| Upcoming Events | |
Behavior Case Manager (BICM) Trainings
October 6, 2011 or
October 21, 2011
Contact: Eric Elliott,
elliotte@sfusd.edu
Handle With Care Training
October 27-28, 2011
8:30 AM - 4:00 PM
750 25th Avenue
Multipurpose Room
Contact: Laura Ramirez,
dominguezl@sfusd.edu
Professional Development Opportunity for Speech-Language Pathologists
"African-American Students in California Schools: Guidelines for the Assessment of
Language and Communication"
November 29, 2011
9:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Roosevelt Middle School
Auditorium
460 Arguello Blvd.
Contact: Gretchen Sharp,
sharpg@sfusd.edu
|
|
Hello Faithful Readers!
Welcome to the eighth issue of "The Special Edition."
If you have any suggestions for topics we should include in upcoming issues, please email spedfeedback@sfusd.edu.
|
|
|
Announcements
- Check out this website dedicated to undoing the myths about autism and empathy that have stigmatized autistic people for so long. Check it out: Autism and Empathy.
|
|
Words Matter
The language we use to describe people can be used to empower or denigrate, uplift or hold down. As educators, our choice in words can be critical. Using people first language is a first step in ensuring our language empowers our students.
The article entitled To Ensure Inclusion, Freedom and Respect for All, It's Time to Embrace People First Language by Kathie Snow explores the necessity of identifying people as people first and foremost, before anything else.
To read the complete article, please click HERE.
Follow this link to the website: disabilityisnatural.com.
|
|
Staff Spotlight: Welcome Michele Fukuda!
Educational Placement Services (EPC) and Special Education Services is excited to welcome Michele Fukuda to the Special Education EPC counselor team.
Michele joins the EPC team after 15 years of teaching for SFUSD. The first 7 years she was a full time, self-contained 1st grade classroom teacher with inclusion students (with the 7th year being a split 1st/2nd grade class), and the last eight years as a substitute teacher for general and SDC classrooms.
During her last five years in substitute teaching, she also worked high-end retail at Tiffany & Co. She feels that this opportunity gave her great experience with multi-tasking in a high paced environment (much like that of EPC) and valuable customer service skills for the more challenging parent conference situations.
An avid 49er's and Giants fan, Michele also enjoys going to the gym, spending time with friends and tutoring their children. She attends comic book conventions for Star Wars things (and said, "Yes, I am a geek about certain things" ) and is looking forward to the to ski/snowboard season.
When asked what she felt most passionate about when thinking of children and youth with disabilities, she stated, "I am most passionate about helping all students succeed regardless of the physical or mental challenge -- that, if given a chance and opportunities, all children can grow and reach their full potential becoming productive members of society. Thus, I am excited to be part of the Special Ed Team at the EPC where I can do what I can to ensure their success."
Welcome, Michele!
|
|
CORNERSTONE ON DEMAND
Special Education Services is excited to announce Cornerstone On Demand (CSOD) is ready for use! This week you will receive an email inviting you to register and take advantage of learning opportunities available to you. You will have an opportunity to register for upcoming instructor lead training as well as take advantage of the online content to deepen your professional knowledge.
|
|
FAQ
What do I do when my paraprofessional is out and I don't have a subsitute?
ANSWER:
- Check school messages to see if the para has called in sick.
- Check the online substitute system to see if job has been posted by para (All school sites have access to this, if you do not, please contact Sub Office in HR for access).
- If the job is posted, and no one is at your site, a sub did not pick up the job.
- If you need a sub please contact Becky Lowe or Francena Cranshaw who run the substitute office in Human Resources.
- The sub office is open from 5:00am-3:00pm each day.
- It is the school sites responsibility to contact the sub office in HR should they have any questions regarding their employees absences.
- Please work directly with the Substitute Office to secure subs for your paraprofessionals.
|
|
Articles for Reflection and Professional Development
This is an ongoing section where staff will submit articles for their fellow special educators. The goal is to encourage discussion and intellectual stimulation.
As this month is National Bullying Prevention Month, the following 2 artices from the UCLA Center, focus on school climate and bullying.
Designing School Improvement to Enhance Classroom Climate for All Students draws on recent literature to briefly:
- discuss the construct of school climate and
- outline ways to approach improving school climate thataccount for the full range of students enrolled in a school.
To read the full article, please click HERE.
Embedding Bullying Interventions into a Comprehensive
System of Student and Learning Supports
- as well as underscores the need to avoid another piecemeal set of policy and practice initiatives,
- and stresses that the growing emphasis on school bullying provides an opportunity to accelerate development of a comprehensive, multifaceted, and cohesive system of student and learning supports.
- Implications for policy are presented.
To read the full article, please click HERE.
|
|
Compliance Update
SFUSD must take whatever action is necessary to ensure that the parent understands the proceedings at the IEP meeting, including arranging for an interpreter for parents with deafness
or whose native language is other than English.
Our IEP checklist and Notice of Meeting folder in Goalview assist us with complying with this requirement.
If the Interpreter field is YES (Folder 1: Student in IEP), then the user is required to invite an interpreter as an IEP participant in Folder 3 of the meeting notice:
This issue is also addressed on the IEP Prep Checklist training document, as shown below. The IEP Prep checklist is in the HELP section document library of Goalview.
Ask the guardian if they need an interpreter. If yes, then document in GV in the Student Data Page in the Meeting Notice and obtain a translation of the meeting notice if the primary language is other than Spanish. SPED services is creating form notices
in multiple languages.
|
|
Procedural Handbook Update
Did you know that the Procedural Rights and Safeguards are available in multiple languages? We now have:
- English
- Spanish
- Chinese
- Vietnamese
- Tagolog
They are housed on our intranet site in our Documents Library and Shared Documents folder. Click HERE to take a look!
|
|
|
|
|
Sincerely,
Communications Team
Special Education Services, SFUSD
|
This newsletter is for SFUSD employees and community partners. If you do not have an SFUSD e-mail address and would like to receive this newsletter, please join our mailing list.
For newsletter feedback or more information, please contact us at spedfeedback@sfusd.edu.
|
|
|
|
