ILLINOIS STATE ADVISORY COUNCIL ON THE EDUCATION OF CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES. Eisenhower Cooperative 5318 West 135 th Street Crestwood, IL 60445

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1 ILLINOIS STATE ADVISORY COUNCIL ON THE EDUCATION OF CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES Eisenhower Cooperative 5318 West 135 th Street Crestwood, IL I. Procedural Business Business Meeting June 5, :00 a.m. Chair Beth Conran called the meeting to order at 9:00 a.m. A quorum was present. ISAC Members Present Diane Blair-Sherlock Heath Brosseau Tiffany Cole Beth Conran Suzanne Lee Kimberly McClellan Jennifer Naddeo by phone Marjorie Olson Mike Otte Rick Ramirez Sharon Slover Carrie Snyder by phone Susy Woods Stephen Breese Greg Donathan Kyle Gaffey ISAC Members Absent Joanna Graham Kris Hohulin Ron Kubalanza Ancel Montenelli Lauri Phillips Beth Purvis ISBE Staff Present Dave Andel Melanie Fleenor Mary Long Andy Eulass (Presenter)

2 Guests Present Asia Bey Jordan Durrett Lisa Clark Research Student Research Student Illinois Service Resource Center Introductions Chair Conran welcomed ISAC members and staff and asked that they introduce themselves. Adoption of Agenda Motion #1 Susy Woods moved to adopt the agenda with the addition of slated officers. Diane Blair Sherlock seconded the motion. The motion carried. Approval of Business Meeting Minutes from April 10, Motion #2 Susy Woods moved to that ISAC approve the minutes of April 10, 2014 as presented. Diane Blair Sherlock seconded the motion. The motion carried. II. Public Participation Lisa Clark with Illinois Service Resource Center (ISRC) gave a brief update on what her organization is and what they have to offer. The ISRC is a technical assistance agency that serves students from kindergarten 21 yrs. of age that are deaf and/or hard of hearing. III. Illinois State Board of Education Update Update on Various Topics Dave Andel, Division Administrator, Special Education Services Division SPP/APR We received our draft SPP/APR report from OSEP; we have added clarifications, additional comments, and findings that have been closed since the original Feb 1 st submission to OSEP. We should receive our final determination from OSEP in early summer; I will share the determination at the next meeting. Focused Monitoring All 30 districts and 22 CPS buildings have received their monitoring visits for this year s cycle. Team leader training is scheduled for August 2014 in Springfield and Chicago with management facilitating the meetings. LRE Data Cohort Cohort 5 information will be made available for districts at the end of July (a webinar describing the LRE Cohort will be available for districts administration

3 to view) and information available at the Directors Conference. ISBE will be asking districts to commit by October if they are interested in joining. Cohort 5 will begin in early December for all participating districts, Northern districts will be meeting at the Crowne Plaza in Glen Ellyn and South/Central districts will be meeting at the Crowne Plaza in Springfield. Directors Conference will be held in Springfield on August 6, 7 and 8 th at the Crowne Plaza. Registration for the conference and hotel block will open on Tuesday next week on May 27 th. A schedule at a glance will also be posted. Registration will stay at $ Registration will close July 3 rd. All registration fees must be received by July 25 th. Any registrations cancelled after July 25 th, will forfeit their registration fee. At the door registrations will be accepted the cost will be $ On Wednesday, August 7th a pre-conference session on IDEA flow through grants management and Funding and Disbursement from 1:00-4:00pm. On Thursday, August 8 th the keynote speaker is George Davis, MD from the Child Trauma Academy. He will be presenting on Trauma Informed Practices. Sessions will include ISTAC programs, transition, School Nurse, Federal and State monitoring, Technology, PARCC, DLM, Legal review, Facilitated IEPs, I-Star, IEP Quality Project, Funding, and Results Driven Accountability. On Friday, Aug 9 th the featured speaker is Steve Woolf an educator from Kansas who will be present on 7 (or so) Habits of Effective by Slightly Stressed out Educator, followed by Darcy Kriha on current legal issues facing special educators. IDEA Flow through Grants Funding and Disbursements released ESTIMATED IDEA allocations and nonpublic proportionate share calculations on April 29 th. Part B IDEA Allocations from the federal government reflected a 4.1% increase over last year 5% reduction due to sequestration. Total allocation went from $479 million to $499 million. We anticipate Funding and Disbursements will also release the IDEA flow-through and preschool grants applications in June. DLM The following is the number of tests completed since Field Test #3 began on May 1, 2014 State Complete In Progress Not Started IL The following are dates for reviewing information. However, we are still reviewing the accessibility manual to ensure that all the needs of our students are being accounted. Currently, the accessibility manual is being reviewed by other consortium states. The assessment administration manuals are being reviewed by the assessment division. Date Action 5/6-5/22 Window for state review of ELA text packet (to be discussed on 5/22 call, 11:00-12:30 Central time)

