SPECIAL EDUCATION ADVISORY COUNCIL

Minutes – September 9, 2011

9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

PRESENT: Brendelyn Ancheta, Sue Brown, Debbie Cheeseman, Debbie Farmer, Martha Guinan, Barbara Ioli, Deborah Kobayakawa, Pina Lemusu, Shanelle Lum, Rachel Matsunobu, Dale Matsuura, Stacey Oshio, Barbara Pretty, Kaui Rezentes, Susan Rocco, Melissa Rosen, Ivalee Sinclair, Jan Tateishi

EXCUSED: Bob Campbell, Annette Cooper, Phyllis DeKok, Gabriele Finn, Dave Fray, Henry Hashimoto, Tami Ho, Bernadette Lane, Paula Quealy, Tricia Sheehey, Cari White, Duane Yee

GUESTS: Ryan Guinan, Annie Kalama, Steven Vannatta

TOPIC	DISCUSSION	ACTION
Call to Order	Ivalee Sinclair called the meeting to order at 9:10 a.m.
Introductions	Ivalee welcomed Stacey Oshio, principal of Olomana School, as SEAC’s new representative of students involved in the youth corrections system.
Announcements	Sue Brown announced that the IDEA final regulations for Part C are out, and they are nearly 500 pages long. Ivalee reported that draft amendments for Part B are soon to be published that focus on the use of parental insurance coverage for related services with parental consent. Jan announced that she made print copies of a “Save the Date” flyer for members regarding the 2012 SPIN Conference and will also send out an electronic version. Ivalee told members of an invitation for SEAC to set up a booth at the October 2^nd Hawaii Down Syndrome Congress Buddy Walk, and she asked if there were volunteers to man the booth.	Steven Vannatta offered to take SEAC materials, if the CCCO sets up a booth. Barbara Ioli volunteered to help man the booth.
Review of the August 12, 2011 minutes	Ivalee emphasized SEAC’s agreement to move the statistics regarding due process costs that were taken from an article by Mary Vorsino to a different part of the Due Process Committee’s report. There were no corrections to the minutes.	The minutes were approved as circulated.
School-Aged LRE Presentation	Debbie Farmer and Annie Kalama, the Education Specialist in the Special Education Section responsible for Indicator 5, presented a PowerPoint on the Department’s efforts to increase student access to the least restrictive environment for students with disabilities aged five to twenty. The presentation included answers to specific questions on LRE posed by SEAC. Questions/Comments by members: Q. How can SEAC gain access to information about district and complex projects funded with IDEA monies? A. It must be cleared by the Deputy. C. At my school in Honolulu District the principal said there is no money available for more personnel, training, or planning time, but we have to place students in the general education classroom anyway. A. I suggest talking to your Resource Teacher or District Educational Specialist. Q. When you go out and do on-site reviews, do the schools develop corrective action plans? A. We get two plans: one is a general supervision plan that includes the corrective action plan, and the other is about how they plan to use their IDEA funds. Q. Since you know that didactic training is only effective with follow-up, how do you intend to train Po’okela Project participants? A. We plan to include the best available research and teach data driven problem solving and reflective practice. C. My fear is that if I am unable to support the general education teachers who are including my students, they will get frustrated and we will have a backlash against inclusion. C. I heard testimony to the Board of Education from Maui about forty-plus students in a classroom with no services provided to the special education students. C. When I was a principal in Honolulu District, we received two years of training from Larry Gleckner and there were cohorts sent by the schools. Q. Training raises awareness, but when you go back to the classroom and you are busy, how do you keep from reverting to old practices? A. You do it by changing the culture and the bell schedule. C. I’ve been to meetings in schools where the shift to co-teaching was made before parents or educators knew what was going on; putting the horse before the cart is a disaster waiting to happen. C. California has a good tool created by WestEd that is a checklist for the essential components of LRE. C. Community of practice as defined for the Po’okela Project—professionals who are practicing something and learning together—is somewhat different than the Community of Practice defined by Etienne Wegner as a diverse community of stakeholders formed around a common problem, using passion and shared expertise to move the agenda forward. Q. How are you defining evidence-based practices? A. We’re bringing in Bryan Cook and others from the University of Hawaii Special Education Department to help us define terms. Q. How often does the stakeholder group meet? A. We’ve had two meetings so far and will be having another meeting next month. Q. How are families involved in your Po’okela Project? A. We have just put out a Request for Proposal for assistance in providing meaningful participation and engagement of parents, so that they understand what is happening in the classroom. C. Jean Nakasato is also working on family partnerships in the Comprehensive Student Support System processes, and you may want to collaborate with her rather than duplicating efforts. Q. Have you determined what caused the slippage in SY 10-11 in your rate of including students 80% or more of the day in the regular education classroom? A. We are asking schools to verify their data, and once all the data is in, Harvey Ouchi will put it together to see what changed. C. At our school, it is hard to achieve LRE goals, because as soon as we help students approach proficiency on statewide assessments, their special education services are rescinded, so they no longer count for LRE.	Copies of the LRE PowerPoint and the LRE Rubric were distributed to members. Debbie will ask Ronn Nozoe, if she can share information with SEAC about outcomes from the expenditure of IDEA project monies.

