Welcome: Steve Hirase welcomed the group to the first consortium of the new year. He said that this meeting will set the tone for the rest of the year. He also asked if "positive special education" was an oxymoron?

UPDATES:

ULRC: Bruce Schroeder also welcomed the group. He reviewed the food donations from last month and mentioned the thank you letter from the food bank. The ULRC staff was excused, except Bruce and Tracy. Karen Marberger will be leaving in June due to her husband’s job move to Boise. Bruce reviewed the folder, calling attention to the calendar and "All Good Things" story, a reminder of why we are teaching.

Tracy Stewart gave an update on the UMTA, which will be meeting next week for the 10th annual conference at Provo Marriott. She called attention to the most recent article for mentors included in the folder. She announced the "Precision Decisions" conference on March 4-5 with the focus on making precision decisions. She urged the consortium to send teams (1 administrator, 2 professionals) if they are interested. The conference is limited to about 15 teams. The 1st day will be on Precision Teaching training and the 2nd day will be on making decisions by Dr. Richard West and Dr. Richard Young.

Bruce reviewed the January issue of the Utah Special Educator. He highlighted the consortium members who had articles in this issue: Mary Vaughan, Tom Burchett, Ronda Menlove, Vicki Todd as well as Jennie Gibson and Mae Taylor-Sweeten.

USOE: Ken Reavis facilitated the following updates:

Tim McConnell will present at next consortium on "mukluk technology". He said that autism training is a series for district teams and inquiries should go to your district offices for information.

Brenda Broadbent said that the last preschool conference is next week in Salt Lake, with 475 registered. Valerie Scherbinske has been hired at the USOE as a project specialist for supporting inclusion for preschool children.

Ron Stanfield is now at the state office working on teacher certification. He said that we are basically all doing the same thing—working toward what is best for the kids. He said we need to look at our roles as educators and realize that the role has changed immensely. That is the reason for looking at recertification. A task force, chaired by the UEA is looking at the area of professional development. They are looking for feedback and consensus. One idea that has surfaced is that educators need to have a lifelong plan for professional growth. He will be taking a draft plan before legislature and is asking for a year to come up with actual plan. One area they are looking at is to have peer support on a professional basis, ways to instigate dialogue among colleagues and collecting points from pairing with colleague. There will be a transition period, since not all teachers are at the same point and they want to make it as least intrusive as possible. Also, time ! and money are concerns and may be addressed by the legislature. Ron also brought greetings from new state superintendent, Steve Laing.

Natalie Allen announced that Jim Walsh will be coming to the BEST Institute at Jones Center on January 21-22.

Mae Taylor-Sweeten announced the new staff member at USOE is Nan Gray. She will be doing transition and other responsibilities. Donna takes over the in-state monitoring system (PAR) and the contact person for assessment. PAR schedule will be coming out (5 year schedule). SARS week is March 22. Monday and Tuesday will be Title I meetings. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday are the other at risk meetings. Wednesday at the SARS luncheon, Steve Laing will be speaker. Sped Ed on Thursday and Friday, at the Sheraton Hotel (formally the Hilton) in St. George.

Jennie Gibson announced their Parent Conference on March 19-20. Don Meyer from Children’s Hospital in Seattle is coming. They are planning to have a 504 workshop for parents at this conference. Some money is available to support parents attending the conference. Jennie distributed a schedule of events for the Parent Center to help consortium see what they do.

University of Utah: Jack Mayhew announced the Acres Conference in Albuquerque, NM. He said it was a small conference with good networking opportunities. For more information check http://www.ksu.edu/acres. Jack talked about the Comprehensive Behavior Specialist Program (master of science degree program at U of U). Grants are available that will provide 50% off the cost. Marshall Welch will hold a training workshop this summer June 14-16 in Park City. For more information check http://www.prep.utah.edu

Utah State University: Ronda Menlove said they are getting ready to start next round of "distance ed". Ronda took over from Jane Pemberton. "Distance ed" is for mild moderate certification and is the same program that is taught on campus. They are looking to expand program which lasts 2 years.

Contact Ronda at 435-797-3911. Ronda also reported that USU is in the middle of revision of their administration certification program. They are considering combining special education and regular education law classes. She asked the consortium to contact Keith Checkketts (435-979-1473) regarding decision to drop emphasis on special ed law (and write to President of college). The Consortium voted to send a letter to the dean and Chekketts. Comments could also go to: gerryg@coe.usu.edu or call 435-797-1437, the dean of College of Education.

Marilyn Likins announced "Advanced Behavior Management: Effective Practices for Paraeducators" class starts January 16. The cost is $30. Weber State, Tooele, U of U, Gunnison, Duchesne, Dutch John, Vernal and USVC are current sites.

CEC announcement: Peggy Milligan announced a CEC fund raiser at Barnes & Noble on February 9, from 5 to 9 p.m. They will get a cut of the sales as a fund raiser on purchases made at the store on 612 E. 400 S. Phone orders will be accepted, but make sure you mention CEC when you order. Peggy gave a reminder of CEC conference in St. George and referred to the form in Special Educator.

PRESENTATION: Tom Burchett gave a presentation on the IEP process.

Looking at IDEA changes, the added word "measurable" has caused many questions and concerns about defining the word and what it means. Tom looked at some ways to make this process easier for our teachers. There has been a lot of work to teach IEPs but the truth is that they are not complete in most cases, and may not be helpful in some cases. Tom gave consortium a "test" to see how they would rate "present level of performance" statements and found that there was a great difference in how members saw those statements. That is one of the reasons that teachers become confused about what to do. Different people tell them different things and they don’t know which direction to go. We need to come to a common understanding of what is compliance. We need to work on words and understanding and come to an agreement to help those who want to write good IEP’s. We must agree on fundamental components in order to make this work. Tom’s proposal, to make the right thing easy and the wrong thing hard, would help new teachers.

Bruce: A discussion followed Tom’s presentation with additional ideas and suggestions.

Meeting adjourned at 12:00 noon