4 5/7-5/23 Window for state review of English Learners draft for Accessibility Manual. 5/7-5/23 Window for state review of tables of contents for assessment administration manuals for operational year Illinois is one of the states who will be piloting the DLM assessment to students who are blind/visually impaired. DLM is preparing a set of tests to test on this population. They are hoping to have it ready by the end of May for piloting. DLM will be conducting an in-depth training for state level personnel only on July 10 from 8-3 pm. This session will provide detailed information about DLM implementation in SEAs who indicated their interest via the registration form for the July 8-9 Governance Meeting will be notified via from DLM with full details shortly. Additional SEA staff is welcome for this event, but will need to cover their own travel expenses. Staff has been visiting schools that are participating in the DLM field test to get a firsthand account of the assessment. Of those districts visited, all of the teachers had positive things to say about the assessment. Most of the issues were with technology on the DLM side that can be fixed without having to rework the assessment. Special Education division and Assessment division are working together to modify our state IEP forms to reflect the new assessments being done for next school year. School Nurse Medical Review training for nurses who do not hold ISBE licensure/endorsement for school nursing: The first session of 90 Registered Nurses began the training on April 17, 2014 and will complete the course on May 27, Of the original 90, about 84 will successfully complete the course. A small number dropped out due to unforeseen circumstances; most of those were enrolled into either the summer or fall sessions. Another session of 90 students is set to begin June 25, 2014 running until August 5, 2014 and a third session of 90 students is set to begin in early October and be completed before Thanksgiving. Sessions are also being developed for next winter (January-March 2015) and next spring (April June 2015). Sessions will continue as long as there is need. All those enrolled in the course are required to submit these documents: 1. Copy of RN license issued by State of Illinois 2. Copy of pay stub or contract demonstrating they meet the requirement of being employed by a public school district or coop in Illinois.

5 3. Cover letter asking to be enrolled in the course and providing contact information (phone, , etc.) 4. Letter from employer (school district or co-op administrator, supervisor, superintendent, etc.) affirming that the district is directing this employee to take this course for the purpose of becoming trained in the job duty of providing medical review for evaluation or re-evaluation of students for special education services. (See for details). When the announcement went out in late March for students to submit applications, response was much greater than expected. ISBE was expecting about 200 applicants, based on a survey distributed by IAASE showing that almost a quarter of Illinois LEAs did not currently have a certified school nurse. ISBE arranged for 270 student slots to be made available over spring, summer and fall, with plans to continue smaller numbers of sessions as the need became less. However, more than 200 applications were submitted in the first few weeks alone, and to date, 270 are enrolled in the current 3 sessions, with a waiting list of at least 100. ISBE staff received inquiries and applications from not only RNs currently working in public school districts or coops, but also from RNs who provide substitute nurse services, who provide 1:1 direct care for a student with severe medical needs, from RNs who do not work at all in schools but considered this course as resume enhancement for future employment, from RNs in private schools, and from even a few school nurses from out of state who considered this to be a good refresher course. All those s and calls were handled by two ISBE staff persons, primarily Jessica Gerdes, who enrolled the students after reviewing application materials and in some cases calling the students to supply missing information or for clarification of their application materials. Students were assigned based on date of and completeness of application as well as ISBE s dedication to assure that the greatest number of districts have at least one person so trained as soon as possible. Although many calls and s came from RNs who were not eligible for this course, ISBE wants to assure IAASE that only those RNs who met all qualifications were allowed to be enrolled. All who meet the qualifications listed above will be able to take the course in or school years. They will receive a certificate of completion issued by Illinois Virtual Schools. At some time before June 30, 2016, they will be listed on the ELIS system as RNs authorized to perform medical review for special education purposes. Legislation relating to Special Education Over the past several months, the Agency s Governmental Relations staff has been working with Agency divisions to develop legislative proposals for the spring 2014 legislative session. HB 4527 (Chapa LaVia/Lightford) amends Article 27A to make it explicit that charters are subject to all state laws, regulations and rules regarding Special Education and English Language Learning instruction.