Staffing Issues	Debbie reported that schools are receiving less money this year due to budget adjustments, and districts are able to convert their teacher positions to meet the needs of students. Monies for supplies for special education teachers were funded with ARRA money last year but are now depleted. There are also fewer EAs. Ivalee suggested that SEAC may want to partner with PTAs on legislative advocacy for DOE positions.
Chapter 60 Update	Ivalee reported that the guidelines for Chapter 60 are still being reviewed, and she was unable to get a timeline for their completion other than “soon.” Dale Matsuura said that her school recently received the procedural safeguards booklet that had the changes from IDEA 2004.
WestEd Report Update	Ivalee shared that Ronn Nozoe said that the WestEd report is due the last week of September. Some preliminary information has been released to leadership, and the report will be made available to SEAC eventually. Debbie clarified that the report is about the delivery of special education services and not about the Special Education Section.
Private School Placement Task Force Update	Ivalee reported that the task force has continued to meet and will present proposed regulations for Acts 128 and 129 to the Superintendent. She is then expected to give it to the Attorney General’s Office prior to public hearings. In the meantime, task force members are drafting guidelines and are seeking input from private schools and the Hawaii Disability Rights Center, so that the proposed regulations and guidelines will have broad “buy in” prior to public hearings. Task force members include three DOE representatives, a hearing officer and private school representatives.	Members interested in reviewing the draft regulations and guidelines were asked to contact Ivalee.
Legislative Update	Ivalee has received information that Jill Tokuda and other legislators are reviewing all educational statutes from 1996 to the present to get rid of statutes that are irrelevant or insignificant. Some statutes are expected to be converted into policies or guidelines.
APR Planning: Preschool LRE (Indicator 6)	Susan Rocco gave a brief presentation on the educational environments data on students age 3-5 from the past two years. OSEP changed the categories for reporting educational environments for preschool children in SY 10-11, so the data cannot be compared with previous years. Hawaii and other states were allowed to collapse their data in certain fields for SY 10-11 since they did not have time to set up a new data collection system. Susan explained that even though the data imply that almost two-thirds of preschool children with IEPs are receiving services with a majority of non-disabled children, it is unlikely that placements changed that precipitously between SY 09-10 and SY 10-11. Debbie Farmer clarified that states were not required to submit data or improvement activities for Indicator 6 this year, but that some of the improvement activities in the handouts might be applied to Indicator 7 (Preschool Outcomes).	The following handouts were disseminated: 1) Table 3, Students 3-5, from SY 09-10 and SY 10-11, 2) an explanation of the change in data collection, 3) Conditions Necessary for Desirable Outcomes in Inclusive Classrooms, and 4) the NAEYC definition of early childhood inclusion.
Administration of PRN Medications in School	Ivalee shared the latest information on the recommendation of Public Health Nursing that DOE Health Aides not administer medications on an as needed basis due to liability issues. The decision has inconvenienced many families and may be putting students at risk. Ivalee has been advocating that DOE take more responsibility for medical issues that occur in school. Debbie stated that adding nursing positions is not possible with current budget constraints.