Special Education and Student Services Newsletter for May 17

Special Education and Student Services Newsletter for May 17


Prayers and Sympathy
Prayers and sympathy for Elementary Guidance Counselor Sue Eloranta
and her family on the passing away of her brother and RVA Principal
and MAMS Assistant Principal Charlie Heckel and his family on the
passing away of his mother in the past week.


Prayers and Best Wishes
Prayers and best wishes for MAES Special Education Teacher Amy Wagner
and her daughter who had heart surgery this past week.


Families Being Involved Workshop: Petting Zoo
This will be held for our early education families on Friday May 18
from 1:00 to 3:00 at MAES.  Any special education students who might
be interested can also attend.


AIMS Web Spring Benchmark
May 1 to June 1 is the testing window


Special Education Advisory Council
Our end of year Special Education Advisory Council will be held on
Monday June 4 from 4:00 to 5:30 at the District Office.


Staff Training
Thank you to the staff who helped support the students and/or staff in
Ms. Wagner's program when she is gone for the next two weeks.


A2 Remediation Assistant
Reminder if you are interested in this position, a request to transfer
to this position (Julie Krieger) closes on May 25.  This position is
responsible for teaching evidence based reading instruction to
learning and at risk students. Contact Becky Goodrich or Al Leonard
for more information.


Read 180 Next Generation
Read 180 Next Generation has been recommended as an addition for our
Read 180 program at MASH in 12-13.  There are additional writing
components to add to the program.  Here is a link for more
information: http://read180.scholastic.com/reading-intervention-program


Alternative HS Graduation at NTC
This will be held on Thursday May 24 at 7:00 pm at NTC in Wausau.


Taylor County Transition Advisory Council
Thursday May 17 from 12:00 to 1:30 at the D.O. We are starting to plan
for a Transition Night for Parents during the 12-13 school year.


Taylor County Birth to Three Interagency Agreement
Thursday May 17 from 1:30 to 3:00 at the D.O.


MAMS Special Education PLC
MAMS Special Education PLC is looking at improving the writing skills
through better assessment and a research based curriculum in 12-13.


Autism Resource Team
I will plan to continue these in 12-13 and will be scheduled around
the availability of guest speakers.  We will look at 4-6 times each
year having speakers present at the training. Staff, parents, and
community members will be invited to attend.


Child Development Day in 12-13
This is confirmed for Thursday October 18 at MAES. This will allow for
identified students to receive services in the same school year they
were evaluated, more time for evaluations, and students can be counted
for January enrollment figures.


We will be exploring using the Ages and Stages Questionnaire in place
of the Child Development Inventory.


Seclusion and Restraint Funding
2011 Wis. Act 125, addressing the use of seclusion and physical
restraint in public schools, was signed by Governor Walker on March
19, 2012. The Act takes effect on September 1, 2012. The Act applies
to both regular and special education students and governs the use of
seclusion and physical restraint.


State Superintendent Tony Evers has announced he will allocate IDEA
discretionary funds to assist districts in meeting the training
requirements. A total of $500,000 will be made available to Wisconsin
school districts to supplement the cost of meeting the requirement of
having at least one staff member trained per school on Seclusion and
Restraint during fiscal year 2012-13. The funding will be made
available on a one-time only basis. District allocations will be
determined by the number of schools per district, with approximately
$200 to be allocated per school.


Summer School
Summer School registration is now open for students to enroll.
Teachers of specific special education programs should send a letter
and/or call parents about your program for enrollment and planning
purposes.


Summer School Transportation
We are looking for a bus driver for summer school transportation for
students to school with special transportation listed in their IEP.
Our school district bus drivers are not available.  We have a call
into Krug Bus Transportation.


CLC Advisory Council
CLC Advisory Council is tentatively scheduled for June 12 from 8:00 to
9:00 am at the D.O.


Reading Teacher/Literacy Coach
This position (Joyce Woletz) has been posted and recommended to be
filled for the 12-13 school year.


Speech Language Pathologist
There continues to be discussion on potential realignment of speech
language pathologists in 12-13 to help with caseload numbers,
transition of students, additional supports for autism spectrum
disorder students, additional EC supports, supports for increasing
number of students staying between 18-21 years of age, and/or
availability of Wilson Reading Level II Certified staff in each
building.


Early Education
There might be realignment of early education staff from 8 sections of
pre-kindergarten and 2 sections of early childhood special education
in 11-12 to 7 sections of pre-kindergarten and 3 sections of early
childhood special education in 12-13.  This will help support our
18-21 students in EC, additional supports for special education
students in Kindergarten, provide services for newly identified
students, and inclusion supports for at-risk students. This will be
dependent on final number of pre-kindergarten enrollment.


Wildwood Wildlife Park Trip
Some 8th grade special education students will be going to the
Wildwood Wildlife Park and Ms. Julie's cabin for end of year trip on
June 6th.  Thank you to Carol Wieman and Julie Scott for organizing
that trip for the students.


Animal Adovcates
MAMS/MASH School Psychologist Jessica Martin and her daughter Arianna
will be in district the afternoon of May 31 to see staff and students
and attend the final Animal Advocates Group meeting of the year.


RVA Special Education
School Psychologist Jessica Martin and MAMS Special Education Teacher
Jill Chasteen will be providing special education supports for
students in RVA during the 12-13 school year.