December 18,  2003 Meeting

Agenda Items
Topics from Members
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Mission

Membership

Sevier County Special Education Parent Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes

The Sevier County Special Education Parent Advisory Committee (SC SpEd PAC) held its eighth meeting on December 18, 2003.  Five members attended.

Jeff Romanczuk reminded all that the training needs survey is due to him by December 31.  Only 93 have been turned in so far, more than the 89 we based the last round of training on, but still a small percentage of the SpEd staff and parents in the county.  We will use these results to decide what training sessions to hold and fund over the next two school years.

Jeff also mentioned that we're moving ahead with plans to open the Trula Lawson Instructional Materials Center (IMC) to parent borrowing.  We could use some parent help to decide how best to clear the space and rearrange the materials to work out this process.  Contact Jeff by e-mail or phone (748-7711) if you are interested in helping.  In addition to parents and teachers loaning or donating materials they already have, parents can make suggestions for future purchases.  

The Pigeon Forge Community Center will host a SpEd parents night out once a month, usually the third Friday.   At the November 21 session from 6 to 10 pm, the kids swam, bowled, then had pizza and watched a movie.  (The $10 cost per child includes these activities.)  Right now the PFCC staff can handle the number of participants they are getting, but as involvement picks up, parents or Sevier County Schools staff will be needed to watch the kids at the Community Center while other parents get some relaxation time.  If you are interested in using this night out or working the Community Center so that others can use it, please contact Kathy by e-mail  or at 924-2989.

A few parents and several teachers attended the December 10 Functional Communication 1-day session held by the Treatment and Research Institute for Autism Spectrum Disorders (TRIAD), "Behavior is Communication."  A few points worth noting from this training: 

1. Nonverbal students needs "Speech" too, because S/LPs work to enhance whatever communication channels the child has and uses
2. Rewarding for desired behaviors works better than punishing for undesirable behaviors
3. Redirecting works better than punishing

Jeff, Sandy Enloe, several teachers, and most of the school psychologists attended the annual Tennessee Association of Supervisors of Special Education conference in early December.  In his talk, Joe Fisher, the state's Assistant Commissioner of Education (for Special Education) highlighted a few areas of concern the federal (Office of Special Education Programs) monitors pointed out to him.

• High dropout and low graduation rates
• Early childhood transition to special education/Post high school transition to life
• Showing that the services written into Individual Education Programs (IEPs) are actually being delivered
• Evaluating the effectiveness of the Continuous Improvement Monitoring Process (CIMP) at the school system level
• Evaluation of staff development (is training making a difference?)
• Not testing for possible SpEd services until a student is in third grade
• The need for kindergarten screening of students who have been receiving SpEd services since they were three
• General education teachers either not getting the word about what modifications to make or not acting on this information when they are given it.  Especially at the high school level, a student with elementary level reading skills just gets more and more lost without the classroom and curricular modifications
• Related to Mr. Fisher's transition concerns from OSEP, a few members expressed a similar concern about the lack of teacher communication for the other transitions during a child's school career:  primary to intermediate, intermediate to middle, and middle to high school

The parent of an elementary student mentioned the use of acronyms at Individual Education Plan (IEPs) sessions.  She suggested parents of older students might attend to add the occasional "Oh, by the way, LRE means 'least restrictive environment'."  At least, one school staff person should be designated at these meetings to make sure the staff is communication effectively with the parent

The problem of the lack of textbooks in consolidated developmental classrooms, social development classes, and especially in resource rooms came up.  John mentioned later that this issue is being worked, especially for students reading at a lower grade level than they are in 

Jeff also talked some about recent case law decisions from two sessions he attended.  Contact Jeff Romanczuk for more information.

Jeff next tried to clarify the SpEd "pre-referral" process based on recent Support Team guidance provided by the school psychologists at their October 16 inservice.  This prompted some discussion from the members about their children's journey to special education, mostly what they didn't like about the process. 

Jeff mentioned that Upward Basketball at one Blount County church has a Challenger division that is open to Sevier County SpEd students.  The season runs mid January to early March.  If interested, call Mt Lebanon Baptist Church at 983-4200.  The church is just northeast of Maryville, about 25 miles from the Sevierville intersection of 66 and 441.  Jeff mentioned that the Eagleton Little League, also in Maryville, has a Challenger Division that would like Sevier County SpEd students to join.  The softball season runs mid April to mid June, with sign ups starting in March.  In both leagues, anyone can play and everyone plays the whole game every game.  Contact Jeff at 748-7711 for more information.

The next Parent Support Group potluck lunch meeting is February 5, noon to 1 pm at the Trula Lawson Center.  There will be no lunch meeting in January.

The next SpEd PAC meeting will be on Wednesday, January 21, 11 am at the Trula Lawson Center. If you have a child in Sevier County Special Education and would like to get involved in the SpEd PAC, please come.

Also on January 21 (starting at 1:30 pm at the TLC), Jeff and John will present the current status of Continuous Improvement Monitoring Process (CIMP) actions begun during the 2001-2002 school year.  This session is intended to update Sevier County's original CIMP steering committee, but is open to anyone who interested, especially any parent or staff who may like to get involved in the next round of program monitoring.  In addition to the parent, teacher, and administrator surveys, IEP folder checking, and program improvement plan tracking for areas of concern, the CIMP focuses on indicators in these six areas:

1. General Supervision
2. Parent Involvement
3. Free, Appropriate Education in the Least Restrictive Environment
4. Early Childhood Transition
5. Secondary Transition
6. Other Requirements (such as minorities-in-SpEd tracking)

Two closing reminders:  Kathy Dufau and Jane Boling will present the parents' perspective at the March 25, 2004 after school inservice session.   Christy Gunn (Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program Alternative Coordinator) and Jeff Romanczuk will present on TCAP Alt at the January 12, 2004 after-school inservice session (3:45 to 4:45 pm).  A second hour long session on formative assessments in the classroom follows that same night.