August 18 Newsletter

August 2018, Edition 1

It’s hard to believe that this time of Tammy Bisotti, Kim Hinton, Assistant
Director of Special Director of Special
year is already here. We are Education Education
confident that 2018-19 is going to be a
phenomenal school year! New Special Education Team Members:

Scott County is fortunate to have an ● Sammie Sowder (Garth/Northern)
outstanding special education ● Whitney Campbell (Eastern)
department. Our mission is to ● Shannon Carpenter (SCMS)
provide our students with a free and ● Kerry Jeter (RSMS)
appropriate public education using ● Shannon Guelda (RSMS)
research based strategies that help ● Sheena Wethington (RSMS)
to close the achievement gap. ● Cassondra Tucker (SCHS)
● Regina Finch (Garth)
In an effort to collaborate across the ● Robyn Bays (Stamping Ground)
district, communicate important ● Ariel Hoskins (LME)
information, build confidence among ● Katie Hooven (LME)
our special education staff and ● Rebecca Alsip (Garth)
celebrate the successes of our ● Nathan Peniston (Western)
special education professionals and ● Kimberly Dice (AME)
students, we will be publishing a ● Jenna Anderson (SCHS)
monthly newsletter for our special
education staff. I hope you find this
newsletter to be a useful tool as we
bring you tips and tools of the trade,
important events, and other relevant
information.

Together we are looking forward to a
wonderful school year!

Sincerely,
Tammy Bisotti and Kim Hinton

Help us fill this space with outstanding special educators!

Do you have a phenomenal special education teacher, remarkable
special ed. team, awesome related service provider, amazing
paraprofessional, impressive co-teaching team or a supportive
administrator in your building that goes above and beyond for
students with special needs?

Is there a special educator in your building using a unique teaching
strategy we all need to know more about?

Is there someone that is great at building relationships and we need
to know their secrets?

Each month a new person or team will be highlighted. Nominate your
colleagues, so we can shine the spotlight on them! Fill out the form
below to nominate an outstanding special educator or team in your
building!

We can’t wait to celebrate YOU!

Spotlight on Staff Nomination Form

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Preparedness is key to success -Douglas MacArthur

This quote from Douglas MacArthur definitely holds true in special education. The beginning of
the year can be a stressful time for some, but going into the new year organized and prepared for
what’s ahead can help alleviate the stress. Check out these tips from Reading Rockets (a great
resource for special education teachers) for starting Back to School on the right foot.

Here is what our veteran special education teachers have to say about being prepared for a new
school year:
Karen Juett, special ed teacher and team leader at Garth suggests, “Case managers should use a
beginning of the year checklist to help to get organized!”
Check out this Beginning of the Year Checklist

Kylee Johnson, special ed teacher and team leader at Eastern provides this advice, “Write down all
of your IEP due dates and re-evaluation due dates on a calendar-at-a-glance. I use mine all year to
plan ahead.”
Amanda Marquardt, special ed teacher at Southern, echoes Kylee’s sentiment, “Double, triple,
quadruple check dates and timelines, especially since the IC caseload summary just shows the last
evaluation date, which might be for a related service and not the primary disability. Make sure
anyone due this year had a planning meeting and got consent last year!” This advice definitely
shows the importance of taking a look inside the Due Process Files for evaluation dates and not
relying on the Infinite Campus caseload summary, because sometimes those dates are not correct.
Year-At-A-Glance

“As a special education teacher, it is very important to go into a new school year organized,” states
Courtney Casebolt, special education teacher at SCHS. She mentions that before each year she
creates a notebook with student plans and upcoming meetings. Courtney also warns,
“Procrastination is not your friend!”
Here are some resources to help you stay ahead this year:
IEP-At-A-Glance
Parent Communication Log
Special Ed. Acronyms

Here are a couple of paid resources to help you get organized that are available through TPT:
The Ultimate Special Education Binder
Caseload Management Binder

Finally, Tina Durham, special education teacher at Anne Mason, reminds us to form relationships
with those around us. Tina states, “We need to reach out to them {regular education teachers},
develop relationships with new hires and let them know we WANT to work WITH them to best service
our kids.” In addition, she notes, “Rely on your team!! We all have our strengths and weaknesses.
We have to collaborate with one another, because we don't have all the answers. We can't try to do
it on our own just because the student is "our kid" and not utilize the wealth of information that our
teammates have to offer.” David Curtis, educational diagnostician, agrees with Tina stating, “Make
time to develop strong, positive relationships with your students and their families.”

Best wishes for a great school year!

When parents and teachers build relationships the benefits are tremendous!

Parents benefit from being involved in their children’s education by getting ideas from the school
on how to help and support their children by learning about the school’s programs. Parents then
become more confident in their child’s education and develop a greater appreciation for teachers
and the school.

Research has shown that students also benefit from strong parent-teacher relationships.
Students have an increased motivation for learning, fewer absences, improved behavior, and a
more positive attitude about school in general when their parents and teachers have a strong
relationship.

