WASHINGTON STATE SCHOOL FOR THE BLIND

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

 

Minutes from Board of Trustees Meeting

November 18, 2016

Vancouver, Washington

 

 

Board Members Participating:  Jim Kemp, Dennis Mathews, Berl Colley, Michelle Farrell, Keri Clark, and Lorna Walsh.

 

Board Members Absent:  Yang-su Cho, Cindy Bennett, Nancy McDaniel, and Ed Snook.

 

Ex-Officio Members Participating:  Corey Grandstaff (Washington Federation of State Employees Local #1225), Joleen Ferguson (Washington Council of the Blind), Michael Freeman (National Federation of the Blind of Washington), and Lilly Longshore (Parent Representative).

 

WSSB Staff Members Participating:  Mr. Scott McCallum (Superintendent) and Janet Kurz (recording secretary).

 

Guests Participating:  Marci Carpenter, NFB.

 

November 18, 2016 – 9:30-10:45am

Dennis called the meeting to order at 9:30am. 

 

Dennis thanked Scott and Sean McCormick, Director of On-Campus Programs for the tour of Irwin. 

 

Dennis asked if there were any additions or corrections to the agenda. 

 

Business Meeting:

Old Business:

*      Approve board meeting minutes of September 16, 2016.  Jim moved to approve the minutes as submitted; Berl seconded the motion.  The minutes were approved unanimously.

 

New Business:

WASA/WSSDA/WASBO Legislative Conference – February 12-13, 2017

*      Janet will forward the agenda for the annual WASA/WSSDA/WASBO to Scott and the legislative committee to see if anyone on the committee is interested in attending.  The agenda should be released in the next few weeks.

 

Superintendent’s Report

Scott reviewed the following: 

*      Scott stated it has been a very busy couple of months.  Scott attended both consumer group’s conferences (NFB and WCB) and felt they were well done.

*      Scott has established a great working relationship with Doug Gill, Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), Rick Hauan, Director at the Center for Deafness and Hearing Loss (CDHL), and staff from the Governor’s Results Washington team.  One of the Governor’s initiatives is “World Class Education” and Scott is assisting on one of the goals relating to IEP’s for OSPI.

*      Update - OSPI Memo:  This memo that was mandated by OSPI relates to transportation regarding local/day students (district would have to pay for the transportation).  CDHL and WSSB met with staff from OSPI and the Office of Financial Management (OFM) and they now realize the implications of the memo.  They are working towards a solution.  Scott is hoping to have more information over the next 2-3 months and will share that information with the Board.

*      Scott has been working closely with the Washington Sensory Disability Services staff.  They are a state needs project through OSPI.  This project focuses on sensory disabilities (blind, deaf, and deaf/blind).  Brent Stark, Director of WSDS and John Bresko from OSPI have been wonderful to work with.  The issue of the shortage of Teachers of the Visually Impaired (TVI’s) has been heard loud and clear with the result being that there may be some state resources that can be set aside for teachers who have a special education endorsement so that they can received their TVI license.  WSDS and WSSB may be working with Stephan F. Austin University (predominantly online courses) to provide this opportunity.  This could result in preparing 10 TVI’s and their education would be fully funded.  Details regarding the program (location of classes, etc.) are still being explored.  This would be a one-year program and OSPI is on board with this endeavor. 

*      WSSB received a complaint from the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) relating to the accessibility of our website.  WSSB has been working closely with staff from the OCR to resolve this issue.  Part of the resolution process is having an outside organization evaluate our website.  WSSB has secured this service and the cost was $1,200.  Scott encouraged screen reader users to review our website and provide us with feedback.  The website will be fully accessible by January, 2017.  Scott complimented WSSB’s IT team for their hard work and diligence through this process. 

*      Scott said one of the highlights of this past week was visiting a cottage and one of the students presented Scott with a photo of the WSSB Powerlifting Team after their successful meet in Las Vegas.  The student showed Scott her medal and was extremely proud.  One of our students set several world records.  This event is open to all Powerlifters and Scott is very proud of our students. 

*      Dennis complimented Scott for creating positive relationships with staff at OSPI and feels this is a great accomplishment in such a short time.  Scott shared that he feels very welcome by staff at OSPI.

