Consortium Meeting Minutes
Ted Kelly welcomed everyone to the first meeting of the school year. He thanked the consortium for their support. He said that exciting things are coming up. We need to gain a perspective of what is going on. Ted thanked Mae Taylor for her support and stressed that we are fortunate to have a state office that supports us. He said that when things get difficult, we donāt give up. He admonished us to accept challenges and look forward to the future.
UPDATES: Jerry Christensen welcomed the group also. He gave a mentor update. The Utah Mentor Academy Initial Training is going on at the same time as this consortium and excused Tracy Stewart and Davalee Miller. The new members of the ULRC staff will be in attendance a little later in the meeting.
ULRC: Jerry Christensen went over the folder items÷calendar, consortium dates for future, district assignments for the year with new people, PT conference information, registration forms were passed out, mentor conference and paraprofessional conference information.
PARENT CENTER: Jennie Gibson said they have made changes in how they do business. She handed out a map showing who from the Parent Center is assigned to each district in the state. She also shared a calendar of upcoming events. The Parent Conference will be April 28-29, 2000. There will be a new volunteer training on Oct 8-9 at the Jones Center. Jennie asked to have Special Education Directors recommend people for this training. Helen Post explained there would be a period of change at the parent center due to the changes in funding. Educated Transition Choices (ETC) was not refunded. Some of their activities will continue through programs already in place. Family Voices of Utah and the Utah Parent Center will develop a model called Family to Family Health Information Center. With cooperation from USU, the Parent Center will be working on a program called "Integration and Development of Community Based Family Supports for Utah". The Parent Center is also negotiating with the Utah State PTA to act as a resource partner to assist the six centers the PTA will establish through a grant award. The Parent Center provides outreach assistance to Head Start programs with children with disabilities. The Parent Center will also be working with the State Improvement Grant.
USOE: Ken Reavis facilitated the following updates:
Nan Gray said that on October 6 there is a state roundtable for transition. The special education directors are invited to send people to the upcoming "Decade of Difference". This will be offered in six different regions throughout November and December. March 8-9, 2000 will be the statewide conference in Provo with Billy Mills as the keynote speaker.
Brenda Broadbent called attention to the consortium calendar which has the dates for the regional preschool conferences. The November Region 7 conference has changed to Jan 14-15 at Millard High school. North and South Sanpete districts have been added to Region 7 and will have their conference in the Spring. Peggy Baker has taken Shelly Kieferās place with Supporting Inclusion for Preschool Children (SIPC) project.
Deb Andrews and Cal Evans announced the BEST Conference in Ogden on October 21-22. Dr. Mary Margaret Kerr is the speaker for the presession. Bill Heward, Ray Beck, David Pelzer (A Child Called It), Joe Mascorro are some of the keynote speakers.
Mae Taylor announced the Improving Americaās Schools Conference November 8-10 at the Salt Palace. For web site information
http://ncbe.gwu.edu/iasconferneces. (Parent Center will be arranging for guides at the conference in exchange for free registration for volunteers).Tim McConnell introduced Danelle Keith (inclusion project). She passed out a list of regional inclusion conferences throughout the year. Next year, they will offer one statewide conference which will be on November 8-9, 2000 at Snowbird. There are about 20-21 districts that have been through the training. The project is a collaboration between the University of Utah, preschool, inclusion teams, and have some local support through the inclusion team. Web site address is
www.usoe.k12.ut.us/sars/Upi/index.htm then go to the conference area.Marilyn Likins announced the Paraeductors conference on November 19-20 at Snowbird. Transportation has been arranged in case of bad weather. John Magg will be one of the keynote speakers.
INSTITUTES OF HIGHER LEARNING:
Utah State University: Rhonda Menlove announced a masters program is now in place for special education, delivered through the distance education program. USU is seeking doctoral students for their program. Contact Tim Slocum for additional information. The mild/moderate program is underway and they are excited about the number of people in that program. Rhonda said they would appreciate any feedback on their program.
Brigham Young University: Richard Young said BYU has reorganized their undergraduate certification program. They are beginning to fill slots for new teachers. They are also revamping their masters program adding a new emphasis and new faculty. Richard introduced Lynn Wilder (from Ball State) and Michelle Marchant (from Utah State University) who have joined the faculty at BYU. They have also revamped their supervision program.
Salt Lake Community College: Kate McConaughy passed out a brochure explaining their paraeduation program. They are working with USU to make sure the requirements are appropriate.
University of Utah: Jack Mayhew said they have brought back their undergraduate special education program. They are looking at starting a summer institute in special education. Their new chair, Marshal Welch, will help with the program. Elaine Clark discussed their school psychology program. They hope more people will become interested in their certification program.
State Improvement Grant: Bruce Schroeder introduced the SIG team. For preservice, Monica Ferguson; for induction, Dan Morgan; and for career professional development, Sharon Neyme. Those on the executive management team are Mae Taylor, Ron Stanfield, Richard Young, Don Uchida, Helen Post, CSPD leadership team and a representative from the governorās office. The SIG team will be looking at ways to improve the state educational system over the next five years. Job site on line
http://www.utaheducationjobs.org will provide help to educators. Their goal is to create an extensive infrastructure for special education.Jerry Christensen introduced the new ULRC staff: Michael Herbert, Cheryl Hostetter, and Jim Curtice.
PRESENTATION:
Kim and Debbie Hepworth presented technology that will help with CSPD in the state. How do you use all the information that comes to you? Kim demonstrated a way using the internet and other technologies. This information can be obtained in an economical way such as CD-ROMs, downloads, etc. Kim showed information on LRBI from Provoās web page http://www.provo.k12.ut.us. Go to "special programs" page, then "special education" page, then the "LRBI" link. This web page is in a PDF format so it doesnāt make any difference what type of computer you use. IEP forms are available on the web site.
Vance Engelman has been consulting across the country. He discussed his opportunity to experience the good in education. Through group discussion, he listed the lessons learned from great educators: 1. commitment to continuous learning; 2. strategic thinking all the time; 3. think out of the box; 4. create partnerships everywhere; 5. value-centered; 6. facilitator of change; 7. experiential learning; 8. bold moves.
He suggested the following mantra: "Repeat all the above steps each day." This will help you move forward in the educational process.
Dismissed at 3:40 pm.
The following attended the meeting:
DiAnne Adams