Staffing and Compliance Meeting

Staffing and Compliance Meeting 9/19/2012

Present: Brenda Cable, Toni Clayton, Lynn Hollingsworth, Joan Incaudo, Laura Luter, Sandy May, Kathy Zielinski, Michael Bailey, Connie Batts, Rachel Boehmer, Jennifer Clarke, Chris Fallon, Lynn Graniero, Shelly Hellendrung, Ceni Holcomb, Sue LaRoche, Donna Mastromarino, Kylie McCloe, Laura Meshbesher, Michelle Mitchell, Gina Moe, Tracy Repp – PM, Marcie Risser, Beth Robinson, Angie Saxton, Dawn Sellitto - AM, Jill Smith, Donna Steen, Deb Walters, Sarah Wiest, Julie Yusko

General Announcements: All 1. Kylie announced her resignation and gave fond words of farewell to the group. She will be greatly missed. Kylie has created documents, developed trainings and been supportive of her peers. 2. Kathy does have permission to advertise Kylie’s position. Anticipate ad running in near future. Interviews are done for the last vacant position & Kathy is waiting for third floor guidance on hiring. 3. Ticket out the door for T/IEP training needs to be completed before leaving today. 4. Kathy is addressing a school concern – wanting to know if ALL classroom teachers have to attend a T/IEP meeting. If a severe issue or parents request all team members, we try to accommodate. Federal law does not require ALL, it specifies what the student needs (i.e. if behavior impacts science the most, the science teacher should be invited). May be clarifying multiple meetings (504, SBIT, ISS, T/IEP) and the need for input from ALL secondary. 5. Completing boxes on a MIS 797 – every line must be completed – N/A is not an option. Every line is straight from SBR. 6. ESE West is the name for Portable 18 where Kathy, Lynn, Laura & Laverne are now working. We all have the same phone number (X42594) as before, but have a new fax number 794-2657.

Changing Schedules: Kathy Either for a one-day change or long term, you must ask permission from your school-based administration. Do not inform/email intent to change, there must be a request made. Can have principal to principal contact also if one school is asking for your participation in a meeting. Easier to follow procedure as principals will view it as an option to request SCT when they need additional assistance. Question of compensatory time – plan ahead for exchange of time to demonstrate flexibility in supporting both schools as much as possible. SCT meetings are mandatory – can forward email from Kathy to Guidance & Administration. Training opportunities can be discussed with Kathy if there are concerns. If it is a calendar issue (i.e. hurricane day, Monday off or a sick day), you do not need to make it up. In light of greater number of meetings and urgent school needs, Kathy has been approving early leaves/late arrivals from SCT meetings if requested by school administration.

Communication with Administrators: Kathy If you do not see ESE administrator regularly at meetings, please email or speak with them to keep them updated on school situations and students being discussed. Need to ensure administrators know you are in the building & engaged in student issues. CC your mentors for unusual/extenuating situations also to keep them in the loop in case they receive questions. For schools which require excessive emails, plan with your mentor. Juvenile Detention Center: Toni JDC Teacher, Pat Wright, needs quick response when an IEP is requested. Pat will notify Deb W who will follow up with SCT at school sites. She has received many expired T/IEPs from schools in the past & has to rewrite them to be compliant OR she has been told there are no T/IEPs. Deb W will email SCT and their secretaries to try to expedite.

Private School Update: Dave Law & Toni Clayton Special thanks to SCT who assisted in the development of Child Find guidelines this summer. Review of 8/17/12 memo and flowchart. Beginning of procedure is up to private school & parent; applies to K-12 non-profit schools only. We are obligated to evaluate & determine eligibility for ANY student; services options are different based on school status. They contact zoned school for the child for secretary to initiate process/ISS. RtI packet is a tool schools can use. Kathy may have electronic copies. If there is a contract therapist already serving a student, involve them in the process (SLP Chair - Katie Bourgin; OT – Shelly Loughrim; Dave has email addresses). Can initiate the TAD with demographic & school information. Criteria for private school RtI is less stringent than ours. Dave clarified that we have a ton of flexibility regarding RtI and fidelity of implementation; just need something to address student need. There is great variance in abilities. ISS critical – share potential outcomes with parent. We may not offer services for everything in staying in private school. Refer to services available this year. Services are provided by contracted companies; District currently provides only VI & D/HH consultation. 3 meeting outcomes – no evaluation, concurrent RtI & evaluation, interventions waived & evaluation. Follow up ISS to work on TAD, then ESE Staffing to present TAD draft. We do not issue Consent for Services to private school students (Given only when student is enrolling in public school & T/IEP developed). If parent requests services through Dave, they can be considered for a SP. Only time SP written by District staff is for clinic speech to a Home Ed student. The contract therapist should be developing the T/IEP. TAD review. There are Procedural Safeguards for private schools. Q&A: For profit schools do not receive services from District & they do not have to follow an IEP. McKay does not require ESE services be provided. Dave can send a list of non-profit schools to SCT. Floridaschoolchoice.org has a private school directory & McKay information which can be used as reference. TERMS procedures are being developed. Student records questions – request records from last school of record & return to that school since it was indicated as last school of record. If testing deemed not necessary at ISS, do we issue Informed Notice of Denial? YES. Who is responsible for filing copy of SP in home school records? Not SCT. Right now filed at District; pending update. Suggestion for Guidance Secretary to file a cover note in the cume file indicating SP filed at District. Consent for services paperwork – Toni will follow up on location. No services for a for-profit private school; however we are still required to perform child-find responsibilities if the student lives in Pasco (regardless of school location). We are responsible for any non-profit schools in our District. If student is attending a non-profit school out of Pasco, that county is responsible. Reevaluations – who tracks reeval due date? Dave is working on this – we are responsible to conduct reevals every 3 years. SCT are NOT responsible for tracking reevals. Home Ed students can access clinic SLP only; not common. Complete request prior to SP meeting. Private school tracker is used to track time when district staff provides services to private school -- cannot bill for evaluation/reeval services (Child Find). SCT will not have to complete this.