*      Keri asked how the teachers would be selected for the state supported TVI-prep program. Scott felt there would be an application and interview process.  Keri asked how this information would be disseminated.  Scott said we would reach out to all people who are special education teachers in the state of Washington.  Scott stated that the TVI program at Portland State University has been great to work with, however their TVI program is a two-year program, requires onsite training, and prepares teachers for multiple states.  Michelle asked if Scott has any sense of when this will happen.  It is Scott’s hope that the program can begin next year.

 

Committee Reports:

*      Education Committee (Michelle Farrell):

·         Michelle stated the tour of the Irwin building was held this morning and the Board has been invited to the student assembly at 11am.  Michelle feels that the Board needs to remain in touch with why they are on the Board (connection with students).  Corey felt another good time to interact with the students is in the evening in the cottages.  Scott asked that communication regarding tours and changes to the meeting schedules be routed through Janet for coordination of efforts.

*      Buildings and Grounds Committee (Lilly Longshore):

·         Lilly stated that she and Rob Tracey met on November 14 to do a tour of the campus.  Lilly reported that the renovation of the pool looks very good.  Rob is meeting state law requirements relating to chlorine residuals.  Rob is also working with the Clark County PUD to replace the lights in the Kennedy Fitness Center with LED lights.  Bumpers were installed on the drinking foundations for safety.  WSSB will need to replace approximately 100’ of sewer pipe (a sewer line ruptured under the modular home on campus).  This can be done through the tunnels which will be a huge cost savings.  Jim mentioned that there were some issues with the brick on the boiler house and that Rob was addressing this. 

·         Scott stated he reached out to the Governor’s office regarding renaming the Kennedy building to the Stenehjem building.  Rob will be letting Scott know what the cost will be to change the signage, etc.  Scott will keep the Board updated and felt that we will need to discuss how this dedication/name change will be officially presented.  Lorna suggested that Scott invite staff from the Governor’s Office and legislature and educate them regarding the WSSB.

*      Legislative Committee (Berl Colley):

·         Berl said he spoke to Scott earlier this month about upcoming legislative needs.  Birth-3 program funding is the primary focus.  Scott reported that the WSSB requested additional funding for a TVI to assist in covering the Birth-3 needs on the East side of the state.  Lorna asked if WSSB has a summary or one-page information sheet for the Birth-3 program.  Scott stated he will ask DeEtte to put something together.

·         Lilly discussed a bill that was proposed relating to ADA accessibility.  Lilly will forward this information to Janet for dissemination to the board. 

·         Keri reported that she is on a Special Education Parent Advisory committee and they will be holding a meeting with legislators.  Keri offered to share information regarding the WSSB.

 

Ex-Officio’s Reports:

*      WFSE Local #1225 (Corey Grandstaff):

·         Corey applied for and received the Residential Program Manager position. 

·         Corey reported that the new Teacher representative for the Board is Vaughn Brown.

*      Washington Council of the Blind (Joleen Ferguson):

·         Joleen reported that the WCB annual meeting was held on November 3-5.  Joleen felt this was an excellent conference with over 250 people in attendance.  Joleen said that Scott did a great job in representing the WSSB and himself. 

·         Joleen mentioned that a resolution was written honoring Dean Stenehjem for his 30 years of service; the WCB is planning to develop a scholarship in honor of Dean. 

·         The WCB publishes a quarterly newsletter, the “Newsline”.  WSSB student, Elora Hancock, wrote a poem and that is published in their newsletter.  Every year, the President of the WCB presents an award for an outstanding publication and Elora was chosen to receive this award.  Joleen said it was well deserved.

*      National Federation of the Blind (Michael Freeman):

·         Michael is passing the torch to Marci Carpenter as the new NFB representative on the Board.  Marci is the President of the NFB of Washington.  Marci will be stepping in at the next Board meeting as the NFB’s official representative.  Mike has served this board since 1992.  Mike has served the state, school and blind children and adults in the state of Washington State for a very long time and has done an excellent job.  NFB member, Noel Nightingale considers Mike the father of braille.

·         Marci reported that the NFB’s convention was held on a very stormy weekend in October in Tacoma.  Their attendance record for the convention was an all-time high with 101 people attending their banquet.  The NFB changed the format of their convention this year and did not have agency leads present, however they did participate in several discussions in breakout groups.

