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LAMBTON |
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SPECIAL EDUCATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE |
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Thursday, |
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7:00 p.m. |
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January 26, 2006 |
Room 141 |
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M I N
U T E S |
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PRESENT: |
Rose Gallaway, St. Clair
Child and Youth Services |
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Elizabeth Hudie, Trustee |
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David Katzman (for Laurie
Mawlam), Community Living Wallaceburg |
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Al Kuhn, Community Living
Chatham-Kent |
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Maggie Rochon, Easter Seal
Society of |
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Lisa Saul (for Lisa
Matthews), Learning Disabilities Association of |
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Donna Scherer, Learning
Disabilities Association of Chatham-Kent |
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Charlene Taylor, Member
"at large" (Chair) |
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Jonathan Quaglia, Member
"at large" |
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Wenda Vallee, Autism Society of |
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REGRETS: |
Susie Jones, Trustee (Vice-Chair) |
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Marion Lennan, |
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Janet Vanderwerf, Member "at large" |
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RESOURCE |
Jim Costello, Superintendent of Education |
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STAFF: |
Denise Emery, Geri Haskell and Debbie Seager, Special Education Co-ordinators |
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1.0 |
CALL TO ORDER AND APPROVAL
OF AGENDA - 7: 05 p.m. |
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2.0 |
APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF
2005 10 27 |
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D. Scherer suggested that on Page 3 of the Minutes under Item 9.0, the word “perhaps” should be removed from the last sentence. SEAC agreed. The Minutes of 2005 10 27 were approved as amended. |
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3.0 |
BUSINESS ARISING FROM
MINUTES E. Hudie requested feedback on the Richard Lavoie presentations that took place on November 15, 2005. L. Saul, D. Scherer, C. Taylor, and J. Quaglia provided details outlining a very positive experience for all who attended. Congratulations were extended to the Lambton Kent District School Board, the St. Clair Catholic District School Board, the local Learning Disabilities Associations, and Lambton College for partnering to make this opportunity available to staff and parents. Special thanks were extended to D. Emery for assisting with the event planning. |
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4.0 |
EDUCATION FOR ALL: THE REPORT
OF THE EXPERT PANEL ON LITERACY AND NUMERACY INSTRUCTION FOR STUDENTS WITH
SPECIAL NEEDS AND CODE PROPOSALS |
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J. Costello announced that funding to support the recommendations contained in the “Education for All’
document has been made available through the Council of Ontario Directors of Education (CODE). Boards had to submit proposals which were
due October 7, 2005. Three local
projects have recently been approved: ·
Project
#1 ($165,000) - involves the offering of a series of one day workshops for Grades 1-3 and
resource teachers from every elementary school under the Board’s
jurisdiction. The workshops will provide training in Diagnostic Reading Assessment
and a web-based teaching tool. ·
Project
#2 ($154,000) - joint project between the Lambton Kent District School Board
and the St. Clair Catholic District School Board will provide a series of one
day workshops for Grades 4-6 and resource teachers from every elementary
school. The workshops will provide
training in Multiple Intelligences and the use of assistive technology in the
classroom. ·
Project
#3 ($200,000) - submitted by the Southwest Regional Special Education
Consortium which represents nineteen school boards across the Southern region
of Ontario. The intention of the third
project is to allow teachers and principals to experience and share best
practices in the school and classroom.
