WASHINGTON STATE SCHOOL FOR THE BLIND
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
November 14, 2014
Vancouver, Washington
Board Members Participating: Denise Colley, Lorna
Walsh, Dennis Mathews, Jim Kemp, Ed Snook, Cindy Bennett, Nancy McDaniel, Michelle
Farrell, Yang-su Cho and John Glenn.
Ex-Officio Members Participating: Berl Colley (Washington Council of the Blind), Doug
Trimble (Teachers Association), Lilly Longshore (Parent Representative), and
Michael Freeman (National Federation of the Blind of Washington).
Ex-Officio Members Absent: Scott Hone (Washington Federation of State Employees Local
#1225).
WSSB Staff Members Participating: Dr. Dean Stenehjem (Superintendent), Mary Sarate (Director
of Business and Finance), Craig Meador (Director of Outreach), Rob Tracey
(Facility Manager), Anne Baker (Human Resources Manager), Hans Michielsen
(Principal), Colleen Lines (Program Manager, Ogden Resource Center (ORC)), Lori
Pulliam (Director of Transition Services), Mike Bicknell (Digital Research/
Development Coordinator), DeEtte Snyder (Coordinator, BVI Birth-3), and Janet
Kurz (recording secretary).
November 14 – 9:00am
Optional
visit to classrooms in Irwin
Executive Session
Ed called an Executive Session to order
at 10:30am. The executive session ended
at 10:55am.
November 14 – 11am-2:30pm
Ed called the meeting to order at 11:00am.
Ed started the meeting by welcoming Lilly and Michelle.
Business Meeting:
Old Business:
o
Approval of minutes for September 12,
2014 Board of Trustees Meeting. Jim moved
to approve the minutes, Lorna seconded the motion. The minutes passed unanimously.
New Business:
o
WASA/WSSDA Legislative Conference–March
1-2, 2015 (Olympia). Dr. Stenehjem stated he hasn’t seen an agenda for this yet
and once he gets more information he will send it to the Board to see if it is
worth attending. Dr. Stenehjem feels class size initiative and McCleary will be
the two hottest topics during the conference.
Dennis felt the break-out sessions are good to attend; Dr. Stenehjem said
having quality time with legislators is almost impossible due to the number of
attendees. Lorna suggested scheduling
appointments either a day before or after may be a good way to ensure time with
legislators.
Department Updates:
·
Lori Pulliam, Director of Transition Services
·
Hans Michielsen, Principal
WSSB conducts a follow-up of graduates that tracks
each former student for 7 years. The purpose of this is to assist us in
determining not only the success rate of students that have graduated from
WSSB, but also assist in strategic changes to our programs both on campus and
throughout the state.
Within the United States it is often stated that
there is a 70% unemployment rate within the blind community. We believe this number to be slightly
inflated, but we do believe this number is still in the 50-60% range.
Success rate for WSSB graduates is currently
ranging from 78-85% depending which factors are
used to determine success:
Using the actual
number of students surveyed, (11+27+4)/54=78% represents graduates either employed, or in a post
high school training program or enrolled in a two-year or four-year college
program.
Using the actual
number of students surveyed, (11+27+4+1+3)/54=85% represents graduates in the
above categories, but also includes homemakers and volunteers, if those
individuals have chosen to fill these important roles.
Using the actual
number of students surveyed, 13/54=24% represents WSSB graduates who are currently
unemployed.
When examining either statistic – it appears that
the programs and services being provided to students who attended WSSB to be
quite successful in assisting blind and visually impaired students to be
independent and contributing citizens. Note: The above information is based
upon a 74% response to the follow-up study on students since the 2006-2007
school year.
·
Mary Sarate, Director of Business and
Finance
·
Anne Baker, Human Resources Manager
·
Rob Tracey, Facility Manager
·
Colleen Lines, Program Manager, Ogden
Resource Center
·
DeEtte Snyder, B-3 BVI Coordinator
·
Mike Bicknell, Digital
Research/Development Coordinator
·
Craig Meador, Director of Outreach
Superintendent’s
Report
Dr.
Stenehjem reported the following:
·
Dr. Stenehjem wanted to highlight the PFBC
fundraiser in October. Ed attended the
event and said it was great. Over
$15,000 was raised that evening. The
PFBC has taken on the B-3 area to emphasize and raise funds for. One of the PFBC board members is going to be
a district Governor and is considering making that his charge.
·
Dr. Stenehjem attended both blind consumer
conferences this fall. Both were
excellent.
Committee Reports
·
Education Committee
o
John would like the education committee to meet
with Mike before or after the meeting in March to look at current technology. Dr. Stenehjem offered to have the committee
join via Lync conference if they would like to meet sooner. John remarked that there is a lot of negative
press regarding core curriculum and he would like to be kept apprised of that.
·
Buildings and Grounds Committee
o
Berl, Jim and Michelle did the annual facility
walk-through today and noted:
§ Some of the dampers in the 97 vents in Old Main are starting to
fail. Replacing them will be a fairly
significant impact budgetarily.