·         Every year the NFB has a Washington seminar at the end of January/beginning of February whereby members go to Washington DC.  Mike will be going to DC with the group.

·         Marci reported that a media project was completed; a one-hour documentary, entitled “Bottom Dollars” was produced.  This is relating to sub-minimum wages for people with disabilities.  This documentary is intended to raise awareness about phasing out that program.  The NFB will be hosting screenings and the Clark County chapter will be a part of that. 

*      Parent Representative (Lilly Longshore):

·         Lilly wanted to share some information regarding a contact for a parent who is a wealth of information relating to special education.  Her name is Darla Helt and her phone number is 360-823-3247.  Darla is the Clark County Parent Coalition Coordinator.  Dennis said this group has been in existence for several years and that Darla is a great resource.  Discussion was held regarding disseminating Darla’s contact information and also the benefits of having information relating to IEP’s.  Keri stated that this is something very dear to her heart and that she would like to reach out to other families with children who have vision impairments.  Dennis asked if might be a good idea to have Darla do a presentation at a future board meeting.  Michelle asked if the DSB attended IEP meetings.  Scott stated that the consumer groups are also great advocates.  Marci said the NFB has a National Organization of Parents of Blind Children.  Another option is family connect with AFB. 

 

Miscellaneous:

*      Lorna reported that our state’s new Lieutenant Governor is Cyrus Habib who is blind.  Berl said that he, Denise, Dean Stenehjem met with Cyrus Habib. 

*      Jim stated that in the back refrigerator in the kitchen is a supply of apples.  Please take some after the meeting.

*      Dennis suggested that for the March Board of Trustees meeting, WSSB reach out to Darla Helt and also arrange a presentation regarding JAWS.

 

The Board headed to the Sherman Auditorium to join the student assembly

 

There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 10:45am.  The next Board meeting will be held via conference call on January 18, 2017 at 7:30pm.

 

November 18 – 11:00-11:30am

Department Highlight:  Student Assembly at Irwin

 

November 18 – 11:30am-12:30pm

Lunch (Optional)

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                               

Dennis Mathews, Chair                                                                Scott McCallum, Superintendent

                                                                                                                                                                                                               

 

Board Reports – November 2016

 

Outreach

It’s hard to believe it’s already November!  Outreach has been working hard, driving great distances, and spending many hours in classrooms working with kids who are visually impaired (VI) in Washington.  Here are some highlights from the past two months:

 

·         September 21 was the Blind Youth Consortium meeting held at WSSB. We discussed transition services extensively, and considered technology recommendations for our population. We will be meeting again in January to develop guidance for service providers regarding technology and transition.

·         During the end of September, we worked along with facilities to remodel the Outreach office at WSSB.  Our staff has commented on its organization and collaborative feel and they take advantage of the space daily.  You should check it out!

·         October 4-9 was the American Printing House for the Blind (APH) Annual Meeting in Louisville, Kentucky.  I was again happy to represent Washington as one of two ex-officio trustees and appreciate the work APH does to develop and distribute quality materials for our students.

·         October 11 and 17-19 was spent working closely with the Deaf-Blind Project and Puget Sound ESD on a review of the Puyallup School District vision program.  This collaborative venture has been an amazing learning experience for myself and will provide guidance for school districts within WA serving students who are blind and Visually Impaired (BVI).

·         October 12 was the monthly Washington Sensory Disability Services (WSDS) meeting in Renton, WA and we continue to work on our new WSDS website and collaborative efforts within the State Needs Project. November 3 we met again in Wenatchee, WA.

·         October 14 came Outreach together for our fall department meeting.  This was held in conjunction with the Lauren Lieberman (adaptive PE) training at WSSB.  Staff came in from around the state to discuss technology, service models, evaluations, and more.  It’s always fun to have the whole team together!

·         October 20 was the SPED Director meeting at ESD 101 in Spokane and Scott McCallum was able to join us and present about WSSB.

·         October 21 was the SPED Director meeting at ESD 123 and I was invited to present about vision services in WA State and WSSB.

·         The VI Round ups have taken place in Pasco, WA and Renton, WA with over 70 vision professionals participating in discussions surrounding our field and the challenges ourselves and our students face. It’s exciting to have so many attendees and opportunities to collaborate.