6 Status: This legislation has passed the General Assembly and awaits action by the Governor. SB 2710 (Cunningham/Walsh) clarifies that non-public schools are required to conduct a minimum of one annual meeting regarding safety drill programs. This would align safety drill requirements for state-recognized non-public schools with public school requirements. Status: This legislation has passed the General Assembly and awaits action by the Governor. Budget HB 6093 (Madigan/Cullerton) contains the FY 15 appropriations for ISBE operations and grants. The ISBE General Funds budget is increased by $188.0 million over FY 14. Highlights are below. General State Aid is appropriated at $4.522 billion GRF. Preliminary estimates indicate that the General State Aid claims payable in FY15 will be prorated at 89.0%. The programs that make up the special education Maintenance of Effort (MOE) are funded at $1.54 billion GRF which represents an increase of 0.75% over FY14. Budget staff estimates this will meet federal MOE requirements. Transportation is level funded at $205.8 million which will result in an estimated proration of 72%. Early childhood education is level funded at $300.1 million. Bilingual education was funded at $63.68 million, an increase of $300,000 when compared to the FY14 appropriation. Career and Technical Education is level funded at $38.0 million GRF. The line item for assessments is funded at $44.6 million which we anticipate will allow ISBE to cover the cost of the PARCC assessment in grades K-8 and once in high school as well as ACT, ACT Writing, and WorkKeys. Funding for ISBE GRF administration is flat funded at $23.2 million. This funding was appropriated in line items rather than a lump sum which will reduce the agency s flexibility to meet needs as they arise throughout the fiscal year. Regional Safe Schools and Truant Alternative and Optional Education are flat funded under this proposal at $6.3 million and $11.5 million respectively. Funding for Targeted Initiatives is $3.2 million, an increase of $2.85 million (814.3%) when compared to the FY14 appropriation. The following line items were not funded for FY15: Longitudinal Data Systems, Homeless Education, Diversified Educator Recruitment, Low Income AP programs and the Board recommended mentoring programs.

7 HB 6060 (Harris/Steans) appropriates $400,000 GRF in FY14 supplemental funding to the State Board of Education for district consolidation costs. This line item was prorated at 83.0% in FY14. HB 3793 (Currie/Steans) among other appropriations to State agencies, HB 3793 appropriates $75.0 million in capital funding to the State Board of Education. Of this amount $40.0 million is for downstate school maintenance grants and $35.0 million is for grants to CPS for school construction. Legislative Summary Passed Both Houses Below is a summary of legislation that has passed both houses of the General Assembly. Reports, Task Forces, Commissions, etc. HB 5892 (Mussman/Manar) Among other requirements, requires ISBE to submit an annual report on the use of stock epinephrine auto-injectors to the General Assembly (see Student Safety). Licensure / Evaluation HB 5286 (Bost/Bertino-Tarrant) Would allow individuals with 4 years of experience as school service personnel to qualify for principal preparation programs until June 30, SB 2989 (Delgado/Cassidy) Makes changes regarding Illinois licensure for out-ofstate school psychologists. Charter Schools HB 4527 (Chapa LaVia/Lightford) Amends Article 27A to make it explicit that charters are subject to all state laws, regulations and rules regarding Special Education and English Language Learning instruction. This is an initiative of the State Board of Education. Funding SB 2945 (Harmon/Nekritz) Requires the Illinois purchased Care Review Board to accept the rate of a specific out of state special education private facility if there are 12 or fewer Illinois students enrolled instead of setting the rate through the Board s normal procedures. SB 3554 (Morrison/McAsey) Adds one non-voting member to the Illinois Purchased Care Review Board. Requires the member to be an administrator of a private, nonpublic, special education school.

