ILLINOIS STATE ADVISORY COUNCIL ON THE EDUCATION OF CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES Business Meeting October 26, 2006 Thelma Keller Convention Center 1202 N. Keller Drive Effingham, IL 62401 I. Procedural Business A. Call to Order Chairperson Devine was unable to attend the meeting; therefore, Vice Chair Susy Woods chaired the meeting. Ms. Woods called the meeting to order at 9:05 a.m. State Advisory Council Members Present Marva Campbell-Pruitt Brad Hedrick Elizabeth Conran Kimberly Jachim C. Jackson Darnall Marjorie Olson Therese Devine Mike Otte (by phone) Kyle Packer Katherine Hackett Elizabeth Purvis Sharon Slover Susy Woods Stanley Valentine Mary Kay Ballasiotes Judith Flink Eric King State Advisory Council Members Absent Janet McGovern Helen Tolan Linda Prewitt David Rands Illinois State Board of Education Staff Christopher Koch Beth Hanselman Kathy Stratton Norma Lopez Reyna Rella Peeler Josh Scholl Abdin Noboa-Rios Beth Berndt Kristin Gharst Karrie Potter Kendell Thoele Guests Bilingual Special Education Council Camelot Schools Camelot Schools Innovative Consultants International McHenry County Family CARE Family Matters Family Matters Family Matters B. Introductions Vice Chair Woods asked everyone to introduce themselves including Council members, ISBE staff, and guests.
C. Adoption of Agenda Vice Chair Woods reviewed the agenda with Council members. Motion #1 Marjorie Olson moved to adopt the agenda with the addition of strategies for handling public comment to New Business, and moving the Transition Committee Report to the beginning of the Standing Committee Reports. Beth Purvis seconded the motion. The motion carried. D. Approval of Business Meeting Minutes of September 7, 2006 Motion #2 Jack Darnall moved to approve the minutes of September 7, 2006 as presented. Stan Valentine seconded the motion. The motion carried. II. Public Participation Norma Lopez Reyna, Bilingual Advisory Council, informed the group that the Bilingual Special Education Joint Subcommittee co-chairs are Susy Woods and Pat Chamberlain. They would like more involvement from ISAC. A representative from the Bilingual Advisory Council will attend all future ISAC meetings in an official capacity. The Bilingual Advisory Council has recommended two names to the Office of Boards and Commissions for bilingual representation for appointment to ISAC. Illinois is the only state that has specific requirements for bilingual specialists for special education students. Ms. Lopez Reyna discussed changes that need to be made concerning the certification webpage in regards to bilingual special education certification. Council members encouraged further partnership with the Bilingual Advisory Council. Rella Peeler, Superintendent for Camelot Schools and Josh Scholl, Marketing Coordinator for Camelot Schools distributed a packet of materials that describes the schools and residential facilities. Camelot Schools will be expanding their programs. The agenda was modified to allow Committee reports before the ISBE Update to allow Dr. Koch and Ms. Hanselman to arrive. III. Committee Reports A. Standing Committees Executive There is no report at this time. The next meeting is scheduled by telephone conference call on November 21, 2006. Comprehensive State Plan There is no report at this time. The committee will be reviewing the proposed withdrawal of Schiller Park SD #81 from the Leyden Special Education Cooperative over the next few months. General Supervision/Due Process There is no report at this time. Finance With the departure of Janet McGovern from ISAC, Mike Otte asked for another member to join this subcommittee Marva Campbell-Pruitt volunteered to join.