Contact with parents helps a teacher learn more about the needs of their students and gives
insight into the home environment, which is valuable information that can be applied to meeting
those needs.

Remember these keys to good communication:
1. Initiation: Make the initial contact with your students’ parents as soon as you know who will
be on your caseload.
2. Timeliness: Make contact when/if a problem arises, so a quick solution can be made.
3. Consistency & Frequency: Provide frequent and ongoing feedback about their child’s work
4. Follow-through: Do what you say you will do to help students.
5. Clarity & Usefulness of Communication: Speak to parents in a language that makes sense
to them, don’t use educational jargon. Give parents the information they need to help their
children.

Start the new year off right with parents by trying out some of these ideas:
● Beginning of the year introduction letter
● Invitation to come to your room during open house
● Phone call home within the first week of school
● Send pictures to parents showing them the positive parts of their child’s day
● Send an email or other type of online communication to open the lines of communication

Do you have bright students that struggle with executive
functioning skills, such as, staying organized and focused,
following through on tasks, learning from their mistakes,
staying in control of emotions, being a problem solver or
being resourceful? This book can help you set your
students up for success from the very beginning. Peg
Dawson, EdD and Richard Guare, PhD have written the
perfect book for you, Smart But Scattered. The authors of
this book provide easy-to-follow steps to identify your
students’ strengths and weaknesses, use activities proven to
boost executive functioning skills, and problem solve daily
routines.

Check out Smart But Scattered through SCS Special Ed
Lending Library.
UserName: ScottCoSPED Password: specialed

By: Eric Muncie, School Psychologist, SCMS & SCPS
With all of the shootings and violence that is prevalent in the schools in our country today, trying
to emotionally cope with the violence is hard enough. Thinking about what we would do if we
found ourselves in a similar situation is even worse, particularly since we do not know how we
would react until we were actually in a situation like that. Because of that, it can be very hard to
reassure our students when they come to us with very real fears related to school shootings and
violence. However, they are things we can do to be prepared ourselves, as well as to help our
students be prepared. This preparedness alone can make us and our students feel more in
control, which in turn can help calm those fears so that we can focus on educating our students
and they can focus on learning. To that end, here are two very practical tips to help you be
prepared, as well as to prepare your students:
1. Know your school’s lockdown procedures and district policies related to crisis events (See the
link below titled Crisis Intervention Plan for policies and resources). When you think about school
violence and shootings, you should know exactly what you would do if you were in your room with
your kids, in the hallway, on the playground, at dismissal time, etc. If you find yourself saying that
you do not know what you would do, talk to your school administrators and get your questions
answered. It could literally save your life and your students’ lives some day.
2. Make sure your classroom door is locked at all times. Not one person who was behind a
locked door has died in a school shooting. I will say it again because I think it bears repeating. No
one who was behind a locked door has died in a school shooting. The shooters know they are on
a short timeline, so they go for easy targets. Do not make yourself or your students an easy
target. Yes, having the door locked all the time is inconvenient. However, you may not have time to
lock it in the middle of a crisis, you may not be able to find your key, you may have a sub that day
who does not have a key, etc.

The district Crisis Intervention Plan can be accessed at:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ZB_wic9wAc7mC5Xf8sr1-4967UNaGUz-7HZfdtGZn3E

New 2018 IEP Guidance Document NOW available on KDE Website

IEP Lesson Plan and Development Handbook (Little Red Schoolhouse
Document)

Compliance Review Document

Kim Hinton is your Infinite Campus ● August 7: Opening Day
“go-to” person for special education ● August 8: First Day for Students
related technical and compliance ● August 15: NEW TEACHER IC
questions.
Training @ Central Office; 4PM
Contact: 570-3063 or ● August 20: Team Leader Meeting
[email protected]
@ Central Office; 1-4 PM
Trainings ● August 28: New Special Ed
August 15: Infinite Campus Training
for NEW TEACHERS; 4-6 PM @ Central Teacher/Speech Pathologist IEP
Office (Conf. Rm. B) Training Workshop (Day 1) @
Register at the link below: CKEC. If you are interested in
IC Training for New Sped Teachers attending, please talk to your
principal and team leader. This
Coming Soon: IC Video Tutorials is 3 Day workshop (Day 2: 9/18 &
Day 3 10/16) Register Here
Updates
No IC updates at this time

A big THANK YOU to all of those that presented PD this summer!
We are so lucky to have great instructional and behavioral leaders in our
district!

● Alicia White & Kylee Johnson
● Harper Rowlett
● Kyle Widdison
● Jennifer Caudill
● SCM trainers (David Curtis, Seth Jones, Alison Johnson & Brian Schadd)
● Jodi Sagraves, Katelyn Perry & Ashley McCullough
● Leslie Anglin & Tina Rose

CONGRATULATIONS!! Laura Stone, Kaylyn Johnson and Katie Slone have been
selected as presenters at the 2018 ASHA Convention in Boston! We are so proud
of you!!