·         As Outreach Director, I continue spending time with individual teachers while they are working in their districts and am always grateful for their knowledge and dedications.

 

We are still serving over 300 students monthly in over 40 school districts. Although we are positively impacting many students, there are still many students/districts needing services. Therefore, we are collaborating regularly with WSDS, Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), and other organizations to determine solutions for the TVI shortage in Washington. It’s fantastic to have so many dedicated educators on our collaborative team!

                                                                                                                                                                                                               

 

On Campus

 

Enrollment

52 Students On-Campus (36 Residential; 16 Day Students)

 

Grade Levels:  12th = 16; 11th = 7; 10th = 5; 9th = 8; 8th = 5; 7th = 7; 6th= 4

 

9 Distance Learning Students

11 Short Course Participants (between 3 course offerings)

Total Program Enrollment: 72

 

 

School Culture Update

We’ve recently completed the first quarter of the school year with many exciting opportunities for students, staff, and families.  September and October are some of the busiest months at WSSB with new students, programs, assemblies, scheduling, and a plethora of meetings.  Both students and staff participated in a variety of community/culture building activities this fall:

 

·         White Cane Safety Day Celebration was held on October 11.  Students spent half of their days in the community, riding public transportation, and promoting this civil rights holiday.  

·         Staff V. Student Goalball match was held to promote fun-healthy competition between staff and students and build relationships through a shared experience.  Superintendent McCallum was among staff participating. 

·         JBLM Army Band Performance at WSSB.  Held in the Kennedy gymnasium, the Army band presented an inspiring array of music from approximately 40 soldier musicians. Students and soldier musicians had break out jam sessions after the performance.

·         Girls Goalball team claimed 5th in national championships hosted at the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind.

·         Weekly after school recreation activities: tandem cycling, photography class, hiking, yoga, crafts, NW Children’s theatre performance, Disney on Ice Touch Tour, and a Trailblazer game.

·         Character and leadership half day workshop for students focusing on empowerment, service and kindness to others, school spirit, and team building. 

·         Halloween dance hosted by student council was filled with many students dancing, great costumes, and a variety of fun activities.  This was a huge success due to volunteer support and WSSB student council.

·         Weekly recognition of a PRIDE student of the week recognition.  Students are nominated by staff and a PRIDE “paw” is submitted for a chance at the weekly drawing. 

·         Staff have been participating in a “Caught You Being Awesome” system for staff nominating staff promoting or modeling PRIDE (Perseverance, Respect, Integrity, Diversity, Empowerment)

·         The Fun Committee conducts a monthly Spotlight on a staff member from various WSSB departments.  Staff Spotlights have provided a wonderful way to get to know staff better and celebrate their contributions to the WSSB.  Spotlights have highlighted Janet Kurz (Administration), Tyler Peterson (ORC), and Peggy Gallagher (Outreach).

 

Student Technology Initiative

WSSB is putting more technology in the hands of learners this fall through an initiative named Tech 4 U.  Tech 4 U is a school wide implementation of personalized digital devices to support student learning now and for their future.  Middle school students have received iPads, and high school students received laptops.  Individualized tools and accommodations are being provided to addresses specific needs.  More now than ever, it is vital that each student develops skills using tools necessary for success in school and their future.  With increased access, WSSB classrooms will be using technology to further support the constructivist instructional model and student ownership in their learning process. 

 

Family/Community Engagement

Every week we are continuing to send out a newsletter to families and the community, which has been a wonderful method of keeping everyone informed of opportunities and experiences that students are having.  The school has also been utilizing School Messenger service on a regular basis to communicate changes, transportation, announcements, and other one-way messages to families.   Monthly Parent Education Nights have at WSSB and are driven by families to share information, build community, and discuss opportunities for their children.  These nights are open to non-WSSB families of students with visual impairments.  

 

WSSB parent Krista Bulger recently started a WSSB Family page on Facebook for sharing information, resources and building a network of families with children attending WSSB.

 

Staff Growth

This school year is all about growth.  We are adapting to change as we improve systems to support new and veteran staff. All growth is geared toward continuous improvement of programs and services to students.

