The Special Education Department\u2019s leadership team welcomed 67 parents and community partners to the first Parent Advisory meeting of the year. Parents were greeted at the door and encouraged to network and visit with each other the first 30 minutes of the meeting. Channel 10\/11 News was present and reported on the importance of the parents \u2013 school partnership \u2013 especially when planning for students with unique learning needs<\/p>\n
WELCOME & INTRODUCTIONS<\/strong> The meeting began with a warm and genuine welcome from the Director of Special Education, Dr. Jenny Fundus. She shared a summary of the department\u2019s vision and goals. Following the welcome, Dr. Cara Lucas-Richt, the Early Childhood Director for Lincoln Public Schools, spoke about the services offered to children Birth to age 5. The Assistant Director and each Supervisor described their areas of responsibility, and encouraged parents to contact them if there were concerns regarding special education services for their child. The presentations fulfilled the purpose of engaging parents by informing them about the department, and allowing them to match faces to names, increasing the likelihood that parents will reach out to the leadership team if needed.<\/p>\n LEADERSHIP RESPONSIBLITIES<\/strong> Dr. Cara Lucas-Richt- Director of Early Childhood Education<\/strong><\/em> Mary Ells- Assistant Director<\/strong><\/em> Cindy Brunken- Supervisor<\/em><\/strong> Scott Eckman- Supervisor<\/em><\/strong> Mary Phillips- Supervisor<\/em><\/strong> Jill Timmons- Supervisor<\/em><\/strong> Brian Foley- Coordinator VOICE- Vocational Opportunities in Community<\/em><\/strong> COMMUNITY PARTNERS<\/strong> \u2022 Mike Chittenden, Executive Director, The Arc of Nebraska NEEDS ASSESSMENT<\/strong> \u2022 November:<\/strong> Curriculum & Instruction Supports for Students with Special Needs The Needs Assessment narrative comments also provided some good feedback which will be incorporated into future meetings.<\/p>\n WRAP UP & NEXT MEETING DATE<\/strong> Next meeting November 30th, Lincoln Public Schools District Office, Board Room 100.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Special Education Department\u2019s leadership team welcomed 67 parents and community partners to the first Parent Advisory meeting of the year. Parents were greeted at the door and encouraged to network and visit with each other the first 30 minutes of the meeting. Channel 10\/11 News was present and reported on the importance of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":125,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3nNqc-r5","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/home.lps.org\/specialed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1679","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/home.lps.org\/specialed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/home.lps.org\/specialed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/home.lps.org\/specialed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/125"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/home.lps.org\/specialed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1679"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/home.lps.org\/specialed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1679\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1685,"href":"https:\/\/home.lps.org\/specialed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1679\/revisions\/1685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/home.lps.org\/specialed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/home.lps.org\/specialed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/home.lps.org\/specialed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nParents introduced themselves and the schools they represent.
\nMany thanks to Lanny Boswell for attending to represent the Board of Education.<\/p>\n
\nDr. Jenny Fundus- Director<\/em><\/strong>
\n6300 students with disabilities are served within their home schools unless they have a significant behavioral issue.
\nDon D. Sherrill Educational Center serves students in grades preschool through 8th grade and the Yankee Hill program serves students from grades 9-12.
\nResponsibilities:<\/strong>
\n\u2022 Budget
\n\u2022 Contracts (in\/out)
\n\u2022 AP\/Coordinator meetings
\n\u2022 Deaf & Hard of Hearing (HI) Program
\n\u2022 Office Coordination
\n\u2022 Overall compliance (district, state, federal)
\n\u2022 Parent Concerns
\n\u2022 Rule 19
\n\u2022 Special Education Leadership
\n\u2022 Staffing
\n\u2022 Summer School<\/p>\n
\nServing over 1500 children age\u2019s birth to 5.
\n\u2022 Training for staff on Routines Based Interviews (RBI) designed to make services family centered.
\n\u2022 Working on PBIS which is designed for early childhood students.
\n\u2022 Parents are welcome to be a part of the Early Childhood Advisory Committee.<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Alternate Assessment
\n\u2022 District Curriculum Committee-Lead- reading, math, writing, science, etc.
\n\u2022 District Resource Program
\n\u2022 District-wide Assessment and Data Collection
\n\u2022 Homebound Services- for children recovering from serious illness
\n\u2022 IEP (Monitor, Plan, Implement)
\n\u2022 Improving Learning for Children with Disabilities, Results Driven Accountability
\n\u2022 NDE Grant Coordination
\n\u2022 PLCs and Data Teams
\n\u2022 Special Education Assistive Technology Committee- serving over 430 students<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Traumatic Brain Injury, Concussion Management
\n\u2022 Nebraska BIRSST Chair
\n\u2022 IEP (Monitor, Plan, Implement)-Lead
\n\u2022 MDT (Monitor, Plan, Implement)
\n\u2022 Mentor Program for New Coordinators
\n\u2022 Special Education English Language Learners
\n\u2022 Speech\/Language Pathologists Program
\n\u2022 VIP\/Athletic Committee<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 PBiS Coordinator\/Staff
\n\u2022 PBiS Implementation- helping schools provide multi-systems of support to build a strong positive culture in our buildings
\n\u2022 Child Guidance
\n\u2022 Critical Incident Reports\/MANDT\/TCI\/Handle with Care Training
\n\u2022 Rule 18 Schools
\n\u2022 Special Education Transportation
\n\u2022 Surrogate Parents
\n\u2022 Visual Impairments\/Orientation & Mobility Program<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Community Experiences
\n\u2022 Medicaid Administrative Time Study
\n\u2022 Medicaid in Public Schools
\n\u2022 Non-Public Special Education Program- supervises the non-public team that serves students with disabilities in the non-public schools
\n\u2022 Occupational Therapy Program
\n\u2022 Parent Advisory\/Parent Engagement
\n\u2022 Physical Therapy Program
\n\u2022 18-21 Transition Program (VOICE Program)
\n\u2022 Special Education Website
\n\u2022 Summer School- served over 1500 students last summer<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 MDT (Monitor, Plan, Implement)
\n\u2022 Professional Development & New Teachers Orientation
\n\u2022 School Psychologists
\n\u2022 Summer Assessment Planning<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 For 18-21 year old students
\n\u2022 Part of the transition after high school
\n\u2022 10 sites across the city where students learn vocational and transition skills<\/p>\n
\nThere were several community partners also attending, and they were asked to share information regarding community supports:<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Cathy Martinez, Autism Family Network
\n\u2022 Jennifer Meints, Autisms Community Agency
\n\u2022 Jed Sorenson, Windsong Equitherapy Program<\/p>\n
\nFinally, parents were asked to complete a Needs Assessment to solicit feedback to be used to identify future agenda items for the Quarterly Parent Advisory Meetings. Based on this feedback, Parent Advisory Meetings will focus on the following topics:<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 February:<\/strong> Positive Behavioral Interventions and Multi Tiered Systems of Supports
\n\u2022 March:<\/strong> Summer Services & Community Resources<\/p>\n
\nThe meeting ended on time, however parents continued to network for an additional 40 minutes after the meeting ended.<\/p>\n