The consortium will organize a one-day forum and provide opportunities
for board staff members to visit sites/employees involved in board specific
proposals so that best practices in the areas of curriculum delivery and
classroom research can be shared. There is an audit process involved with each of the three projects. G. Haskell, D. Seager, and D. Emery lead a series of interactive learning activities to familiarize SEAC members with the contents of the “Education for All” document. The activities were a sampling of the methods recently used to in-service Principals and teachers. Follow-up in-service activities will be planned for use during the Early Release Day in April, 2006. Other in-service activities related to the “Education for All” document and the CODE Special Education Projects include: · LDAO Web-Based teaching Tool Training for Resource Teachers and Kindergarten Teachers. - Part of CODE Project #1. ·
Assessment for Learning Workshops (DRA and
Guided · Dr. Thomas Armstrong Presentation on Multiple Intelligences - January 18, 2006 - Resource Teachers and one Administrator, and one Junior Teacher per school - Part of CODE Project #2. · Dr. Steve Timmers Presentation on Assistive Technology - February 14, 2006 - Part of CODE Project #2 (SEAC Members are welcome to attend.) |
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5.0 |
2005 OCTOBER REPORT STATISTICS RELATED TO EXCEPTIONAL PUPILS |
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5.1 |
Exceptional Pupils by
Exceptionality A chart summarizing the
total number of exceptional pupils was reviewed. The chart revealed a total of 3492
exceptional pupils as of October 31, 2005, which is a slight decrease from
last year. A discussion took place on
the identification process and what parents can do when faced with
difficulties or roadblocks. A list of
the Special Education Co-ordinators and their school assignments was provided for
SEAC information. |
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5.2 |
Suspensions A chart summarizing the
Number of Exceptional Pupil Suspensions for 2004-2005 was reviewed. Secondary = 454, Elementary = 710. J. Costello informed SEAC that these
figures represent 4.3% of our total student population. Principals will be reminded that if there
is a mitigating circumstance that links the exceptionality to the behaviour a
suspension does not necessarily have to be issued. The Minister of Education has announced
that a review of the Safe Schools Act will be conducted. D. Scherer and the Learning
Disabilities Association are very concerned about the high number of students
with learning disabilities being suspended.
D. Scherer posed the following suggestions and questions: ·
Are
exceptional students acting out because the proper programs or services are
not provided? ·
Do all
staff members actually understand the nature of a learning disability? ·
A
student with a learning disability might do things that a non-learning
disabled student would not do. ·
IEP’s
need to outline an agreed upon contingency plan for unacceptable behaviours. ·
Parents
need to also understand that certain social skills need to be taught and
reinforced at home. A. Kuhn reported on recent
newspaper articles indicating that Principals feel they have no alternative
but to issue a suspension for certain offences as outlined in the Safe
Schools Act. C. Taylor wondered if
principals conduct any research prior to suspending a student on a frequent
basis. D. Katzman encouraged all
school staff members to become familiar with the needs/exceptionalities of
each individual student. If all staff
understand the differences this may eliminate some suspensions. |
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6.0 |
MINISTRY OF EDUCATION NET
NEW NEEDS CLAIMS PROCESS The Ministry of Education recently established a process to determine newly enrolled students with high needs net of any funding requirements resulting from previously identified ISA 2 and 3 students who have left our Board. The process involved reporting any ISA level 2 or 3 students that left our Board between November 1, 2003 and October 31, 2005 and any new high needs students that entered our Board between the same dates. The criteria for reporting a new high needs students included: · Student is enrolled on October 31, 2005, but was not enrolled on October 31, 2003, and · Student received support from a teacher assistant or other professional or para-professional for a least 50% of the day on average. The supports must be assigned directly to the individual student either in the student’s Individual Education Plan or other similar clearly identifiable support document, or · Student enrolled in a self-contained class with pupil/adult ratio is 4 to 1 or less. Adult means the full-time equivalent of teachers, teacher assistants and para-professional staff assigned to the class. · Where a ISA 2 or 3 student transfers into a board, that student may only be claimed for net new needs where the level of assigned staff supports meets the criteria above. Claims were due to the Ministry on November 22, 2005, resulting in a net new needs total of 34 students (99 ISA 2 and 3 students left and 133 high needs students entered). The Ministry has announced that all approved net new needs claims will be recognized for full funding ($17,000 each) in 2005-06. The Ministry may undertake an audit process involving the review of student timetables to ensure the level of staff support meets the eligibility criteria, prior to official funding approval. |