 

The residential department welcomes the leadership of Corey Grandstaff, Residential Program Manager.  Corey’s background as a teacher of the visually impaired, Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialist, and array of knowledge of educating students with visual impairments is a wonderful resource to one of the most impactful programs on WSSB’s campus.  This is Corey’s 5th year at WSSB and his contributions will continue to support enhancing the growth of students in his new role.  

 

Some additional changes that occurred for this school year are the additions of on-call staff in both the education and residential departments.  This year, WSSB is working with Linda Hagood, Speech Language Pathologist, to support student communication through a relational approach.  Linda has a vast array of experience working with students with visual impairments at Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired and teaching vision professionals across the country, with a focus on autism and visual impairments.   

 

New teachers to the residential school classroom are being supported by Steve Lowry as their mentor.  Steve is following the guidelines and participating in the BEST mentorship and induction program.  BEST stands for Beginning Educator Support Team and supported through OSPI for improving teacher induction and retention. 

 

Other trainings/conferences attended this fall by staff:

·         Northwest Mathematics Conference, Yakima, WA

·         Civil Rights and Equity, ESD 112, Vancouver, WA

·         APH Annual Meeting Louisville, KY

·         COSB and POSB institute, Louisville, KY

·         BEST mentor training, Vancouver, WA

·         NFB Google Training, Jernigan Institute, Baltimore, MD

·         Lifeguard Training, WSSB campus

·         Danielson Stage 2 training for admin ESD 112, Vancouver, WA

·         Regional Principal PLC, ESD 112, Vancouver, WA

 

Instructional Improvement

Students are participating in several assessments this school year to help provide stronger data that will assist in tailoring multiple tiers of support for student programs.  Formal academic assessments this year include the use of Smarter Balanced Assessments and the NWEA Measurement of Academic Progress (MAP) test.  MAP provides a breakdown of data that will help identify the “Swiss cheese” in student learning so that interventions and supports are well targeted.

 

Residential staff are continuing to conduct assessments in the area independent living skills.  The continuous use of assessment is paired with instruction so that students are developing in this area of the expanded core curriculum for residential students.  

 

Teachers at WSSB are using an inquiry model for developing student growth goals in accordance with TPEP (Teacher Principal Evaluation Project).  Every teacher will be working with their professional learning community to develop team goals and measure to enhance WSSB’s impact on learning in areas of the Expanded Core Curriculum.   

                                                                                                                                                                                                               

 

Transition Services

 

Health Center

The health center has experienced a very busy and productive start to the school year. Students have been learning how to use a locked medication box as part of the Self Directed Medication Program.  Currently, 4 students are participating and a 5th student will come on board soon.  

 

The health center has reviewed and updated the disaster bag contents. 11 bags are located on campus: Irwin Admin office, Irwin Teacher’s Aide (TA) office, Learning Independence for Today and Tomorrow (LIFTT), Health Center, Watson, Clarke, Hall and Chapman cottages, Kennedy, ORC and Superintendents office.

 

Small first aid kits will be prepared for outreach staff cars.

 

The health center is working with administration and school staff to update our medication administration policy and implement procedures to facilitate a school sponsored field trip to Nevada in November and possibly Canada in April.

 

In addition to the medical administration policy update, the health center has a goal to review and update all other policies and procedures by the school year end.

 

The Health Center is currently precepting two student nurses from Clark College.

 

Transition Services

Through the joint partnership with the Department of Services for the Blind (DSB), our Youth Services Specialist, Marcie Ebarb, has made many inroads through research and networking to find community programs and opportunities for our transition-age students. We are ready to begin utilizing the services of several programs to provide pre-employment training services, work based learning sites. Following are some of the most promising connections to date:

 

Transition Learning Community (TLC): Is a grant-funded “Transition Learning Community” pilot project administered by the Center for Change in Transition Services (CCTS) and funded by Department of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR).  WSSB is one of multiple school districts around the state who will participate in the TLC facilitated by a CCTS Transition Specialist. The long-term goal of WSSB’s TLC is to improve the post-high school outcomes of our graduates. 

 

Partners in Careers (PIC):

Working on creating a DSB funded contract with options for PIC to provide weekly on-site soft skills training, 8 hour/week supported internship placements, and more.