8 Student Safety HB 5892 (Mussman/Manar) Requires districts to maintain a supply of epinephrine auto-injectors. Also requires ISBE to submit a report on the use of stock epinephrine auto-injectors (see Reports, Task Forces, Commissions, etc.) SB 2710 (Cunningham/Walsh) Clarifies that non-public schools are required to conduct a minimum of one annual meeting regarding safety drill programs. This would align safety drill requirements for state-recognized non-public schools with public school requirements. Staffing Updates Springfield- New Hires or Positions Dawn Camacho IDEA Grant Coordinator Connie Heinz Focused Monitoring LEA Team leader Ashley Ferguson Support Staff Vacant Three LEA monitoring positions open recommendation are pending on one. Retired Kathy Cox has retired, her position has been posted. Chicago- New Hires or Positions Regina Williams Non-Public team monitor Vacant Four CPS monitoring position open recommendations are pending on two. Due Process Hearing Officers (Closed Session), Andy Eulass, Due Process Coordinator Motion to Go into Closed Session Motion #3 Susy Woods moved that ISAC go into closed session Pursuant to Section 2(c)(15) of the Open Meetings Act and Section c of the Illinois School Code for the purpose of reviewing the recommendations made by the Due Process Screening Committee pertaining to the reappointments of the Due Process Hearing Officers and the appointment of new Due Process Hearing Officers for the period from July 1, 2014 to June 30, Marjorie Olson seconded the motion. A roll call vote was taken. The motion carried.

9 Motion to End Closed Session Motion #4 Heath Brosseau moved that ISAC come out of closed session having completed its review of the recommendations of the Due Process Screening Committee for the reappointment of the Due Process Hearing Officers and the appointment of new Due Process Hearing Officers, ISAC end the closed session in order to take final action on the recommendations of the Screening Committee for the appointment of the Due Process Hearing Officers for the period from July 1, 2014 to June 30, Diane Blair Sherlock seconded the motion. A roll call vote was taken. The motion carried. Hearing Officers for FY15: 1. Josette Allen 2. Kenneth Ashman (new, active) 3. Ann Breen-Greco 4. Beatriz Diaz-Pollack 5. Deborah Frank Feinen 6. Jennifer Leisner (new, active) 7. Janet Maxwell-Wickett (new, active) 8. Philip Milsk 9. Michael Risen 10. Mary Schwartz 11. David Utley 12. Sabrina Wilkins-Brown 13. Kathleen Fuhrmann (new, reserve) 14. Marcia Johnson (new, reserve) ISTAC Clarification on Consolidation Beth Hanselman, Assistant Superintendent, Specialized Instruction Nutrition and Wellness with ISBE clarified some issues with the ISAC council. She discussed the consolidation of the 5 technical assistance projects that ISBE has implemented under the ISTAC umbrella. The 5 technical projects are Behavior (PBIS), Education Environment LRE (Project Choices), Special Populations (Autism and Behavioral Health Issues), Family Engagement Parent Educational Partnership (PEP), Transition (Transition Programming). The council will draft and send a letter of support to the Governor s office for the consolidation of the 5 technical assistance projects that ISBE has implemented under the ISTAC umbrella. Motion #5 Susy Woods moved that ISAC adopted the meeting calendar as is with the correction as follows: February 18-19, 2015 and April 23, Kimberly McClelland seconded the motion. The motion carried.

10 Motion #6 Diane Blair Sherlock moved that ISAC approve the annual report with changes discussed and to provide same to the general assembly. Susy Woods seconded the motion. The motion carried Motion #7 Susy Woods moved that ISAC accept the appointments of the due process hearing officers for FY15. Rick Ramirez seconded the motion. One abstention. The motion carried. Motion #8 Susy Woods moved that ISAC accept the change of Chair and Co- Chair of the Illinois State Advisory Council to Sharon Slover as Chair and Jennifer Naddeo as Co-Chair. Kimberly McClelland seconded the motion. The motion carried. Motion #9 Heath Brosseau moved that ISAC send a letter of support to the Governors office for the consolidation of the 5 technical assistance projects that ISBE has implemented under the ISTAC umbrella. Susy Woods seconded the motion. A roll call vote was taken. The motion carried. Committee Reports Committee reports can be found at the end of the minutes. No meeting was held so there is no report at this time. Executive Beth Conran, Chair No meeting was held so there is no report at this time. Access Kris Hohulin, Chair No meeting was held so there is no report at this time. Bilingual Jennifer Naddeo and Ancel Montenelli, Co-Chairs No meeting was held so there is no report at this time. Comprehensive State Plan Susy Woods, Chair No meeting was held so there is no report at this time. Family Communications Beth Purvis, Chair No meeting was held so there is no report at this time. Finance Mike Otte, Chair No meeting was held so there is no report at this time. General Supervision/Due Process Rick Ramirez, Chair see report at the end of these minutes. Legislation Susy Woods, Chair No meeting was held so there is no report at this time.

