 Task Force – Cindy Pittman explained the purpose of this DOE/DEL task force is to review whether the evaluations and assessments for each exceptionality area are appropriate as set forth in 511 IAC 26. Karol Farrell is a member and will serve as a liaison to the ICASE Executive Committee. The task force will report its suggestions to Bob Marra.

f. COVOH – Steve Wornhoff, as the ICASE representative, gave an update of COVOH as an “organization of organizations.” The mission of COVOH is to address a broad range of issues regarding those with disabilities, but its number one priority is education. Additional information can be found on its website http://covoh.org/index.html . Steve introduced Dr. Loui Lord Nelson, the new Executive Director for COVOH, who thanked ICASE for its support and spoke to some of COVOH's future initiatives including topical conferences, health issues, and consensus toward a single voice at the General Assembly.

6. ISEAS Report - Gary Collings briefed the membership on activities of the Steering Committee including: a Salary Survey 2005-06, the Indiana Job Connection http://iseasjob.indstate.edu , multiple listservs noted in the ISEAS Directory (p. 61), the progress of Article 8 promulgation of the Exceptional Needs licensure, the annual Secretaries/Support Staff Seminar on October 11, 2006, directors' dialogue with members of the ISEAS University Forum, the Midwest Educational Leadership Conference on June 19 – 21, 2006, and the National Alliance for Medicaid Education Conference in Indianapolis on October 4 – 6, 2006.

7. Vendors – At the conclusion of the business meeting, Tammy Ummel thanked the vendors (Leap Frog, Curriculum Associates, AGS, Three Springs, Electro Medical, Pearson Digital Learning, MeccaTech) and conducted a drawing of vendor door prizes.

8. Division Report - After the business meeting, Bob Marra briefed the membership on the following topics: child count/funding issues, Article 7/Advisory Council http://doe.state.in.us/exceptional/advisory/welcome.html , and HQ/HOUSSE http://www.doe.state.in.us/hqt/ , IN-SIG family-school-community partnerships, due process/resolution sessions, ISTAR assessments/results. He noted OSEP will make an on-site visit at DOE/DEL (no field visits) in August 2006 to verify DEL data from CIFMS and to review responses from a parent survey to be mailed in March 2006.

NEXT MEETING: September 29, 2006 at a location yet to be determined