§ Dr. Stenehjem stated the white efis materials on the Old Main building
was taken care of last summer. A metal
edge was inserted which extended the drip line to ľ” which resulted in no more
staining on the building. The cost for
this repair was $30,000 and the original bid was over $200,000.
§ The swimming pool operations room/filtration system has been updated in
recent years. Square modules made of
clear plastic allows staff to see the residue that comes out of the pool. In
the next month, an ultra violet system will be added within the line, and will
take care of 95-98% of any kind of foreign material that needs to be
sterilized. The liner in the pool still has issues (ongoing problem). WSSB is looking at replacing that liner which
is in the next capital project budget (after July 1, 2015). This was due to a
bad installation. Lilly asked if WSSB
has to go through a low bid process; Dr. Stenehjem said yes.
§ The committee visited Chapman Cottage and discussed roof replacement. The
roof should last another five years (current roof was installed in 1992). Chapman
cottage is having recurring problems with the drainage (sewer). A 20’ section was repaired last year. Lilly
discussed a more economical type of lining (sleeving). Dr. Stenehjem stated the concern is if the
roots can go through the lining in the future.
§ The modular new home was toured and is almost ready for residency. Berl feels it is a nice facility that will
attract future TVI’s who wish to do their student practicum at WSSB.
·
Management Committee
o
Lorna stated she is putting the finishing touches
on Dr. Stenehjem’s evaluation. Lorna
anticipates she will have it completed in the next month or so and will forward
it on.
·
Legislative Committee
o
Denise reported that when they see the Governor’s
budget, the committee may get active.
Ex-Officio’s Reports
·
Washington Council of the Blind (WCB) – Berl Colley
o
The WCB held their state convention at the Murano
in Tacoma, October 30-November 1. ACB’s
national President, Kim Charlson spoke at the event as well as Cyris Habib who
was just elected to the senate. Popular
author, JA Jance, and our very own Nancy McDaniel also presented. Berl felt the conference was well attended.
·
National Federation of the Blind (NFB) – Mike
Freeman
o
Mike reported that the NFB held their state
conference from October 3-5 at the Hilton Hotel in Vancouver. Anil Lewis, Director of Jernigan’s Institute,
met with Dr. Stenehjem and Mike F. to tour the WSSB campus. They also were able to speak to one of WSSB’s
students and Anil was very impressed with her.
Mike F. felt it was a very productive convention.
o
Mike F. stated the NFB has offered to go to Olympia
to talk to the Small Agency Cabinet staff regarding funding, if necessary.
o
Cindy wanted to thank our LIFTT students for
attending the lunch during the convention.
·
Teachers – Doug Trimble
o
Doug reported he felt the school year is going
great and the evaluations for our new students are almost completed.
o
Irwin’s new TVI’s, Mai Nguyen and Sonja Steinbach
are doing well and have outstanding mentors.
o
During this school year, US History TVI, Corey
Grandstaff and staff will be taking a group of students to Washington DC
through the “Close-Up” program.
Fundraising will be occurring to help pay for this educational
opportunity.
o
Doug stated WSSB students attended a national
Goalball tournament last weekend in Florida with the boys taking 4th
place in the tournament and the girls taking 5th place. Doug
commended Goalball coaches Lisa Hodge and Paul Baldwin. WSSB student, Nathaniel Baker made the “All
American” team (one of six individuals)
o
The WSSB Powerlifting team is practicing and preparing
for a meet in Las Vegas, Nov. 18-20.
o
Yang-su stated the United Association of Blind
Athletes (USABA) is recruiting players for a trip to Russia in May, 2015 (exchange
program).
o
WSSB has started a new extensive program for
expanded core curriculum (Daily Living Skills, O&M, etc.). Students attend these ECC’s for several days
in a row and staff have seen great gains with the students.
o
An Open House was held in October. Cindy asked how open house works in a
residential setting with students from all over the state. Doug said it is difficult because of the
great number of residential students; however the turnout was good.
o
Students are preparing for their Holiday Program
which will be held on December 19. The
program will also be streamed on the internet.
·
Parent Representative – Lilly Longshore
o
Lilly emailed the NFB contact for parents, Jennifer
to let her know she is available for inquiries, etc. Dr. Stenehjem stated WSSB can get information
out through the state to let them know that Lilly is now our Parent
Representative.
Miscellaneous
Cindy would like the Board to have more contact with the
students and feels strongly about making that connection. Janet suggested having dinner on the Thursday
evening before the Board meeting or perhaps a Friday morning breakfast.
Ed stated that he spoke to WSSB TVI, Steve Lowry at the PFBC
event and was very impressed regarding his program. Ed suggested the Board invite a staff member
to the Board meetings to do a brief presentation regarding their program.
Berl said some time ago video courses were discussed that
WSSB could make available to board members.
