Minutes of
Special Education Advisory Council
December 8, 2011
Members Present:
Tiffany Cabrera, Armona Union School District
Tom Addington, Central Union School District
Karen McConnell, Hanford Elementary School District
Janice Ede, Hanford Joint Union High School District
Donna Wood, Island Union School District
Cathlene Anderson, Kings River-Hardwick Union School District
Tina Gonzales, Kit Carson Union School District
Cristy Popp, Lakeside Union School District
Emily Carney for Richard Rayburn, Lemoore Elementary School District
Marlaine Jensen, Lemoore Union High School District
Lisa Horne, Pioneer Union School District
Judy Horn, Reef-Sunset Unified School District
Cathy Machado, Shelly Baird School
Members Absent:
Gary Raper, Corcoran Union School District
Others Present:
Barbara Castle, SELPA
Natalie Harlan, SELPA
Kathy Fagundes, SELPA
Barbara Zaino, Kings County Office of Education
Tammy Johnson, Hanford Elementary School District
Michelle Cano, Island Elementary School District
I.
CALL TO ORDER
Meeting was called to order by Karen McConnell at 1:37 p.m.
II.
ACTION ITEMS
2.1, 2.2
Motion was made by Lisa Horne, seconded by Cathy Machado to approve the December 8, 2011
agenda. Motion was unanimously approved.
Motion was made by Janice Ede, seconded by Donna Wood to approve the November 10, 2011
meeting minutes. Motion was unanimously approved.
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2.2
III.
REPORTS, DISCUSSION
APE
3.1
Natalie Harlan stated there are concerns with modified equipment and after discussions with the
insurance carrier it has been determined that the use of this equipment could result in a liability
issue. If any district has modified equipment please notify the SELPA office. Any modified
equipment will be replaced and pulled.
Alt. Ed.
3.2
Nancy Damm stated that a process is being developed to notify the district of residence when a student at
JCM and Community School are released.
Nancy stated that the SESR’s have been closed. The verification review in Alt Ed was also closed this
week.
Mental Health Staff Development
3.3
Nancy Damm stated that Ron Powell will be at Merced County Office of Education on January 18, 2012,
additional information will be emailed out as soon as it is received.
Governance Council has approved the use of SB 70 funds for training.
IV.
STANDING ITEMS
SELPA Directors Update
4.1
Nancy provided the SELPA Directors report on the following items;
 MOU with Mental Health has gone to County council.
 Coalition –
o
Discussion surrounding triggers.
o
Coalition met at the Capital last week regarding mental health, discussion items
included;
 Flexibility for service delivery models.
 Putting MH dollars into 602 base and why not to do that.
 Parent education and the need for more legislation in this area.
 Cultural proficiency.
 Working within the dollars that we have for mental health.
 SELPA Directors –
o
Fred Balcom spoke on the following items;
 Diastat, need to implement right away but CDE is not responsible for
providing guidance until July 2012.
 Super Committee, failed so there will be automatic cuts.
 County jails, there have been two bills to switch the responsibility for DOR
to County Office’s, both have failed.
 Recommends that we hire staff using the mental health funds on contracts
until the funding becomes stable.
 Met with CTC regarding credentialing and received the same response as
SELPA.
 Cultural Proficiency, there is a power point on the SELPA website; there will be a follow up
training in the spring.
 Finance –
o
Significant Disproportionality, not sure how you set aside 15% of funds if already
spent.
o
Low Incidence Funds, $335 per student calculated on 1st and 2nd disabilities.
o
CDE will be looking closely at Ed Benefit for mental health piece on districts
participating in SESR.
 SELPA will hold a public hearing next month at Governance Council on the annual service
and annual budget plans.
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2.2
 Mental Health handout.
 Meeting timelines-what if a parent cancels a meeting and you are up against your timeline?
If you have made several attempts with documentation, open the meeting, table it, then
make a notation of the parents request to hold the meeting at a later date.
 AP’s (with PWN) for Triennial Reviews – Karen wanted to know if other LEA’s are in the
practice of providing a PWN with an AP for Triennial Reviews. Most do because it is billable
to MediCal.
 Natalie Harlan provided a flyer for the upcoming CAC meetings. There are several districts
without representation. Per CAC bylaws individuals can be appointed, there are parents
from different districts attending that could be appointed.
SEACO Update
4.2
Cathy Machado stated that the November meeting topic was technology with a presenter from
Kings County.
Other presentations included;
 Curriculum and technology and how they crisscross in some areas.
 Fred Balcom, multiple counties have received open enrollment list, if letters have not been
sent, don’t.
 Mental Health access the CDE website for AB 114 updated information.
 SESR, County Offices of Education not included.
 Finance, triggers mostly tier 1 and 2 cuts.
 ESY waivers.
 Election of new officers.
 Next meeting January 2012
SEIS/CASEMIS
Kathy Fagundes reported that the December 1 report is complete.
V.
VI.
4.3
SCHEDULE NEXT MEETING
Next meeting will be January 9, 2012, 1:30 p.m., Kings County Office of Education, 1144 W. Lacey
Blvd., Hanford (Round Building)
ADJOURNMENT
Meeting adjourned at 2:31 p.m.
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2.2