ISBE has announced the dates for public hearings regarding the FY08 education budget. Mr. Otte encouraged committee members to attend at least one hearing. Beth Conran encouraged ISAC to make public comment at the Budget Hearings. Motion #3 Beth Conran moved that ISAC develop and give public comment at the State Board of Education Finance & Audit Committee FY08 Budget Hearing. Mike Otte seconded the motion.. A discussion ensued. The Finance Committee will meet via telephone conference call to develop public comment. A motion will be made at the Executive Committee Meeting on November 21 st requesting approval of the public comment before it is presented at a Budget Hearing. After this approval, a member of ISAC will present at one of the remaining Budget Hearings. The motion carried. Legislation/Interagency Communications, Susy Woods shared that there are several bills that are now public law that will impact special education students. These include HB4987 (reimbursement of behavior analysts), SB1497 (preschool for all children, including children with disabilities), SB2630 (bullying curriculum), SB2882 (pilot program for class size reduction in grades K-3), and SJR66 (fully federally funded NCLB). Senator delvalle has been appointed as Chicago City Clerk. It is rumored that Representative Willie delgado will replace Senator delvalle. Legislation that will be included in the fall veto session include the P.E. exemption bill which would allow kids requiring therapies to use P.E. time for these therapies. This bill will probably pass. The Due Process bill that has been discussed in the past will probably be brought for a vote and Ms. Woods expects it to pass. The Legislation Committee would like to host a Legislative Breakfast during the spring session in either March or April. While ISBE will pay for beverages, they cannot pay for food. Beth Conran has offered for a group of students from her culinary arts program to prepare and serve the food. Marjorie Olsen offered for students from the School for the Visually Impaired to assist. A group of Ms. Slover s students operate a greenhouse and could provide floral decorations. While Helen Tolan was not at the meeting, it was suggested that she be asked if the students at the Capital Area Career Center might be interested in participating. There was discussion about having the breakfast in the Rotunda so more legislators will be involved. Motion #4 Beth Conran moved that the ISAC Legislation Committee plan and carry out a legislative breakfast for the Spring 2007 session at the Capitol building. Stan Valentine seconded the motion. The motion carried. Sharon Slover and Marjorie Olson volunteered to assist the Legislation Committee. Family Communications There is no report at this time. There was discussion concerning the proposed ISAC website. Brad Hedrick stated that there has been minimal critique or feedback from ISAC members. Vice Chair Woods directed members to visit the website and provide Mr. Hedrick with feedback and information about actual document requirements. Chair persons from individual committees are especially encouraged to review the website and make suggestions/comments to Mr. Hedrick with specific recommendations regarding committee links and documents. Mr. Hedrick will provide Kathy Stratton with the login information so members may logon to the site. Rules and Regulations Beth Conran stated that the committee discussed organizing themselves and dividing up responsibilities among members. Ms. Conran shared information on the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (JCAR) and subscription
information to receive weekly updates from them. Ms Conran also shared The Flinn Report and provided information on how to access this on a weekly basis. The committee discussed proposed legislation and the proposed 226 Rules. There was detailed discussion concerning the class size/caseload issue. BREAK Vice Chair Woods called for a break at 10:30 a.m. The meeting was reconvened at 10:50 a.m. A quorum was present. Bilingual Susy Woods provided information on the following: 1) The Bilingual Special Education Subcommittee will send a representative to each ISAC meeting until the Governor appoints a bilingual person to one of the ISAC vacancies. 2) Ms. Woods, as chair of the ISAC bilingual committee, was elected as co-chair of the Bilingual Special Education Advisory Subcommittee (along with Pat Chamberlain). 3) The annual Illinois bilingual conference will held in December. Ms. Woods has more information for interested members. 