Dr. Stenehjem stated there are several courses on Moodle that are
available. Doug stated some students
take those classes as needed.
There being no further business, the
meeting adjourned at 2:30pm. The next
Board meeting will be held via conference call on January 14, 2015 at 7:30pm.
Ed Snook, Chair Dean O. Stenehjem, Ed.D., Superintendent
Board Reports – November 2014
Fall Board Report Outreach Department
With a quarter of the school year completed, we are
in full swing serving thirty-eight districts and over 200 students. We have made some adjustments this year to
cover some leave, which has limited our ability to complete one-time
evaluations throughout the state. I have
been able to connect districts with other Teachers of the Visually Impaired (TVI’s)
and Orientation & Mobility (O&M) specialists to complete evaluations
with some delay to the districts.
Outreach Fall Meeting
We just convened our fall meeting in Olympia with
25 participants from Vancouver, Longview, Kelso, Olympia, Renton, and Lewis
County. Several topics were covered which included: Smarter Balance Assessment,
the new SMART Brailler from the American Printing House for the Blind (APH),
Using the App “Numbers” to make the
paperwork easier, dealing with a visual world for our students (a discussion to
explore OCR options) and a general discussion about issues in the field. These meetings have been an excellent
opportunity to share our successes and our challenges. I am looking to expand these meetings to
other areas within the state so that other TVI’s not from WSSB can share in
these learning opportunities.
Smarter Balance Update
Despite the efforts of the state, the online
version of Smarter Balance Assessment will not be available this year. The reasons for this are three-fold: a lack
of funding, timely delivery of technology, and a software glitch that needs to
be worked out. The state of Washington
will plan on providing the test in braille this year.
Digital/Distance Learning
·
We are using more Mac laptops for low
vision students on campus. The tech teachers are showing students how to scan
handouts and classroom materials using OCR software to convert text on paper
into an accessible digital format. Bruce McClanahan is also teaching students
with learning disabilities how to use the dictation feature on Macs for note
taking, form access, and more.
·
In late November, two teachers with low
vision adaptation needs will start using iMacs to help increase their
efficiency and effectiveness on the job.
·
We added one distance learning student
this semester for a total of seven taking our online math courses. We have four
students from WA and 3 from other states (Oregon, Idaho, and Alaska).
·
Our Algebra 1 math class taught by TVI
JJ Isaacson recently entertained virtual visitors: A parent and her son who is
visually impaired from Washington and an administrator/math teacher from the
New Mexico School for the Blind & Visually Impaired. People from around our
state and the country continue to show interest in our distance learning
classes.
·
Next semester the education and digital
learning departments will help math teacher JJ Isaacson to record math tutorial
videos for Algebra 1. We will post and organize these videos online for anyone
to use.
In addition to using Microsoft Lync for our
distance learning classes, we are also starting to deliver web meetings and
will develop webinars for people around the state. Birth to 3 Coordinator
DeEtte Snyder used Lync to establish a workgroup for B-3 TVIs. She is planning
on integrating Lync into her service delivery model.
·
We are planning web and video tutorial
initiatives—from videos for math mentioned above to short videos for daily
living skills.
·
We continue to work with CANnect.org to
improve their website and to research possibilities for the future of CANnect.
·
We are developing contacts around the
country hoping to expand our distance learning instructional program for
students to other schools for the blind.
·
We rented a network cable
tester/analyzer; IT Specialist, Ed Lukowski found that most of our campus meets
the current CAT 5E industry standard. We will upgrade the Ethernet cables that
failed to meet the minimum requirements.
·
In November, we will install and start
maintaining a new firewall with the help of ESD 112.
·
By December, we will be on target to
invest in an emergency alert system for staff, students, parents, and partner
agencies on campus. We are part of a consortium that gives us access to lower
rates for this service.
·
We will contract with a network
administrator from ESD 112 for 2 days a month for the remainder of the fiscal
year. Expertise and time are needed to help support our ever-complex IT
infrastructure.
·
Ed and Danya Borowski, IT Specialist
created a new server for the upcoming SQL 2012 upgrade.
·
The network upgrade is coming along in
preparation for the Lync Voice-Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) phone system and
more.
On Campus
Enrollment
Current school enrollment is 64 students. Ten
students are enrolled in the Learning Independence for Today and Tomorrow (LIFTT)
program. Eight students participate in
the on-line program in four different mathematics classes. On-line students hail from Idaho, Oregon,
Alaska and Washington. Sixteen of our
students attend one or more classes at Hudson’s Bay High School and Clark
Community College. There are four
students in line to be evaluated for placement at the school. At this time, we
have started conversations with other schools for them to participate or use
our on-line offerings as soon as the school year.
Common Core and Course Catalog
We have now entered all appropriate course codes in
our catalog that match state course codes.
This makes it easier for staff, other than our own, to evaluate our
transcripts. This year, we will use a
quarter-based system, which allows us to provide focused instruction in
ten-week increments. It also allows for
more variety in elective offerings.
