CALAVERAS COUNTY SPECIAL EDUCATION LOCAL PLAN AREA
Calaveras County Office of Education
185 South Main Street / PO Box 760
Angels Camp, CA 95221
209.736.6020 FAX: 209.736.6048
Calaveras County Special Education Executive Council
Minutes
March 9, 2015
I. Call Public Session to Order 9:00 a.m.
Establishment of Quorum
Attendance by Roll Sheet
Executive Council Members:
Kathy Northington, Superintendent Calaveras County Office of Education (CCOE)
Julia Tidball, Superintendent Mark Twain Union Elementary School District (MTUESD)
Don Ogden, Superintendent Vallecito Union School District (VUSD)
Jan Kendall CUSD Director of Special Education
Joan Lark BHUHSD Board Member / President
Marilyn Krause CCOE Board Member
Lou Boitano CCOE Board Member
Karan Bowsher CUSD Board Member
Diane Bateman MTUESD Board Member
Tom Pratt VUSD Board Member
Staff:
Robin Searway Assistant Superintendent/SELPA Director
Andria Tiquet Program Manager
Janine Schumann Program Manager
Veronica Ferdin Administrative Secretary, SELPA
Claudia Davis Associate Superintendent, Business Services
Absent:
Nancy Shaw Director of Personnel (CCOE)
Mike Chimente, Superintendent Bret Harte Union High School District (BHUHSD)
Mark Campbell, Superintendent Calaveras Unified School District (CUSD)
Roy Blair Director of Business Services (MTUESD
Others:
Courtnay Villegas AU Information Analyst
Joan Perry Program Specialist
Laura Machado Program Specialist
Kassandra Booth Director of Fiscal Services (CUSD)
Gretchen McReynolds Business manager (VUSD)
Gloria Carrillo Chief Business Official (BHUHSD)
Greg Jaggar President Director of Point Quest
II. Approve Agenda
Julia Tidball made the motion to approve the agenda for March 9, 2015, Don Ogden seconded the motion and it carried unanimously.
III. Public Comment
IV. Flag Salute
V. Consent Minutes for Study Session, January 12, 2015
Kathy Northington made the motion to approve the minutes for January 12, 2015, Study Session. Don Ogden seconded the motion and it carried unanimously.
VI. Consent Minutes for Executive Council, January 12, 2015
Julia Tidball made the motion to approve the minutes for January 12, 2015, Minutes. Kathy Northington seconded the motion and it carried unanimously.
VII. Consent Minutes for Study Session, February 27, 2015
Julia Tidball made the motion to approve minutes for February 27, 2015, Study Session. Tom Pratt seconded the motion and it carried unanimously.
VIII. Discussion/Action Items
(*) Handouts were provided to Council Members
A. Proposed Legal Pool Guidelines (*):
Claudia Davis reviewed the Proposed Legal Pool Guidelines handout for the Board Members who were not in attendance on February 27, 2015 Study Session.
Karan Bowsher made the motion to approve additions added to the Legal Pool Guidelines under Attorney Fees and Julia Tidball seconded the motion and it carried unanimously.
The additions added is as followed; “Should districts require the presence (either via telephone or in person) of SELPA legal counsel at District Board Meetings to inform and advise their Boards of pending special education legal matters, they will do so at their own cost.”
The revised Legal Pool Guidelines will be provided to all Executive Council Members at the May 11, 2015 meeting.
B. Point Quest Education (*):
Robin Searway introduced Greg Jagger, the President/Director of Point Quest. Robin shared that Point Quest is a Non-Public School in the Sacramento area. Calaveras County SELPA/AU is proposing to work with Amador and Tuolumne County to provide Point Quest a location to house a satellite program in Calaveras County. Robin has communicated with the two other SELPA Directors in order to determine if there are enough students identified with behavioral and emotional deficits currently in NPS programs to return back to a closer NPS program. Greg Jaggers shared that Point Quest will need at least 12 students to start a program in Calaveras County for the next school year. CCOE currently has three students attending Point Quest, one in the Stockton area and two in the Sacramento Area. Robin shared that it would beneficial to bring back those students to attend a NPS program within our county.
Greg Jagger shared that Point Quest Education is owned with his wife, Ronda Jagger CEO/Director. Point Quest first started in 2008 in Sacramento with 70 students and today they serve 140 students. Point Quest serves 15 school districts and has students coming as far north as Colusa County and as far south as Escalon, San Joaquin County. Point Quest was struggling with transporting students from far distances to Sacramento. Point Quest partnered with Stockton Unified a year ago and they have their first satellite program in South Stockton. They are finalizing a second program in Manteca Unified School District that starts on March 16, 2015 with 16 students. Point Quest provides through their NPA, mental health services for Lodi Unified School District. Point Quest has a staff of 70 people that deliver all their services from Sacramento under the umbrella of their daily rate. Greg shared that he has a goal of opening a satellite NPS program in Calaveras County. Greg mentioned in order to build a viable budget he would need between 10-14 students for next school year. Greg also talked about the startup process. He mentioned that he would need to submit an application to CDE and pay a fee to start and then CDE would have up to 120 days to do the evaluation review.
