August 5, 2009
ISEAS Conference Room – Carmel (HBM Cooperative Building)

(These minutes are considered a draft until approved at the next scheduled meeting.)

MEMBERS PRESENT: Vendetta Gutshall (President), Lynn Gosser (Past-President), Cheryl Harshman (President-elect), Denise Bashore (Treasurer), Gary Collings (Secretary), Margie Labelle (C), Bev Garrison (SE), Jan Dunham (E), Jada Conner (NE), Donna Krol (NW), Tom Barth (NC), Saundra Lange (SW), Joan McCormick (Legislative and Research), Steve Wornhoff (Membership and Fiscal), Patti Kem (Professional Development)

OTHERS PRESENT: Karol Farrell, Fran Osborne, Tom Adams, Dawn McGrath (Acting Coordinator of Special Education), Lee Ann Kwiatkowski (Director of Differentiated Learning).

I. APPROVALS

A. Minutes – Vendetta Gutshall called the meeting to order and requested a motion to approve the minutes of the May 21, 2009 and July 7, 2009 special session meetings. MOTION: Jan Dunham moved to accept both sets of minutes. After a second by Jada Conner, the motion was unanimously approved.

B. Treasurer’s Report and Claim Docket – Denise Bashore distributed the Treasurer’s Report ending July 31, 2009 showing a cash balance of $197,248.72 including: (1) protected carry-over funds = $100,000, (2) additional carry-over funds = $61,3090.39, (3) roundtable prior year funds = $27,341.72, (4) scholarship carry-over funds = $5,668.17, (5) profit/(loss) to date = $2,848.44.

The Claim Docket for July 2009 was presented in the amount of $5,425.56. MOTION: Donna Krol moved to accept the July 2009 Treasurer’s Report including a docket of $5,425.56. After a second by Lynn Gosser, the motion was unanimously approved.

C. Revised 2009-10 Calendar of Meetings – Gary Collings presented revisions to the 2009-10 Calendar of Meetings that will require locations to be determined for the 2010 meetings of the executive committee. The revised calendar was accepted by consensus

D. North Central RT Representative – Cheryl Harshman announced that Tom Barth would replace her as the RT representative for North Central.

E. President’s Appointments – Vendetta Gutshall announced the following task forces/focus groups and their respective chairpersons:
1. ISEAS Transition Task Force to be chaired by Lynn Gosser.
2. Specific Learning Disability/Speech Language Impairment Work Groups to identify best practices to be hosted by IASP (Leah Nellis) and ISHA (Deb Harmon) with Lynn Gosser as the invited ICASE representative.
3. Licensing Focus Group to review proposed licensing changes is to be chaired by Pam Wright with Pat Pierce, a legislative committee representative, and Gary Collings as the officer liaison.
4. Executive Committee Handbook for new member orientation to be chaired by Cheryl Harshman and to include Bev Garrison, Jada Conner, and Saundra Lange

II. DOE CENTER REPORT – Vendetta Gutshall briefed the members on the following:
A. Resignations: Bob Marra has taken a position with the BSU Charter Schools and Sharon Knoth has taken the position of Administrator for Special Education in the Franklin Township Community School Corporation, which is a member of RISE Cooperative.

B. DOE Management: Lee Ann Kwiatkowski, Director of Differentiated Learning, and Dawn McGrath, Acting Coordinator of Special Education, have been invited to the September 30 board meeting and will present the DOE Report to the ICASE membership on Friday as a wrap-up to the Fall Conference. Lee Ann is reportedly the RtI contact at DOE for the time being.

C. Talking Points Papers (Discretionary Grants): Directors were encouraged to circulate these ICASE papers to superintendents and all interested parties in anticipation of the upcoming DOE Needs Assessment.

D. Office of Educator Licensing and Development: The July 29th meeting of the Advisory Committee was reviewed. Pam Wright will attend the August 20th follow-up session. Members discussed the National Teacher Quality Report that is being embraced by the new licensing administration. George Van Horn was complimented, as a new member of the licensing board, for raising the pressing questions including the transfer of the Communication Disorder license to the Indiana Professional Licensing Agency (IPLA) with implications for APC, teacher of record, emergency permits, and the career path to a Director of Special Education license.

E. Educational Interpreter Guidelines: Under the current provisions the DOE is to develop such guidelines on or before July 1, 2010.

F. State Advisory Council: Karol Farrell reported that the next meeting will be held on August 14 (9:00 AM) at the Carmel Clay Education Services Center. Members discussed the statutory responsibilities of the council.

G. Notice of Procedural Safeguards: Becky Bowman has confirmed that the NOPS posted on the DOE website is the updated version. Vendetta will ask Cinda to link the NOPS to the ICASE website if possible. [Completed August 10th]

III. EXECUTIVE STANDING COMMITTEE REPORTS
A. Legislative and Research – Joan McCormick provided a summary report from the July 19th CASE Leadership conference also attended by Tom Adams, Cheryl Harshman, Darrell Mahoney, Fran Wood-Osborne, Liza Bates, and Lynn Gosser. These ICASE legislative committee members had the opportunity to meet with representatives from the National School Boards Association, Office of Special Education Programs, CEC and other CASE units from 20 states.