4) UIC has received a teacher preparation grant to prepare LBS II candidates in bilingual special education. Personnel Development No report at this time. Access Committee No report at this time. Transition Committee Sharon Slover had several questions for Dr. Koch and Ms. Hanselman including: who is the transition contact for ISBE, where is the state in regards to IEP pages for the Summary of Performance and Transition, and questions regarding indicators 13 & 14. Ms. Hanselman indicated that Sue Walter is the Transition Coordinator currently working with the TOTAL grant. Ms. Hanselman is interviewing individuals for a staff position with ISBE that will focus on transition. Other discussion included IEP regional trainings. There is general agreement that parents also need training in regards to IEP forms. The majority of parents are not getting adequate transition information. The Parent Task Force is addressing the issue of getting information to all parents who have children with IEPs. Discussions also included the need for transition specialists in schools. Interagency Coordinating Council Marva Campbell-Pruitt reported that the Education and Public Outreach Subcommittee held a meeting at which Dr. Sheldon from ISU described the transition specialist certification program available at ISU. ICC is obligated to report to the Governor to what extent they have reached out to colleges/universities for the transition specialist certification. They are planning an educational summit with a select group of college/university representatives to talk about ISU s program and why other colleges/universities should offer the Transition Specialist Certification. ICC will be providing their annual report in March which will be based on the school year rather than calendar year. Ms. Campbell-Pruitt indicated that Janet McGovern was the liaison from ISAC to ICC, and with the resignation of Ms. McGovern a different liaison needs to be appointed. ISBE gave $10,000 toward the Transition Conference which allowed ICC to give scholarships to students and their families to attend the conference. There was an overwhelming response to the Transition Conference. The next transition conference will be in southern Illinois, with the location and date to be announced later. Jack Darnall attended the Transition Conference and
reported that one of the issues was the Summary of Performance. If a student chooses to attend college, the colleges can disregard the Summary of Performance if they wish to. Ms. Campbell-Pruitt said ICC is working with colleges, universities and community colleges to make sure schools are providing the information that the colleges and universities require for admission. III. Illinois State Board of Education Update A. State Regulations Dr. Koch reported that he will be taking the concerns raised regarding the proposed 226 Rules format, process for rules, and especially the class size/caseload issue to the ISBE Rules Subcommittee for discussion. The Parent Task Force will bring their recommendations to the next ISAC meeting. Most parents do not bring questions on rules to ISBE; they have specific concerns about their children but do not relate those concerns and issues to specific regulations. Illinois State Board members will vote on the proposed rules at their December meeting. B. Due Process Evaluation / Training Dr. Koch has been impressed with the new contractor for the evaluation and training of hearing officers. Illinois is comparing hearing officer information with other states. Andy Eulass, Illinois Due Process Coordinator, will be attending a professional development conference with other states to discuss issues regarding due process cases, how they handle conflict, and should Illinois be doing things differently. C. State IEP Format Dr. Koch stressed that they have looked at many districts local IEP forms. ISBE s IEP form takes elements from most of these local forms and incorporates them into the state form. The forms still need to undergo legal review. Once the state IEP form is ready, it will be released for comment from ISAC and other interested parties for two weeks. Dr. Koch reminded members that at this time the Illinois IEP form is recommended, not required. Beth Hanselman discussed some specifics of the form. ISBE has adopted the research based practice for evaluation and eligibility determination. The forms will be the same for specific learning disability and all other disability categories. Because of the changes, the training process will be critical. As suggested by ISAC members, the transition page will be moved closer to the front of the document. All forms have been formatted to work in the Harrisburg iepoint system. D. State Performance Plan Update Dr. Koch will bring a draft of the State Performance Plan to ISAC in December or January. The final SPP is due to USDE in February. The State Performance Plan has all of the indicators and outcomes that are part of the LEA profile that ISBE must publicly report on for all districts. This second year will allow for many meetings with other states to share information. E. Calumet Park District 132 Update Dr. Koch stated that the oversight board meets monthly. Another Calumet Park board member has resigned and there are now three vacancies on the board. The