Robin shared that she would like Executive Council to move forward with Point Quest in opening a satellite program housed at Calaveras Unified School District. Robin will talk with Jim Frost, SELPA Director at Tuolumne County to see how many students he might have to bring back from a NPS program. Amador County currently has only one student to bring back for next school year.
Karan Bowsher made the motion to go forward with the application process and Kathy Northington seconded the motion and it carried unanimously.
C. Proposed Implementation of a Continuum of services for students with social/emotional and behavioral needs (*) :
Robin talked about the Study Session that was held on February 27, 2015. The Study Session was a lengthy 3 hour session on Continuum of Services. Robin wanted to see if any of the Executive Council Members had any questions or comments regarding the Study Session. Robin asked Janine Schumann to briefly review her Power Point Presentation with the Executive Council members that were not in attendance.
Janine Schumann reviewed and talked about her Power Point presentation to the board members who were not in attendance at the February 27, 2015 Study Session and provided them with extra handouts to review.
Claudia Davis reviewed and talked about the Summary of Pass through budget to the Board Members who were not in attendance at the February 27, 2015 Study Session and provided them with extra handouts to review.
Kathy Northington made the motion for CCOE to keep the Structured Behavior Class Programs until the end of the 2015/2016 school year. Kathy recommended during the remainder of this school year and next school year monthly Superintendent’s meetings occur to discuss and develop a transition plan to take back the programs and students to their respective home Districts. Julia Tidball seconded the motion. Discussion occurred regarding this motion. After a lengthy discussion, Joan Lark called for the vote, the motion did not past. (3-2 vote.)
More discussion occurred amongst Executive Council Members. Julia Tidball then made the motion for Superintendents to meet on a monthly basis during the school year and next school year to look at the possibility of transitioning the SBC programs back to the respective Districts. Don Ogden seconded the motion. Discussion occurred regarding this motion. Joan Lark called for the vote, the motion did past. (4-1 vote) .
D. APDAR Leadership Update (*):
Circle of Friends (CoF):
Joan shared that CoF has expanded to the elementary school sites. Some of the leaders of CoF are General Education teachers, Special Education teachers, Paraprofessionals, and Site Administrators. (They meet on a weekly basis.) The Third and final CoF Leadership training is scheduled for Friday, April 10, 2015.
ü Copperopolis – 2 Leaders, 12-15 participants
ü Mark Twain – 3 Leaders, 12-15 participants
ü San Andreas – 2 Leaders, 15-18 participants
ü Jenny Lind – 2 Leaders, 12-15 participants
ü Valley Springs – 3 Leaders, 12- 15 participants
ü Mountain Oaks – 1 Leader, Still Developing Model
Coaching:
Joan reviewed the school sites where she is coaching teachers:
ü Bret Harte High School Mark Twain Elementary
ü Copperopolis Elementary Avery Middle School
ü Toyon Middle School San Andreas Elementary
ü Valley Springs Elementary Jenny Lind Elementary
Joan has been coaching 11 teachers for the past two years. Through the end of the year she will be shifting focus to capacity building of site administrators and strengthening their confidence regarding special education in general with an emphasis on Evidence Based Practices (EBP).
Laura Machado talked about coaching in the preschool programs. Laura is coaching 5 preschool teachers along with the Transition Program that has 2 teachers. Laura shared that in 3 of the structured preschool classes they are now implementing the Star program. The Star is a curriculum that focuses on students with autism and teaches staff to use Discrete Trial, Pivotal Response Training, and Prompting.
Professional Learning Communities (PLC) for Special Education Teachers:
Joan Perry informed Executive Council that the last PLC is meeting this Friday, March 13, 2015 and hosted by Mark Twain Elementary (MTE). The topic is on Writing IEP Academic Goals Linked to Common Core. Joan also shared that the APDAR Leadership Team is going to discuss options for paraprofessional training this summer following team recommendations to hold trainings every other year. The last training was held July, 2013.
E. PECS Training (*):
Laura Machado discussed the PECS’s training proposal which would cost $15,000.
ü Level 1 Training - $9,250 for 35 people ($265 per person)
o Target audience – Teachers, paras, speech pathologists, DHH specialist, and parents who have not yet been trained.