Several classes are now cross-credited.
For example, a student who takes an intensive ten-week O&M course
can earn fitness credit in that time. To
date, pull-outs did not allow a student to earn credit. It has been the experience of the first
quarter that more credit overall was earned by our students.
Job Placements
Our transition coordinator continues to do a
tremendous job developing job placements for our students in the community and
on campus. The student store is again
open regularly. We have our first order
for apparel in and should be able to offer that soon. Because the state will not allow us to use
credit cards for purchases at the student store, we will not be able to make
these items available through the website.
TPEP
WSSB is expanding implementation of the new teacher
and principal evaluation system. This
coming school year, two-thirds of the teachers being evaluated using TPEP. Our legislature has to make several more
decisions before the system can be completely implemented. The really new part of TPEP is the emphasis
on continuous staff development, which is both positive and encouraging. As was the case last year, only volunteer
teachers and new hires are evaluated with TPEP.
We will fully implement TPEP in the 2015-2016 school year.
State requirement on 1080 instructional hours per
year
Washington State requires that school districts
offer students 1080 hours of direct instruction per school year. Many districts have difficulty achieving
this number. Because WSSB implements
24-hour IEPs, the required number of hours is easily met. For our day students,
the number of hours of instruction per year averages 1,194. For residential students, that number is 1,736
hours per year.
Residential
Residential
Students are actively engaged in their daily
programs; in the after school hours this includes recreation/sports activities,
daily living skills (DLS) training, homework, etc. Our focused DLS topics for
the fall are goal setting and nutrition.
Staff and students alike are getting used to the
new USDA breakfast guidelines. They are quite stringent, and staff are doing
their best to help Bob with the extensive reporting that is required.
Veteran’s Day (November 11) is on a Tuesday this
year. Residential students will be on campus that day, though it is not a
school day. Residential staff will work, as well as teacher’s aides (TA’s) and
on call residential staff to provide coverage and activities for the students
as they spend the day relaxing and “hanging out” with friends. Several options
for group activities will be offered.
Staff have been sharing photos and videos of
students doing various skills of daily living with student families. The iPads
put in each cottage last year are being used for a variety of useful purposes,
and the sharing with families is one of them that is exciting. They also work
well for students to use in the kitchen for recipes, etc.
LIFTT
6 of the 8 LIFTT students are attending Clark
College full or part time. 2 of the 8 are seeking employment in the Vancouver
area. Students are progressing through the tough adjustment from exiting high
school to the totally different world of being a young adult and learning to be
in charge of themselves and all that goes with that. Clark students are already registering for
winter quarter!
General:
All residential staff have completed, or are
continuing coursework for braille. Most should be finished with the course by
the end of the school year.
Tess Scholl began her maternity leave a little
earlier than she planned, and will be leaving us this week. She is having twins
and will be out for most of the rest of the school year. Libby Pitts will fill
in for her while she is gone, and on-call, Dalton Williams, will step into
Libby’s position in LIFTT. Though we will look forward to Tess’ return, Libby
and Dalton will be excellent replacements.
We hired one new on-call and he is in training. We
are recruiting for 1-2 additional on-call staff to help us meet our needs
Business Office
1.
2013-15 Operating Budget
We closed the
month of September with a -1.25% variance.
I have attached a summary showing the variance by department. Managers
will be looking at their budgets to determine whether allocations need to be
re-allotted.
In Fund 19B we
ended with an 11.7% variance.
2.
2013-15 Capital Budget
In capital, we
ended with a balance of $197,801.
Variances are not as critical in capital as we are not required to close
the books on a biennium basis as opposed to annually. Also, with capital there are many variables
affecting our ability to stay within allotted timelines such as weather,
contractors, when school is in session, etc. The critical piece, of course, is
staying within budget.
3.
2015 Supplemental Budget
We continue to respond to
some follow up questions on our supplemental decision packages.
4.
Washington State Budget Process
For the benefit of our new
members on the board and as a refresher for the rest of us, I’m going to provide
a quick summary of how the state’s biennial budget cycle works.
Budgets are
enacted on a two-year cycle, beginning on July 1 of each odd-numbered
year. The budget approved for the
2013-15 biennium remains in effect from July 1, 2013 – June 30, 2015. By law, the Governor must propose a biennial
budget in December, the month before the Legislature convenes in regular
session. The biennial budget enacted by the Legislature can be modified in any
legislative session through changes to the original appropriations. Since the inception of annual legislative
sessions in 1979, it has become common for the Legislature to enact annual
revisions to the state’s biennial budget.
These revisions are referred to as supplemental budgets. The budget timeline is as follows:
Ongoing: Agency Strategic Planning
June 2014: OFM issues budget
instructions
Sept 2014: Agencies submit budget
requests
Fall 2014: OFM review and Governor’s
decisions
Dec 2014: Governor proposes budget to
Legislature
Jan 2015: Legislature convenes 2nd
Monday of January
Apr/May 2015: Legislature passes budget
May/Jun 2015: Governor signs budget
July 1, 2015: Biennial budget takes effect
Ongoing: Performance measure
tracking
5.