 

Goodwill Job Connections: They offer free job search and “meet the employer” workshops and classes, connect people to job openings, and more.

 

Salvation Army: Potential volunteer, job shadow, work site tour, etc. 

 

Emerging Workforce Committee: Marcie will be a part of the committee which consists of representatives from multiple local agencies that provide youth services.  Committee members participate in employer, job candidate, workforce system, sustainability, and communication sub-committees.

 

Job Club: Marcie facilitates a weekly after school job club to provide pre-employment training services, which began on September 26.

 

Networking: Marcie participates in groups to learn about and facilitate opportunities for our transition age students.

o   WorkSource Business Outreach Partners Meetings: monthly meetings to learn about job opportunities and training for adults and to promote inclusion of potential BVI participants.

o   DSB South Region Mtg. (September 14)

o   Blind Youth Consortium Mtg. (September 21 meeting had a transition agenda)

o   Attended WSU Vancouver Partnership Breakfast (October 4)

o   Attended NFB convention (October 14-16)

o   Attended WCB Convention (November 3-5) Youth Summit November 4.

 

LIFTT

We have gone from 8 to 6 participants in the program, as two left for personal reasons. We are following up with other potential participants who are interested in entering the program. Currently, all students are actively involved in their LIFTT goals. All are participating in some combination of post-secondary education, actively seeking employment, building work skills through volunteering, and working in paid employment. Alongside their vocational pursuits, participants are engaged in developing skills of independent daily living. They are at various levels of independence in accessing the community through building their independent travel skills, and learning to use the public transit system, shopping, cooking, cleaning managing their time and money, and recreating. This is done through individual and group instruction. A Thanksgiving celebration is planned where a lot of skill building opportunities will occur (as well as fun).

                                                                                                                                                                                                               

 

Business Office

 

1.      2016-17 Budget

a.       Operating:  September books closed with a 5% positive variance. 

b.      Capital:  September books closed with a balance of $215,602 which is earmarked for campus preservation projects.  All funds will be expended by biennium end.

c.       19B Fund:  September closed with a 12% positive variance.

 

2.      2017 Supplemental Budget Request

As is usual for supplemental cycles, they limit requests to:  1) Non-discretionary changes in legally-mandated caseloads or workloads and 2) Necessary technical corrections to the enacted 2015-17 budget.

 

We submitted a request to increase our Attorney General funding. During the last supplemental cycle, our funding was reduced from $72,000 to $8,000 based on historical costs. Last year we had costs associated with adherence to the Due Process and procedural safeguards outlined in the IDEA federal law that supports families and school’s right for providing special education. We requested $53,000 for 2017. 

                                               

3.      Performance Measures:  We reported on the following measures for quarter ending September 2016:

#1585 Percent of WSSB high school students enrolled in online classes:  22.5%

#1586 Braille distributed on time:  96%

#1590 Pages of Braille Transcription:  115,481

#1591 Training opportunities accessed by individuals:  9,563

#1592 Number of teachers/paraprofessionals taking Braille exams:  11

#1593 Number of students on campus:  118

#1594 Off-Campus Services: 808

                                                                                                                                                                                                               

 

Human Resources

 

New Hires:  

·         Residential Program Manager -  Corey Grandstaff (Internal Candidate)

·         On-call Cook – David Ichimura

·         Substitute Teacher – Kendon Kraska

 

Open Recruitments:

·         On-call Residential Life Counselor (RLC)

·         On-call Custodian

·         On-call Cook

 

Trainings/Functions Attended:

·         HR Managers Meeting – Facilitated by Franklin Plaistowe and Marcos Rodriguez

·         Safety Committee Meeting

·         Benefits Workshop – Open enrollment November 1-30, 2016

·         OSPI Equity and Civil Rights Workshop presented by Civil Rights Office

·         VEBA for 2017 will remain turned “on”

                                                                                                                                                                                                               

 

Ogden Resource Center (ORC)

 

Braille Production:

ORC Braille Snapshot by the Numbers:

 

Numbers from 10/17/2016

·         97 large projects (textbooks, bus schedules, etc.)

o   2 EBAE

o   4 EBAE + Nemeth

o   3 Music

o   7 Nemeth

o   28 UEB

o   3 UEB Foreign

o   50 UEB + Nemeth

·         16 transcribers

·         2 braille coordinators

·         1 proofreader

 

We are also contracting with 2 additional part-time proofreaders to keep up with the current project load. Daily jobs are also constant and keep our 2 coordinators busy with daily transcriptions.