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7.0 |
2005-2006 PROGRAM
REVIEW(S) D. Seager announced that a review of our Behaviour programs and services will begin in May, 2006. The review will probably take two years. D. Seager also provided and update on the recommendations made by the Physical Disabilities Program Review Committee last year. In addition, recent changes have been made to the Speech and Language Services referral process and resources available to staff, as well as the pre-school in-take process. Although formal program reviews are not conducted, changes to programs and services are ongoing to better serve our pupils. |
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8.0 |
SPECIAL EDUCATION PLAN Regulation 306 of the Education
Act requires that all school boards establish and maintain a Special
Education Plan. The Board must
maintain the Plan and ensure that it is amended from time to time to meet the
current needs of the exceptional pupils of the Board according to the
following schedule: -
every
two years, prepare and approve a report on the special education programs and
services it provides (complete report submitted in July, 2005) -
review
the plan once a year and send any amendments of the Plan to the Ministry of
Education. -
reports
or amendments must be submitted by July 31 of every year. Since a complete review took
place last year with an entire revised copy of the Plan submitted to the
Ministry of Education in July, 2005, SEAC will conduct a brief review of each
section during the 2005-2006 school year in order to determine “minor”
amendments for submission to the Ministry by July, 2006. It
was proposed that SEAC review a large portion of the Plan along with suggested
amendments at the March and April SEAC meetings. An entire meeting in May will be devoted to
the Plan in its entirety. This will
give time for any last minute revisions to be reviewed in late May, prior to
the submission to the Board for approval in June, 2006. Individual section by section reviews will
continue following the "minor" amendment process. It was suggested that CODE
(Council of Ontario Directors of Education) and NNN (Net New Needs) be added
to the list of Acronyms. |
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9.0 |
WEB-BASED IEP REVIEW
UPDATE J. Quaglia provided a progress report from the SEAC Web-based IEP Sub-committee. The Committee reviewed some exemplary samples of the new IEP (LD and MID exemplars). Both J. Quaglia and C. Taylor reported that they were pleased with the results. G. Haskell provided details on the implementation plans for the new web-based IEP program. Schools will begin using the new format as they receive access to the Board’s new Student Administration System (Trillium). A detailed IEP presentation will take place at the February, 2006 SEAC meeting. |
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10.0 |
CORRESPONDENCE |
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10.1 |
Thank you Letter from
Irene Stewart SEAC received a letter from a |
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10.2 |
Letter from Each SEAC Member received a mailing from MPP Rosario Marchese along with his November, 2005 Education Advocate Newsletter providing information on special education funding. |
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11.0 |
ASSOCIATION REPORTS AND
OTHER BUSINESS D. Scherer distributed
pamphlets outlining Tutoring and Social Skills Programs offered through the
Learning Disabilities Association of Chatham-Kent. She also reminded SEAC Members that
according to Regulation 464 of the Education Act, SEAC must meet at
least 10 times per school year, prompting a discussion about the rescheduling
of the November and December SEAC meetings that were cancelled due to poor
weather conditions. A. Kuhn announced that Community Living Chatham-Kent (CLCK) has reopened the Parkfield Restaurant and revamped the meeting rooms. A partnership has also been formed with Chatham-Kent Children’s Services to have CLCK clients operate a cafeteria for staff. CLCK recently received funding approval of $45,000 to support students exiting secondary school. D. Katzman commented on the
ruling from a Judicial Review on the closing of Regional Centre
Institutions. The judge ruled in
favour of the closures which is something Community Living Wallaceburg
supports. Copies of the “Winter/Spring
2006 Staff Development for All Employees” booklet were distributed by D.
Emery. SEAC Members are welcome to
attend any of the sessions (space permitting) but must register in advance. |
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12.0 |
QUESTIONS FROM THE PUBLIC - None. |
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13.0 |
FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS ·
Individual
Education Plans Presentation ·
Planning
Entry to School Resource Guide ·
Amendments
to Special Education Plan ·
Scheduling
of Additional SEAC Meeting in May, 2006 |
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14.0 |
NEXT MEETING |
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Thursday, February 23, 2006 |
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7:00 p.m. |
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15.0 |
ADJOURNMENT - 9:45
p.m. |
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Joan Sparks, |
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Recording Secretary. |