Performance Measures: We reported on the following measures:
#1586 Braille
distributed on time: 100%
#1590 Braille
transcription: 146,147 pages
#1591 Training
of teachers/Para-Pros: 8,028
#1592 BLUE exams
administered: 7
#1593 Number of
students on campus: 73
#1594 Off-Campus
Services: 651
We are
emphasizing to staff the importance of reporting data as it plays an important
role in telling our story to legislators and their staff when it comes to
funding and advocating for our programs.
September, 2014
GFS-FUND 001 |
||||
Budgeted |
Actual |
Variance |
||
100 |
Res |
$
146,769 |
$
134,947 |
$
11,822 |
110 |
Rec |
$
8,532 |
$
9,629 |
$
(1,097) |
120 |
Health |
$
25,908 |
$
27,025 |
$
(1,117) |
200 |
Food |
$
36,304 |
$
34,977 |
$
1,327 |
300 |
B&G |
$
108,792 |
$
85,060 |
$
23,732 |
310 |
B&G-Agency |
|
$
8,617 |
$
(8,617) |
400 |
Ed |
$
482,026 |
$
513,947 |
$
(31,921) |
420 |
LIFTT |
$
22,257 |
$
27,010 |
$ (4,753) |
500 |
Summer |
$
1,275 |
$ 327 |
$ 948 |
510 |
Outreach-State |
$
(2,999) |
$
5,650 |
$
(8,649) |
520 |
Summer Institute |
|
$ - |
|
543 |
BAC |
|
$
43,163 |
$
(43,163) |
600 |
Support Services |
$
173,401 |
$
183,800 |
$
(10,399) |
601 |
Superintendent |
$
69,596 |
$
68,920 |
$ 676 |
611 |
Foundation |
|
$
1,002 |
$
(1,002) |
610 |
Board |
$ 205 |
$
1,826 |
$
(1,621) |
700 |
Technology |
$
118,001 |
$
108,380 |
$
9,621 |
800 |
Transportation |
$
44,307 |
$
38,770 |
$
5,537 |
920 |
IRC |
|
$
80,060 |
$
(80,060) |
930 |
Idea |
|
$
5,410 |
$
(5,410) |
940 |
Other Grants |
|
$ - |
|
BETER |
Betterment |
|
$
3,080 |
$
(3,080) |
BIRTH |
Birth to Three |
$ - |
$
6,173 |
$
(6,173) |
WSDS |
|
|
$ - |
|
$
1,234,374 |
$
1,387,773 |
$
(153,399) |
||
Projected Balance |
$ (49,427) |
|
-1.27% |
-1.25% |
Private/Local-19B |
||||
Budgeted |
Actual |
Variance |
||
100 |
Res |
$
108,000 |
$
3,230 |
$
104,770 |
110 |
Rec |
|
$ - |
|
120 |
Health |
|
$ - |
|
200 |
Food |
|
$ - |
|
300 |
B&G |
$
6,500 |
$
2,244 |
$
4,256 |
310 |
B&G-Agency |
|
|
|
400 |
Ed |
|
$
123,810 |
$
(123,810) |
420 |
LIFTT |
$
25,594 |
$
10,873 |
$
14,721 |
500 |
Summer |
$
66,887 |
$
74,040 |
$
(7,153) |
510 |
Outreach-State |
$
388,054 |
$
339,782 |
$ 48,272 |
520 |
Summer Institute |
|
$
15,983 |
$
(15,983) |
543 |
BAC |
|
|
|
600 |
Support Services |
|
$ - |
|
601 |
Superintendent |
|
$ - |
|
611 |
Foundation |
|
$ - |
|
610 |
Board |
|
$
- |
|
700 |
Technology |
$
20,001 |
$
5,069 |
$
14,932 |
800 |
Transportation |
|
$ - |
|
920 |
IRC |
|
|
|
930 |
Idea |
|
$ - |
|
940 |
Other Grants |
|
$ - |
|
BETER |
Betterment |
|
$ - |
|
BIRTH |
Birth to Three |
$
62,499 |
$
20,843 |
$
41,656 |
WSDS |
|
$
2,679 |
$
(2,679) |
|
$
677,535 |
$
598,553 |
$
78,982 |
||
Balance |
$ 938,852 |
|||
|
|
|
|
11.7% |
Human Resources
New Hires:
·
Secretary Senior/Fiscal Tech –
Jacqueline Tucker
·
Part time Project Employee - RLC –
Andrew Hansen (current On-call RLC)
·
On call Residential Life Counselor (RLC)
– Robert Martinez
Open Recruitments:
·
School Psychologist – On hold
·
Teacher of the Blind – Outreach Spokane
·
Teacher of the Blind – Outreach Seattle
area
Trainings Attended:
·
Open Government Trainings Act – On-line
Course
·
IT Security – Learning Management
System (LMS) on-line course
·
HR Manager’s Meeting, facilitated by
Lee Strehlow, Department of Retirement Systems
Miscellaneous:
·
2014 State Employee Engagement Survey
·
2014 Safety Survey
Ogden
Resource Center (ORC)
Instructional
Materials Department
Quota
Funds
We
finished the federal fiscal year quota fund spending on September 30, 2014 with
a zero balance in each of the three quota fund accounts. We met the needs of
all districts and agencies requests for Accessible Instructional media (AIM)
this fiscal year.