 

Mike, Angela and Kandi attended the NBA (National Braille Association) conference in St. Louis. At the conference, they attended workshops on Music Theory in Textbooks in UEB, Nemeth in UEB, Formats and UEB, UEB in Technical Material, Tactile Graphics and Foreign Language Transcription.

 

Washington Corrections Center for Women (WCCW) Partnership:

Our prison program is going strong with 15 full-time transcribers, 1 tactile specialist and 3 apprentices. Recently, 12 guests from WSSB and the Washington Talking Book and Braille Library (WTBBL) visited WCCW and met with our transcribers to learn more about this amazing program.

 

Unified English Braille (UEB) Exam:

The new UEB Exam (replacing the B.L.U.E.) is ready and people are taking the exam. Mike Sivill worked extremely hard to create this competency exam. The application is available at https://www.wssb.wa.gov/wp/departments/orc/.

 

Instructional Resource Center (IRC) Update:

Materials continue to flow out to students from the IRC. We have already spent a large percentage of our quota funds. Jennifer Fenton is attending the Teacher of the Visually Impaired (TVI) Round-Up meetings around the state to share new products from APH and share ORC updates.

                                                                                                                                                                                                               

 

Buildings and Grounds

 

Campus

We have added a new custodian to our staff after one left state service. Jacob is working graveyard and concentrates on the gym and providing security from midnight until 8am.

 

We have also added a long term substitute cook who is filling in for Savannah Anderson (WSSB Food Service) while she is on maternity leave.

 

Major repair currently in progress is addressing the sewer line problem between the modular cottage and Watson cottage. The old cast iron line runs through the tunnel in two places and has cracked along the top two feet of one of these sections. There are also two points where the line has settled and flow is restricted. The cracked line has been stabilized and we are now developing a plan on replacing the bad section.

 

We have had two false fire alarms in the last month of October and first week of November. The first was attributed to a poor repair by the original contractors working on the gym roof that allowed water to fill one of the smoke detectors. The second was caused by dust settling on one of the detectors in the gym hall. We are instituting a cleaning schedule beginning the week of Thanksgiving break to reduce the false alarms. We have also asked the fire marshal for a clarification on the number of detectors required in that hall. There are now fourteen detectors in that area.

 

We had our annual water backflow device testing with two failures. These have since been repaired.

 

Over Thanksgiving break we will have our annual fire alarms testing performed. This is usual a two and one half day process requiring every smoke detector, battery backup and pull station be activated.

                                                                                                                                                                                                               

 

Birth-3

 

The WSSB Birth to 3 Program continues to grow! Since this summer we added 3 more contracts in Lewis and Grays Harbor County. Both Cindy McAlexander (WSSB TVI) and DeEtte are pretty busy seeing new families and also providing ongoing services to children.

 

The BVI Registry includes 152 children between the ages of birth to 3, as of September 1. However 83 have turned 3 and are on the archived registry. Also the APH registry at the ORC includes an addition 16 children not on the registry.  The total number of infants and toddlers accounted for since September 2015 is 251. DeEtte continues to work with agencies to complete registry, in addition to the APH registry, and the requirement to register children who are BVI is a part of all local lead agencies contract with Department of Early Learning (DEL)/Early Support for Infants and Toddlers (ESIT).

 

The DEL/ESIT program is in the process of a statewide system restructure due to the passage of SB 5879.  A draft proposal has been presented and is currently in a public comment process right now, ending November 10.  As mentioned previously, this new more coordinated state system should align nicely with WSSB’s view for our Birth to 3 program, however feedback comments were submitted to continue WSSB’s role as statewide support for all children with BVI around the state and their families.

 

Parent Infant Playgroup (PIP Fridays) continue two times a month here at WSSB and will begin in Seattle one time a month (PIP Mondays), in collaboration with the WTTBL, in November.

 

DeEtte held a day long training in Wenatchee for the early childhood staff at North Central ESD, in partnership with Kris Ching from Center for Childhood Deafness and Hearing Loss (CDHL) and WSDS this month. This foundational training on early learning for children with BVI was very successful and will potentially lead to additional training on specific learning needs of children with cortical visual impairment (CVI), optic nerve hypoplasia, and deaf blindness.