ü Level 2 Training - $5,600 for 35 people ($160 per person)
o Target audience - Teachers, paras, speech pathologists, and parents who have already been Pyramid trained and certificated in Level 1.
Laura talked about the goal for the training was to have each SDC teacher trained along with 2 paras from each classroom. She shared we need to consider RSP and general education teachers. Laura also shared that Amador and Tuolumne have people they would like to send to the training. Amador and Tuolumne would share the cost. Laura discussed that Level 2 training is important as it reviews the information learned in the Level 1 training. Level 2 training discusses strategies to avoid or get over barriers that are hindering student and teacher success. Dates available for Level 1 training is September 9th & 10th for Level 2, September 7th & 8th.
Julia Tidball made the motion to move forward with the PECS training for next school year. Don Ogden seconded the motion and it carried unanimously.
Mentoring Aide/Coach for Districts (*):
Laura Machado talked about increasing the Mentor Aide position. The Mentor Aide position works in programs and helps Laura with preschool to kindergarten transitions. The Mentor Aide promotes Evidence Based Practices (EBPs) and comes to all the trainings. Laura and the mentor aide look at what the staff and students need in the way of additional support implementing EBPs. Our recommendation is to add a Mentor Aide position to work in the Districts. Without having the Mentor Aide position in our preschool programs, the programs would not be implementing as well as they are and we feel that an additional Mentor Aide would provide the necessary support to Districts staff and students.
Laura shared the Mentor Aide cost breakdown:
ü 2 Mentor Aides
o Time at site will depend on % of students with ASD and their needs.
ü Additional Mentor Aide
o Would work under the current Program Specialist
ü Cost
o $11.89-$26.73 per hour (based on years of experience and education)
o 6 hours per day
o 185 school days per year (203 days total per year)
o Approximately $30,055.07 per year with vacation and benefits per individual.
F. CASEMIS Update:
Courtnay Villegas discussed that not much has changed with CASEMIS. She has noticed patterns regarding our compliance issues. She is working closely with Scott Nanik Director of IT giving online trainings starting this summer. When having these online trainings, we will be able to see which teachers viewed these trainings and start collecting data on who is taking advantage of these opportunities. Courtnay has emailed staff and put on SEIS that she is available for questions, trainings or will travel to sites to help with compliance issues. She is hoping the online training will help out with any issue that staff may have.
G. New SLD Forms:
Courtnay Villegas talked about the new Specific Learning Disability (SLD) form. SEIS asked us to choose one out of three forms that the State SELPA’s Forms Committee has chosen. Janine Schumann and Andria Tiquet decided to choose the Patterns of Strengths and Weaknesses form which is most conducive with our SELPA. The form is going to be live effective, March 31, 2015 on SEIS.
H. Occupational Therapy (OT) Intervention Forms (*):
Robin Searway shared that she meets with the Occupational Therapists on a regular basis. The outcome of those meetings has been how to minimize costs and how to make the referral forms more user friendly. Robin and the OT’s have come up with a Classroom Intervention form. SELPA/AU staff and the OT’s will put together an informational binder for all SELPA and Districts staff to use. The binder will inform staff of what Occupational Therapy is, what strategies to be considered prior to a referral, and how to exit a student. The goal is to get the Occupational Therapy binder completed for staff by the beginning of the next school year.
Courtnay Villegas talked about how she worked with our 3 Occupational Therapists to create the Classroom Intervention Strategies form. The form is for General Education and Special Education teachers to address common classroom concerns. Teachers need to implement these strategies for 8-12 weeks and be able to take detailed notes. If the teacher notices in 8-12 weeks that the student has not shown improvement or progress then the teacher makes a referral for an Occupational Therapy Assessment. This process should help to minimize occupational therapy costs.
I. Woodcock Johnson IV Training, May 13, 2015 (*):
Janine Schumann informed Executive Council that the WJ IV assessment was discussed last school year. We will be out of compliance if we continue to use the Woodcock Johnson III. Janine shared that results are based on an outdated norm sample, so it’s not good practice to use the assessment any longer. Jan volunteered to order all the tests together in order for us to get a 10 percent discount. Since this is a new assessment we want to hold a training so we can have everybody trained at the same time. We have approached Mike Harrison to do the academic training. He is currently using the Woodcock Johnson IV and we asked him if he would be available to do the training on May 13, 2015. The training is a half day training for the School Psychologists (9am-12pm) and the Special Education Teachers (1pm-4pm). Districts should send 1 or 2 teachers to the training, so they are able to go back and train the rest of the staff. SELPA/AU is purchasing one of the training kits.