Regulations Regarding SCT Shirts: Kathy Policy that we are not allowed to wear shirts that indicate SCT title on it. There are groups that have shirts, but we are not allowed; it has been requested and denied. Can wear a shirt with a Pasco County logo on it. Some schools have purchased shirts for staff – OK to wear.

Social Media Discussion: Kathy Facebook, emails, posting pictures, etc. step back and reflect on your professional status. Other district staff have been in trouble for posted content. Community perception is what matters. Be considerate of others who are in the picture who may not want their information/tag on the internet – can be passed to others who are not intended.

Questions Regarding T/IEP Training: Sandy * Recent evaluation section – can team reference TAD if no formal evaluation? Reference data source, not TAD. * Location of services – cannot mix sites for ESE Services, but can mix for Accommodations. Kathy is following up on this with Supervisors. She will let SCT know outcome. Conference notes are helpful to clarify team intent. * Training at school sites – can be time frames or full days, depending on school needs. Form sent to principals is due back to Kathy by end of month. Waiting on content from Anne. * Do we need to submit sign in sheets to Kathy? Keep for SCT evaluation artifacts.

Required File Reviews: Kathy Documentation sheet is file to evaluate impact of cloning on T/IEPs. Review 10 files & reference categories included on the chart – indicate N or C related to cloning. Can add comments. Cloning – is PlanMaker used to transfer information in completion (levels not updated; goals same)? If only assessment scores are updated, list as cloned. Use professional judgment to determine if progress has been noted from previous year. Idea is to gather objective data randomly. Need to determine if county-wide or school specific. Clarification on transfer T/IEPs – not an area of concern due to not knowing student. However, if it is much later than the original OOS T/IEP, really should have updated levels. Many schools write a new Pasco T/IEP and use previous information for PLS/goals. Tallahassee has made the decision that the FTE audits will not be every 3 years. They are just going to decide and show up. Kathy does not feel that this will be an issue for us this year. Self monitoring audit happens every year. This will last for a few months. The students will be identified in advance. We will need to work with the IEP team to check that everything is in compliance. Once the window starts, we are not allowed to fix. We will officially fill out the file reviews at that point. SCTs that do not have schools being audited will need to offer support for others. Transition 13, DJJ, matrix and restraint/secured seclusion will be audited for sure this year. (Kathy just found this out) There is a chance that Kathy will know that schools being audited very soon. This is not where people come onto our campus. Kathy sends a sampling to Tallahassee. From there, if corrective action needs to occur. A plan will be made. Kathy is working on an email to principals now. There is a new DOE contact now too.

New ESE Students Registering at Charter Schools: Kathy This is just an FYI (a procedural document will be going out later) Charter schools used to be able to run a lottery for openings during the summer. They would look at the 504 plans and IEPs when making determinations. There was a lawsuit in another county for doing the same things and lost. Kathy has been working on new procedures now. It is considered discrimination to ask for a 504 or IEP prior to acceptance into the school. Once the child is accepted, then the schools can ask. The team will need to convene and see what services the student needs. If the services noted on the IEP are more intense than the charter school can provide, the zoned school needs to get involved. Call Kathy or someone serving the charter school if there are questions.

New Technology Requests for Nina Complete this form. If you want to include your name, you can. It is not required. Nina has offered to come to our meetings to teach us about technology. (could be things to help us with our job, things that teachers use in the classroom, etc.). If you are familiar with the information that Nina is presenting, Kathy will be allowing us to remove ourselves from the training to do something else work related.