Fall
Orders
As
usual, we were flooded with orders with the start of school. Our warehouse
operator, Mitch Hughes, shipped 1572 accessible instructional media (AIM)
ranging from small simple items to multiple boxes of braille books. We served
110 different districts and agencies for 360 students with BVI. We are
currently waiting for several items that the American Printing House for the
Blind (APH) has on backorder, resulting in 129 backorders at this time.
APH
Annual Meeting
Michael
Sivill represented our department this year at the APH’s annual meeting. He
attended the annual Braille Prison Forum, where he did a small presentation
about our program at the Washington Corrections Center for Women (WCCW).
Braille Department
BLUE
Preparation Class
Last
year, Mike Sivill offered a Beginning Braille Class free of charge. Several of
those class participants had previous braille experience and moved quickly and
passed the BLUE exam. For those newer to braille and still struggling, Mike is
conducting a BLUE preparation class.
Unified
English Braille (UEB)
We
sent Zach Lattin, Angela Vargas and Mike Sivill to a three-day intensive UEB
workshop presented by the National Braille Association in Milwaukee, WI in
October. Kandi Lukowski was not able to attend as she was receiving her
bachelor’s degree at her graduation. Congratulations to her!
With
the great information they received at the workshop, we are developing courses
to offer our state. Our plan is to offer interactive on-campus classes first
for those who have passed the BLUE in preparation of the upcoming January 2016
implementation. We are going to pilot the curriculum first with the WCCW
offender transcribers beginning this month. Hopefully we will have everything
in place to begin UEB classes by February 1, 2015.
Our
UEB Statewide planning committee still has a lot of work of work to do. We will
meet again after Thanksgiving with a goal of writing a Washington State UEB
Implementation plan.
Buildings and Grounds
Capital
The manufactured home is all but finished. The
sidewalks were poured this week which leaves only exterior grounds work and
interior cleaning remaining. We will be adding furniture as soon as it is
signed off.
The drip edge work on Old Main is proving to have
been effective. There is little, if any, streaking on the face of the building.
The salt cell for the pool has been replaced and is
working very well. We are now working with Olympia to line up a pool contractor
to help with specifications on reworking the pool itself as well as adding an
ultraviolet purifier.
The smoke dampers in Old Main have been evaluated
by an electrical engineering company and we are waiting to see the project
scope and recommendations regarding replacing the existing units with more
reliable ones. There are approximately 97 dampers in Old Main.
Campus
We hosted the Clark College environmental science
class recently. The tour included information on the energy savings additions
incorporated into Kennedy and Ogden as well as the bio swale function and solar
array vs wind power for campus renewable energy.
We are still waiting for the final replacement
vehicles to arrive from the motor pool. Local Outreach and one campus vehicle
are over the 110,000 mile limit as set for trade out by the motor pool.
Recent police action in the vicinity of campus led
to a lockdown situation. A preliminary evaluation of how we handled the
situation was positive but we are forming a team to further review and fine
tune how emergency situations are handled in the future.
Birth-Three
Activities for the Birth to 3 Program since the
last board meeting:
Lots going on in Early Intervention!
I met with the WSSB outreach TVIs and also
conducted a statewide video conference with the B-3 TVI workgroup with 12 TVIs
in attendance! The discussion included how the TVIs were included as a part of
the early intervention team and also their FVA procedures. The group decided to
take on as their first group project to develop a consistent statewide
functional vision assessment procedure for babies.
I continue to learn about the ESIT (Early Support
for Infants and Toddlers) in the state of Washington. I met with the ESD 112
(Clark County) early childhood directors twice and had trainings on identifying
and affirming vision concerns in King Co, Pierce Co, and ESD 112. Dean and I traveled to Olympia and met with
Bette Hyde from the Department of Early Learning (DEL) and Karen Walker from
ESIT to discuss funding issues, such as Medicaid billing and its potential to
support early intervention services (specifically vision services). On 11/5 I attended a stakeholder meeting on
funding in Ellensburg. I also attended
the SICC (State Interagency Coordinating Council) meeting in Whidbey Island and
met with many new colleagues in the early intervention field.