11 Personnel Development Suzanne Lee, Chair No meeting was held so there is no report at this time. Rules and Regulations Suzanne Lee, Chair No meeting was held so there is no report at this time.. Transition Sharon Slover, Chair see report at the end of these minutes. IV. Old Business ISTAC V. New Business Slate of Officers Motion #10 Susy Woods moved that ISAC adjourn the meeting. Marjorie Olson seconded the motion. The motion carried. The meeting was adjourned at 1:30 p.m.

12 ISAC Due Process/General Supervision Subcommittee Meeting May 23, 2014 via phone Members in Attendance: Rick Ramirez, Chair, Sharon Slover and Suzanne Lee. ISBE Staff: Donna Schertz, Division Supervisor and Andy Eulass, ISBE Due Process Coordinator The following Dispute Resolution Data ( School Year to Date) was discussed. Complaint Data - 86 complaints filed. Top 10 Issues: 1. IEP Implementation (Special Education Services) 2. Development of IEP 3. Parent Participation 4. IEP Implementation (Related Services) 5. Referral/Evaluation Procedures 6. FAPE 7. IEP Review and Revision 8. Content of IEP 9. Eligibility Determination 10. IEP Implementation (Accommodations/Modifications) Mediation Data 148 mediations requested. Top 10 Issues: 1. Placement Determination 2. FAPE 3. LRE Requirements 4. Disagreement over Eligibility 5. Independent Educational Evaluation 6. Sufficiency of Instructional Services Offered 7. Calculation of Educational Benefit 8. Private Placements by Public Agencies 9. Speech Language Pathology 10. Content of IEP(PLAAFP, Goals, Reporting on Goals, Statement of Services, Participation, Assessment, Services Dates) Due Process Data hearings requested. Top 10 Issues: 1. Placement Determination 2. Independent Educational Evaluation 3. FAPE 4. Private Placements by Public Agencies 5. Disagreement over Eligibility 6. LRE Requirements

13 7. Child Find 8. Speech Language Pathology 9. Content of the IEP (PLAAFP, Goals, Reporting on Goals, Statement of Services, Participation, Assessment, Service Dates) 10. Occupational Therapy Donna Schertz provided an update of the IEP Facilitator project.

14 ISAC Transition Subcommittee Meeting June 4, 2014 Present: Sharon Slover, Kim McClellan, Rich Ramirez, Beth Conran, Susy Woods, Diane Blair-Sherlock and Melanie Fleenor Transition Conference Transition Conference: October 27 & 28 th - Susy Woods brought the committee up to date on the conference and passed out the conference program. This led to a discussion about one of the presentations for Employment First and other presentations about transition going on around the state with ISBE s name on the flyer. The committee discussed as a stakeholder group, should the Transition Committee be more informed about events. Writing a motion was discussed and will be brought to the members at the business meeting. Shared Information Equip for Equality New transition website being developed to assist families in contacting the office for assistance with transition litigation. Transition will fall under the ISTAC - Train the Trainer Module IEP forms are now on the ISBE website. Transition pages are currently being updated to reflect the new legislation. Employment First Vision Quest Meetings Meetings occur the 2 nd Friday of every month Minutes attached Next meeting June 12th Highlights from Vision Quest Meeting Community Forums conducted in Springfield and Chicago area - Idea to give information, guided discussion, take questions from the audience, go back to community and report back in. For Next Illinois team meeting: Ask/invite Sue Walter, Illinois State Board of Ed, to talk about building capacity in schools and connecting transition to systems. Reconnect with ISBE team participants to ask their resources and information for the team regarding capacity building, informing teachers and reaching families. Further Discussion regarding: What are the structures we would use to integrate systems to assist transition youth and achieve better outcomes? Work with Education and all to find out what exists in best practices in Illinois on: Informing teachers about adult resources and individual community employment

15 Connecting families and students to adult resources Recognizing clear pathways to reach community employment Further Discussion regarding: What are the structures we would use to integrate systems to assist transition youth and achieve better outcomes?

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