SCT Needs: Kathy Kathy overheard a conversation at training about SCT being overwhelmed. ALL concurred. Many across the district are feeling the same way. Kathy acknowledged SCT will not be able to get everything done to the degree they are used to doing things. It is due to things beyond SCT control. Need to promote the positive perception & it will brighten the day for you and your coworkers. SCT do an excellent job of supporting each other. Please continue to share with your peers & mentor to let go of things. Dawn shared water bottle analogy. Beth shared book Positive Dog. Positive = healthy.

Claiming Self-Determination on the Matrix: Laura All self-advocacy/determination and understanding of exceptionality fall under SEB Domain on the Matrix. Goals can be listed under other areas on the IEP, but SCT needs to be aware to mark under SEB when completing Matrices. Secondary do not even have domains on the TIEP. Also remember that typical self-determination services of 4X a year do not qualify for a higher score on the matrix (level 2 = monthly).

Recommendations for SCA Settings: Kathy If student is being recommended to move from home school to SCA setting at another school and parent (Or any other team member)is not in agreement, supervisor will most likely support keeping the student at the home school. Goal is for team to gather additional data to reassess the situation. Different story with behavior or safety issues. Movement to reduce SCA setting, but to be cognizant that students in self-contained are severely disabled. Documents are being considered to make team feel more at ease about their disagreement. If you have a situation come up, feel free to talk with Kathy. SCT feel the need to help administration and teacher with accountability (school grades/teacher evaluation) and problem-solving concerns. Kathy will clarify problem-solving with Melissa & supervisors. Administration has already voiced concerns about accountability; that is not a SCT area to address.

T/IEP Training Overview Activity: Sandy Rating key concept coverage from training last week. Remember to complete the feedback form for Anne by the end of the meeting today.

School Compliance Rating Activity: Sandy Discuss with mentor as prioritizing school-based training.

Book Study – IEPs That Succeed: Lynn Groups reviewed certain sections of the book and shared out key points/legal context.

Matrix Overview: Laura Review of key updates from DOE – Refer to summary handout. Important to note that review section has been removed. Key is in documentation to support areas indicated. DOE clarified definition for “consultation”. Additional documentation requirements for level 4 & 5 under SEB. Additional healthcare options now. Communication levels 4 & 5 must include involvement of SLP or other communication specialist. H/HB funding & multiple matrices clarified. All SCT should plan to attend one of the scheduled trainings and encourage appropriate teachers from their school sites to participate. Very limited response thus far, possibly due to late memo distribution.

OT/PT Update: Laura * Refer to handouts and flowcharts. * No longer using the Referral for OT/PT (MIS #776) –please recycle old forms. * Out of State (OOS) Transfers have new guidelines for student who receive PT – they must have a prescription form a FL doctor prior to receiving direct services. The PT can provide consultation up to 21 days while waiting for the prescription. We still request a prescription for OT, but it does not impact eligibility or service. The medical cover letter for OOS Transfers has been updated. Remember to expedite ISS for OOS transfer students who receive therapies. * OT/PT Discontinuations: We must now consider all data and additional evaluation (Use MIS #809) prior to recommending discontinuation. This can be done in conjunction with the T/IEP meeting. Be sure to include all content on the invitation. Remember to update the reevaluation due date when revising the T/IEP. Parent involvement is critical. If parent is not in agreement or not in attendance, the implementation date (T/IEP and MIS #797) must be 10 days after the meeting date. * OT/PT for students who have 504 Plans – this is FYI only. SCT have no responsibilities for this.

PreK Topics: Brenda * Boundary change for PreK impacting MPLES – updated on wiki. Adaptive PE should not be addressed on the IEP; specials are not included on the PreK IEPs. Addition to LRE section of IEP specific to PreK students. They are working on DD & LI TADs for PreK. Continue to use ETRs in the interim. * Charter schools which have PreK attached to them. Do not view the Preschool as part of the charter schools. Deal with those sites like any other community day care center. * Some PreK students have much medical documentation already provided – do not have to use MIS #818 to duplicate information. * Brenda is making sure Head Start is being consistent with forms being used for Child Find activities. * Training opportunities for SCT dealing with PreK issues – Brenda has developed an overview powerpoint & wills end to us. Next SCT Meeting will allow time for this group to discuss & apply skills to file reviews.

Pete & Penny: Jenn & Marcie * Jenn passed Pete to Sue for all of the PreK support provided this school year. * Marcie passed Penny to Kylie for all of her problem solving support. She will be missed greatly! Penny is now a princess. . . with a teddy bear.