I conducted many consultations and joint visits
with both TVIs and EI teams around the state including the Seattle area with
Tracey Gaver, the Tacoma area with Melody Furze, and Bellingham (Whatcom and
Skagit Counties) with Katie Hume from the DB Project. Future visits are
scheduled for Tri-Cities the first week of Dec.
She also visited a new baby, family and EI team in Forks.
On a national front, I presented at the
International DEC (Division of Early Childhood of the Council for Exceptional
Children) in St. Louis on Babies Count: The National Registry of Young Children
with Visual Impairments with a colleague from NMSBVI (New Mexico School for the
Blind and Visually Impaired). She
continues to work collaboratively with NMSBVI on this project. Also she is working on a webinar with Perkins
School for the Blind on routine-based early interventions, due out in
January. This webinar will be free and
posted on our website.
Superintendent
Board of Trustees
I would like to start out by thanking all board and
ex-officio members for their willingness to step forward and say yes to blind
and visually impaired (BVI) children in advocating for solid programs and services
for children. It is your dedication that
has helped move services for BVI children throughout our state move forward in
making substantial gains, and in putting in place a diverse and ever-changing
service delivery model designed to help meet the wide range of students needs
in gaining all needed skills for independence and success.
New Board Members: Michelle Farrell,
Congressional District #9; Michelle is in her 5th year as the
TVI/COMS in the Bellevue School District and has also contracted with several
other districts on the eastside during that time. Lilly Longshore, parent of
Alex; Alex is currently attending Vancouver’s ITech Preparatory High School
where he is a sophomore. Alex has been
served in various models throughout our state such as LEA Itinerant services,
intensive on-campus services at WSSB, and through WSSB’s Outreach itinerant
model. Welcome and thank you to both of
you.
We currently have a full board, but do have one
seat that needs to be filled (Congressional District #10). Denise Colley has
been on the board for 10 years (two terms), which is the maximum number of
years that numerous Governors have allowed board members to serve. Thank you to
Denise for her willingness to continue to serve until this seat is filled. WSSB is blessed with a wide range of board
members representing the disabled community, various ethnic communities, and a
wide range of occupations from people in the health care, business, military,
legal field, school administration, private sector occupations, civil
engineering, assistive technology, computer programming, teachers/educators,
parents and researchers. What a wealth of information and knowledge and
perspective you all bring to the board.
October 2014
The end of September and October has been a very
busy time and I’m glad to be starting the month of November and a chance to be
around home some of the weekends. I think Sue (my wife) is also glad. October
started off with the NFB of Washington conference which was well attended and
took place in Vancouver. This was a very nice conference and I also was able to
spend some time with Mike Freeman, NFB of Washington President and their keynote
speaker Anil Lewis, Director of the Jernigan Institute from Baltimore. Mike and
Anil spent a couple hours with me on campus to learn more about programs and
services facilitated by WSSB. I am
hopeful that this can lead to some potential partnerships in the near future. Next
I was involved with the Council of Schools/Services for the Blind (COSB)
National Institute, in which I serve as a board member. The meeting was held
in Louisville, Kentucky in conjunction with the APH Annual Meeting. Both
of these conferences were extremely important with COSB reexamining its
strategic plan to help better position the organization to continue to improve
diverse services in the future, and APH to gather input from ex-officio
trustees and guests about product development and keeping current in meeting
student’s needs. WSSB has two ex-officio trustees that represent our state: Mr.
Craig Meador, Director of Outreach and State Vision Consultant and Dr. Dean
Stenehjem, Superintendent of WSSB. We were also fortunate to be able to have three
staff from WSSB attend to provide input and impact on braille production,
materials, and educational strategies in implementation of common core and high
stakes testing. Following COSB/APH I had an opportunity to able to spend some
time on-campus with staff from the American Foundation for the Blind and
local representatives from Sharp Electronics to discuss potential
partnerships in improving accessibility, student and staff involvement with Sharp and career
awareness that could hopefully lead to future employment for talented BVI
students. Towards the end of the month I attended the Washington Educator’s
Conference in Seattle where major topics included: Common Core, TPEP,
Smarter Balance, Decreasing the Drop Out rate in Washington and a full array of
districts presenting on successful ventures throughout our state. The finale
for the conference was a keynote by Governor Jay Inslee. The information collected
during this conference will help WSSB continue to explore new ways in cross
walking all the educational mandates in hopefully making the most efficient use
of limited time to implement all that is required. The end of the month and the
kick off to November occurred with the Washington Council of the Blind (WCB)
convention in Tacoma which was attended by approx. 240 people. This was a
great conference and also featured board member Nancy McDaniel’s presentation
on disaster preparedness. Nancy did an
excellent job and had everyone ready to go home and make necessary changes in
to be better stewards in the event of the next emergency situation. The WCB
also was fortunate to have their national President, Ms. Kim Charlson, as their
keynote speaker.
As you can see from above, this was a busy month,
but a great time to connect and reconnect with so many important
stakeholders.
