ESE Advisory Committee Meeting
Minutes
11/18/2015
Meeting Participants
Sherry Aemisegger, District
Lael Arango, Community
Sue Blanchard, Community
Laura Bluett, District
Michele Burt, District
Janet Clark, District
Jessica Conover, District
Jane Golding, District
Excused
Rachel Branum, Parent
Steven Colbert, Parent
Visitors
Katie Csaszar, District
Kelly Henrikson, District
Shandy Gregg, District
Lina Hawana, Parent
Doreen Jablonski, Parent
Cathy Jardim, District
Paula Keyser, Parent
Marty Massimo, District
Tracy McMannus, District
Caroline Conlon, Parent
Bozena Gasior, Parent
Cathy Jardim, District
Jessica Moody, Community
Sandy Oliveras, Parent
Rachel Pages, District
Misti Pollaro, Community
Michelle Rogers, Parent
Elizabeth Tisdale, District
Lisa Tucker, District
Laurie Ulbrich, District
Bonnie Monroe, Parent
Kristen Redding, District
Charlene Reedy, Community
Welcome and Introductions
Jessica Conover and Tracy McMannus co-facilitated and attendees introduced themselves.
Approval of Minutes
Minutes approved.
Vacancies/Membership Elections/Recruitment
Membership changes recommended and approved. Tracy will coordinate with Paula Keyser to get the membership list updated. An updated membership list will be shared at the 1/20/2016 meeting.
Discussed need to promote membership and attendance…..both teachers and parents.
Strategic Plan/ESE Goals/District Comparisons
Per Jane Golding, a decision was made not to fill the supervisory position for VI/Speech/DHH/OT/PT staff and therapists for this school year. There would have been 300 people to supervise, and it was felt that the applicant pool would not have been able to handle. A temporary solution has been put in place for this year dividing up the responsibilities. It will be revisited for next school year. As of today, the district is short 14 SLPs. They are interviewing tomorrow for the PreK ESE position.
Jane passed out and discussed the handout Exceptional Student Education: Goals for Success 2015-
2016.

Goal 1
 Focusing heavily on LD (Learning Disabilities), but not ignoring other disabilities.
 Doing Professional Development on progress monitoring tools.

Goal 2
 Focuses on extended transition. Working with cities on internships and apprenticeships.

 New…..looking to track students after leaving the system.
 Goal 17
 PreK ready for Kindergarten – looking at curriculum
 Sue Blanchard expressed concerns with the reduction of speech services/SLPs for early intervention
 Michelle Burt feels that bigger concerns are language impaired not speech. Case loads are too much, shared between two schools.
Diploma Options
Presentation Diploma Pathways for Students with Disabilities by Katie Csaszar, ESE High School
Curriculum Specialist:
 Standard Diploma-24 credit: available to all students

Standard Diploma w/Employment Competencies: only available to ESE

ACCEL (Academically Challenging Curriculum to Enhance Learning)-18 credit: available to all students

Special Diploma: available only to current 11 th and 12 th graders (those who entered high school in 2012-13 and 2013-14)

Standard Diploma via Access Courses: only available to students with significant cognitive disabilities

Diploma Deferral: designed for students with significant cognitive disabilities
The changes in diploma options are being discussed with families at IEP meetings.
Sue Blanchard is concerned that St. Petersburg College accepts all students with a standard diploma and without knowing the type of standard diploma, those students may not be successful.
The state requires ½ credit of PE and ½ credit Health. Adaptive PE is available for those students who may need it.
Note: This powerpoint presentation is available on www.pcsb.org
.....click on Departments&
Divisions/click on Exceptional Student Education/click on ESE Advisory.
FLDOE Parent Survey Results
Presentation 2015 ESE Parent Survey Results by Kristen Redding, FDLRS Project Manager:
 This survey is required for Indicator 8-Parent Involvement.
 At the PreK level, 72 surveys were completed and 72.2% met the standard required that schools facilitate parent involvement for children with disabilities.
 At the K-12 level, 432 surveys were completed and 61.8% met the standard required that schools facilitate parent involvement for children with disabilities.
 2015 surveys were done on-line, paper copies available on request. 2014 surveys were distributed on paper to all students with disabilities and there was a much higher participation rate. 2016 surveys will be returning to the paper version for all students, with on-line also being available. Surveys in English, Spanish, and Haitian-Creole.

The Indicator 8 Committee will be reestablished to address the low scoring survey items as well as marketing the 2016 surveys.
Note: This powerpoint presentation is available on www.pcsb.org
.....click on Departments&
Divisions/click on Exceptional Student Education/click on ESE Advisory.
ESE Advisory Agenda Topics
Worked in small groups to brainstorm topics to address at future meetings:

Co-teaching - January meeting

More parent resources


Extended School Year (ESY) – January meeting
 Staffing Models/Changes in Units
 Recruitment/Retention of ESE Teachers
 Extended Transition (ET) information
Parent Subcommittee Update
Family Network on Disabilities (FND) offered to help lead this committee.
Open Agenda
Jessica Conover shared information about the upcoming Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) annual auction being held on Dec. 3. Proceeds go toward providing summer camp scholarships for students with disabilities.
Lina Hawana shared information about the Caregiver/Parent Support Group that meets on the 3 rd
Thursday of each month at 6pm at Lampert’s Therapy Group in Largo.
Lael Arango, Director of Education from Great Explorations in St. Petersburg shared flyers about their second Sunday of the month museum events for children with special needs and their families. Visit www.greatex.org
for more information or call (727)821-8992.
Charlene Reedy shared information about The Kidz Club which provides child care for children with special medical needs ages birth through 20 years. They currently have openings and provide transportation from Ulmerton Rd. and south. Go to www.thekidsclub.com
for more information or call(727)821-5439.
Future meetings will be held 6-8pm at the Largo Administration Building, 2nd Floor Room B-213:

Jan. 20, 2016

Mar. 16, 2016

May 18, 2016