oversight board hopes to fill those vacancies in November. Members inquired about how many other districts in Illinois are in the same situation. Dr. Koch stated that there are probably more that need the oversight board however, there is a lack of staff to devote to more individual districts. The State Board has asked staff to research the data needed, what other districts need individual oversight, and what is the staff capacity to handle more districts simultaneously. Illinois may be a potential good model for other states. F. Focused Monitoring Update Beth Hanselman updated the members on the status of the listing of districts for the spring educational environment visits. The list of districts will be available in December. Seven of the thirteen scheduled fall visits have been completed for reading assessment gap. Some modifications from the pilot year have been made. Recommendations have been taken and reviewed. G. Transition Task Force The Transition Task Force has held their second meeting. Discussion at IAASE centered around what is good transition planning? The indicators are promoting awareness and discussion about transition and districts know this will be on their LEA profiles and will be public information. This will be transparent data and will require districts to really take a look at transition. Districts need to be involved with the discussions from the start. Dr. Koch currently leads the Task Force meetings. Sharon Slover represents ISAC on this Task Force. Ms. Slover has shared the Transition Committee minutes from the last meeting with ISAC. ISBE has the names and address of parents who will be sent surveys the week of November 17 th. The survey will provide scientifically valid, statistically relevant data about the parents involvement in their children s IEP process and their satisfaction with that process. The parents of 10,000 children with IEPs were randomly selected with 4300 from the Chicago Public Schools and 5700 from the remainder of the state. H. NIMAS Standards As part of the Part B application, ISBE will adopt the NIMAS standards. NIMAC will operate as the data warehouse. Publishers will send XML files of any textbook sold in Illinois to NIMAC. NIMAC will then provide the XML file to the user so they can adapt the material for their individual student needs. These standards do not currently address educational computer software materials. I. Review of Procedures for Withdrawal ISAC members had previously made the following motion: ISAC recommends that ISBE review the policies and procedures for withdrawal from a cooperative to include a follow-up review of the cooperative to ensure that services are still being appropriately delivered. Ms. Hanselman will review the current procedures and ISAC suggestions and bring some appropriate language for ISAC s approval to the December meeting. J. Other ISBE has several Special Education Division vacancies at the current time. Dr. Koch encourages members to share this information with appropriate persons. Dr. Koch is also hiring contractual monitoring positions for the Chicago office.
Dr. Koch reminded members that this will be his last ISAC meeting while he accepts the role of Interim State Superintendent of Education. The person who will hold the Interim Assistant Superintendent of Special Education position will attend ISAC meetings during this time. K. State Board Meetings / Future Meetings A list of 2006-2007 Illinois State Board of Education meetings was distributed. Council members who will cover the next few meetings are: November 15-16/Springfield - Linda Prewitt, December 13-14/Springfield Susy Woods, January 17-18/Chicago Jack Darnall, February 21-22/Springfield Marjorie Olson, and March 21-22/Springfield Linda Prewitt. Vice Chair Woods called for a lunch break at 12:25 p.m. The meeting was reconvened at 1:00 p.m. A quorum was present. V. New Business A. Annual Report Vice Chair Susy Woods told ISAC members that the annual report will be emailed for member review and an approval vote will be taken at the December meeting. Members discussed the critical issues and barriers to success that are listed in the annual report each year. Members felt that since barriers to success are listed, accomplishments should also be listed. ISAC accomplishments will be added for the first time to the 2005-2006 Annual Report. B. Comments Received after ISAC Public Testimony After public testimony, ISAC members, especially Chairperson Terri Devine, receive emails and letters from the public that misrepresents what was publicly said. Members discussed appropriate responses to such correspondence. Most of the responses have been based on incorrect interpretations. One member suggested posting the public comments on the ISAC webpage so statements cannot be misrepresented. Comments received have for the most part been nonspecific and are coming after the public comment period. Motion #5 Beth Purvis moved that a representative of ISAC attend the November meeting of ISBE in order to clarify the position of ISAC as related to class size/caseload as written in the 226 Rules. Brad Hedrick seconded the motion. The motion carried. Susy Woods will be the ISAC representative at that meeting. C. Other Vice Chair Susy Woods reminded members that the next ISAC meeting has been moved to December 5 th and 6 th. The Committee of the Whole meeting on December 5 th will be held at the Quality Inn Hotel. The Business Meeting on December 6 th will be held at the ISBE offices. Jack Darnall encouraged ISAC members to access the ISBE website a few minutes each day with a total of at least 20-minutes every month so they can be more knowledgeable of ISBE policies and daily business.
VI. Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 1:30 p.m.