 

DeEtte is again submitting a presentation proposal for the Infants and Early Childhood Conference (IECC), as a part of WSSB’s contract requirements with DEL/ESIT. The conference is in May and this year’s presentation will be focused on identifying BVI and also how local agencies can locate resources.

                                                                                                                                                                                                               

 

Superintendent

 

This has certainly been a marathon of meetings, conventions and experiences over the past month and a half.  Thank goodness that we have such amazing leadership and support persons in place to keep the ball rolling at WSSB. I certainly appreciate the wonderful efforts and competence of the staff at WSSB and feel it is appropriate to begin my report by appreciating the great work done here by all of our frontline staff. Thank you.

 

Last board meeting marked the official launch of the new website at WSSB. You may also recall that the WSSB had been working with the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) to address an accessibility related complaint about our previous website. WSSB has been following the process required by the OCR to resolve the issue and ultimately improve the accessibility of our new website. Most recently, as required by the resolution with the OCR, our new website underwent an accessibility audit.  The audit, completed by Utah State University’s WebAIM program, provided helpful information and feedback that will be used to improve the user experience and overall access to the WSSB website.

 

It seems that I was out of the office for a significant amount of time in October. I spent a majority of the first week in October in Louisville, Kentucky attending the COSB Institute and the American Printing House for the Blind (APH) Annual Meeting. While I have attended the APH Annual Meeting before, this was my first experience as an Ex-Officio Trustee. Additionally, this was my first time attending the COSB Institute.  I appreciated getting to know others who lead schools for the blind and used the opportunity to make a personal connection with Bill Daugherty (Superintendent, Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired) and Linda Lyle (Superintendent, New Mexico School for the Blind and Deaf), both of whom agreed to be my mentors during my early years in this role.

 

I attended the Washington National Federation of the Blind (NFB) Convention in Tacoma during October 14-16.  This provided a wonderful opportunity to get to know their membership better and participate in a panel discussion for parents of students who are blind or visually impaired. I was pleased to see several persons associated with WSSB at the convention. Both Corey Grandstaff and Doug Trimble were elected to leadership roles within the organization. 

 

Janet Kurz and I attended the Washington State Lean Transformation Conference in Tacoma on October 18 and 19.  The conference was attended by nearly 2500 state government employees.  Principals of Lean Government are common and expected components of the operation of state government agencies. According to the Results Washington webpage, “Attendees deepen their understanding of Lean principles and tools in dozens of sessions led by local and national leaders in Lean.” 

 

On October 20, I traveled to Spokane to provide a brief introduction and presentation to District Special Education Directors from the east side of the state (NEWESD 101).  I appreciated the opportunity to introduce myself and speak about services and supports available through WSSB.

 

October 28 marked the annual “State Schools” visit from ESD Special Education Directors and representatives of OSPI.  The directors were treated to a series of presentations and tours of both state schools.  After a wonderful lunch provided by our WSSB Cafeteria staff and a tour of our beautiful campus, participants were provided a series of presentations by Sean McCormick, Emily Coleman and DeEtte Snyder about their respective programs.

 

More recently, I had the wonderful opportunity to attend and present at the Washington Council of the Blind’s Annual Convention in Seattle on November 4 and 5.  With a record amount of attendees (nearly 250), I had the fantastic opportunity to speak to the larger audience and provide them with a brief introduction of myself and participate with a panel of speakers who addressed options after high school. Like the NFB convention, I appreciate the warm welcome and the opportunity to connect with people from all parts of Washington.  I look forward to attending both conventions in the future.

 

Finally, on Thursday, November 10, I attended the Governor’s Cabinet Retreat in Olympia.  Most of the day was spent going through a series of activities and interactions that allowed us time to reflect on major agency accomplishments from the last four years and look forward to potential accomplishments during the next four years. I especially appreciated the opportunity to interact with and get know my fellow cabinet members. 

 

The last month and a half have left me be both exhausted and looking forward to the future. I’m hopeful that the next month or so will allow me more time spent on campus getting to know staff, students, and programs on a much deeper level.