Special Education Committee Minutes

Date of Meeting: May 2, 2009

Members Present: Linda Olsen, Helen Dalton, Mike Terman, Inderjit Uppal, Dawn Herren, Alicia Crimmins, and Kenneth Denman.

Reporter: Barbara Kimmel

Topics Discussed:

Committee voted Linda Olsen and Barbara Kimmel to co-chair the committee. Dates of next meetings were named for October 3, 2009 and January 23, 2010.
CTC – Credentials were discussed, Levels 1 and 2 are being eliminated. Teachers must be highly qualified in core curriculum area.
Teacher Retention & Recruitment – New survey out for teachers. Speech & Language
New credential geared to oral language development.

Action Taken:

State Advisory Commission will be reported upon by Kenneth Denman once a month.
Pending legislation – Log on to www.leginfo.ca.gov for updates.
Discussion regarding career and technical education for students who want a diploma (alternative), students to work as an apprentice with unions in the trades exiting as a journeyman. Barbara Kimmel will represent CALSTAT and Teacher Recruitment & Retention Committees.

Future Plans:

Resolution: Research vocational/technical diplomas for students to graduate, especially the Boston school district model.
Workshop: RTI and inclusion or exclusion of behaviorally disruptive students, where they fit in a continuum of services so they can remain in school rather than Non public schools.
Website Goals: Add response websites and add the minutes from each meeting.
For next meeting bring back the sites members would like to see regarding approaches to behavioral interventions and asset building.
Communication with members will take place via email.
Keeping up data for CTA especially for the SLPA issue and RSP credentialing; we should all be watching the CTC website for current information.
Other – Dawn will inform us of the redesigning project she referred to regarding the Special Education Department and the program called, PROPS problem solving.
Medically fragile, ASD, and Inclusion language needs to be defined more clearly in order to meet student needs and keep teachers current with these issues.
Marty Hittelman questioned how generic is the lack of accommodations and modifications for special needs students to include DIS students. The committee will report back after investigating this within their SEPLA’s.