Speakers at the CASE seminar included Patti Guard (OSEP), Kathleen Branch and Reggie Felton (National School Boards Association), Lillian Page (Legislative Assistant to Congressman Kildee, who is a member of the House Committee on Education and Labor), Myrna Mandlawitz, CASE Legislative Liaison, and Deborah Zeigler (CEC Policy Unit). Topics that were discussed included: ARRA, Arne Duncan, 2010 Budget, Growth Model, Grants, Standards, Funding, Case Law, Seclusion and Restraints. Federal legislators seem inclined to combine ESEA and IDEA in the future re-authorizations.

Denise Bashore reminded members that the USDOE report on the use of stimulus funds is to be submitted on-line by October 10th. She will e-mail the website and details after the meeting. Steve Wornhoff said that he talked with Susan Reimlinger, who confirmed there is $24.5 million in the state budget for Alternative Residential Services. She noted any deficits would not be offset and there may be shorter funding periods.

B. Membership and Fiscal Management Committee Report – Vendetta Gutshall appointed Steve Wornhoff for a second three-year term (2009-2912) as chairperson. Steve reviewed the sub-committee assignments and asked that representatives fill any vacancies for their respective roundtables. He called for feedback that might have implications for constitutional revisions.

Lou Dickman as the new chair of the Patron subcommittee has invited vendors to the Fall Conference. Patron membership and benefits are up for review. Denise suggested a tab on the website for Patrons separate from the Membership.

Cheryl Corning has received four scholarship applications and the committee will likely select only one recipient. She will let Gary know the recipient’s name to order the plaque and Denise to process the tuition. Cheryl reported that two issues of the Briefcase newsletter were completed this past year and she has the content for the Fall issue. She will convene the committee to discuss more regular editions throughout the coming year. Cheryl suggested that members who attend various seminars and conferences be reminded to submit articles to her for the newsletter.

Joan McCormick will acquire the awards to be given to Theresa Lubbers, Connie Sipes, and Greg Porter. Members discussed other award recipients. MOTION: Donna Krol moved that both Bob Marra and Sharon Knoth be granted the Distinguished Service Award and Sheron Cochran the Meritorious Award. After a second by Denise Bashore, the motion was unanimously approved.

C. Professional Development Committee Report - Patti Kem briefed members on the concurrent session with new Directors today. Greg Cochran will be the presenter for the new Directors follow-up session on September 30th during the Fall Conference. Melinda Baird will be the keynote speaker. Luann Purcell will be in attendance and provide a CASE booth. Amy Bollinger is chair of the Fun Night (Tail Gate Party) and Trace Benedict will chair the annual golf outing as a scholarship fundraiser. The Spring Conference 2010 is set for February 18 -19 at the Crowne Plaza/Union Station in Indianapolis.

IV. SPECIAL COMMITTEE REPORTS
A. Nominating – Lynn Gosser, chairperson, called for each Roundtable to elect a unified member as its representative to serve on the committee and send the names to her.

B. ISEAS – Gary Collings reported that the ISEAS Project will terminate on or about December 31, 2009 due to the DOE funding restrictions. The project steering committee will no longer hold separate meetings prior to the ICASE Executive Committee session. Sponsorship of the University Forum will also terminate. Continuing renewal units will be processed for the ICASE Fall Conference. The final Secretaries/Support Staff Seminar will be held on October 7, 2009. All activities including the Cable newsletter, listservs, websites and job board, reports, and training sessions will continue for the duration of the project.

V. SUPPORTING the MEMBERSHIP – no reports at this organizational meeting

VI. PROMOTING/ADVANCING the ORGANIZATION – Vendetta and Margie Labelle reported on their recent meeting with John Ellis (IAPSS), who suggested the need to form a Coalition of organizations to be in a better position to collectively address Response to Intervention and DOE licensing proposals in the near future. Each decided on different contacts to be made and John will issue invitations for an organizational meeting. The Talking Points papers were discussed as an example of how to present relevant research.

VII. OTHER BUSINESS – Lee Ann Kwiatkowski and Dawn McGrath joined the meeting to distribute the draft of the Needs Assessment from which priorities will be established for the future Request for Proposal (RFP) process. They asked for input from the board members by August 14th or sooner so that the Survey could be transmitted to both superintendents and directors. Dawn commented that the discretionary grants are being re-conceptualized and some functions have been identified as essential to the DOE mission and other priority functions will be identified through the needs assessment. Lee Ann remarked that PATINS may be declared as a “sole source” provider with status to receive a full year funding this year. The DOE-SE report will replace CODA for census purposes.

VIII. NEXT MEETING: September 30, 2009 (Marriott North – Indianapolis)