Budget:
Operating:
As you can see from Mary’s report, WSSB is spending
at 125%, which if our allotments are correct, should be at the 100% level. I
estimate part of this is due to the following:
·
Loss of funds transferred from DES to
WSSB with the return of H.R. services
·
Request for two - one on one student
needs (medically fragile young man and need for a 1 to 1 interpreter for a
deaf/blind student)
·
Materials (textbooks and equipment)
higher than anticipated due to increase number of students in certain classes
·
Outreach overspent due to start up and
one teacher out on maturity leave (double fill)
·
Less out-of-state students than a year
ago (currently 4 students--last year 7 students which included LIFTT)
Capital:
In Mary’s report she shares that we have $197,801
remaining to complete preservation projects. The top priority is completion
of the Lync Phone system which will replace our 23 year old phone system,
improve efficiency, reduce some operations costs and enhance our ability for
distance learning. Part of this project requires the rewiring of various parts
of the building to guarantee that we have good signal (CAT 5e to 6 wire). In a
few areas we have CAT 5 and in two CAT 3. The final estimate for replacement of
these, and correction on damaged runs after testing, will determine the amount
of funding necessary to complete the phone system. Once this has been determined, the remainder
of the preservation funding will be used to replace outdated fire dampers in
Old Main, which have been failing over this past year. Currently, Rob Tracey
has a contract with an electrical engineering firm to provide accurate
information for numbers of fire dampers to be replaced along with documents necessary
for the bid process. WSSB is working with Dept. of Enterprise Services (DES), Architectural/
Engineering to move this project forward. WSSB has requested approval for up to
$100,000 of capital funds for re-appropriation should we run into any delays,
which would not allow completion by June 30, 2015.
2015-2017 Biennial Budget:
During October I met with OFM Educational Analysts
and with the Education staff for the House and the Senate to provide them with
more information on the diverse services provided by WSSB. I also shared that WSSB is a statewide safety
net for BVI children and a school/agency that helps ensure students receive the
necessary blindness related skill training (Expanded Core Competency). This
training is necessary for a BVI child to access basic education. WSSB is in
compliance with upcoming changes in the number of credits to graduate from high
school (24 credits), have staff and administration actively participating in TPEP
and continues to be proactive in guaranteeing that whether a student is
enrolled in the on-campus program and/or served by WSSB in the local school
districts, students receive the necessary training for independence. All
students that attend WSSB’s on-campus program have been placed here in
partnership with parents, LEA and WSSB as part of the IEP process.
2015-2017 Biennial Budget:
We are all waiting to see the Governor’s budget,
which should come out the week of the December 15. I believe that the Governor
will have two budgets; one which is the mandatory budget to meet current
revenue projections for the 2015-2017 biennium. This budget will have some
major reductions in non-protected programs throughout the state. OFM has
collected 15% reduction plans from agencies so the legislature and public can
see what types of services will go away if the legislature doesn’t come up with
solutions during this upcoming session. WSSB is hoping that impact to children
will be limited and hopefully some of the additional needs such as:
1.
One on one support for a medically fragile child;
2.
One on one interpreter for a deaf/blind child;
3.
Reinstatement of $103,000 per year back to WSSB’s
budget, which was to transfer from DES to WSSB, but didn’t take place
(technical error); and
4.
Funding for the Birth to Three position, which in
the long run will result in improvements in statewide services, better use of
resources, increased Quota registration (which could generate up to $100,000
additional dollars on account at APH), potential Medicaid billing for vision
and O&M services should we be successful in getting vision and O&M in
the Health Care Authorities (HCA) billable services (SPA) State Program
Approval system. The Birth–Three Statewide Coordinator’s position has been highly
supported by multiple state agencies, LEAs, parents, teachers and etc. who see
this as being a key position in improving services to BVI infant/toddlers and
families.
Recent Lockdown at WSSB:
This past week WSSB went into lockdown based upon a
shooting about 3-4 miles from the school. The process seemed to go well and
staff acted in a professional manner. After the lockdown we debriefed to see if
there were things we missed and/or should have done differently. We now have a
small group of key individuals examining processes and will come up with a
modified plan based upon recommendations. WSSB is also exploring adding a
module to the Skyward Program (common program used by WA schools), which includes
a notification system. Even though we are small, it was felt that this would be
a better way of getting information out to all staff, students, volunteers,
family members and board members. The committee should have recommendations
within the next two weeks.
As you can see, WSSB has been a busy place. We are
gearing up for winter weather scenarios to deal with whatever Mother Nature
throws our way. WSSB has demonstrated numerous times over the years, that when
there is a need staff, volunteers, families, students and friends step forward
to keep programs and services moving forward and providing a safe
environment.
Pacific Foundation for Blind Children (PFBC):
On October 12, 2014 the PFBC conducted a Sunday
evening fundraiser. This event was highly successful for a small event in which
about 90 people attend a dinner and evening of entertainment. This year’s focus was on Birth to Three
Services. Over $15,000 was raised to get things started.