MMSD Educational Services Newsletter - 1-16-09 What's Poppin'!

[Lisa Pugh]

Educational Services: What’s Poppin’
Friday, January 16, 2009

"The object of education is to prepare the young
to educate themselves throughout their lives.” – Robert Maynard Hutchins

Updates from Ann:
• Staffing Updates:
o Tina Krouth - Tina joins both Educational Services as well as the Teaching and Learning Department. Hence, a joint appointment for Tina. It is Tina’s charge to provide support to our staff relative to the implementation of standards-based curriculum and assessment at the middle school level with particular attention paid to our English language learners and students with disabilities.
o Sue Gorud – Sue joins Educational Services in the area of Professional Development and Learning. Sue will focus her efforts on supporting our high schools in becoming high performing inclusive schools.
o Teresa Carranza - Teresa joins our team as a Dual Immersion Planner. Teresa will provide leadership relative to the expansion of dual immersion programming in our schools.
o Wendy Steinmann - Wendy joins our high school team. Wendy is replacing Lauri Weis (East High School REAL Grant Coordinator). Wendy will focus her efforts on initial evaluations for special education at the high school level.
o Terra Harrison - Terra joins our Early Childhood team as a program support teacher in the area of occupational therapy.
o Sue Addamo – Sue, program support teacher (PST) in the area of physical therapy (PT), will no longer provide PT service to MMSD students. She has been reassigned to serve as our half-time PT PST on our Early Childhood team. She will continue to work half-time with our Professional Development and Learning team.
o Jessie Thiel – The work hours for Jessie, Doyle Administration mail delivery person, will be increased by one hour. Jessie will provide support to staff who need assistance with projects (photo copying, collating, etc.) as needed.
• ¿Que Pasa? – is a new radio program that airs on 1480 AM LaMovida. ¿Que Pasa? was created by MMSD and LaMovida to communicate with viewers on topics specific to the Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD). On December 18th Superintendent Dan Nerad was the featured speaker. The Superintendent shared a short background about himself, his vision for MMSD, and his perspectives on serving students who speak languages other than English. A question and answer period followed. Clara Barbosa, Amy Christianson, and Silvia Romera-Johnson assisted the Superintendent in translating and responding to questions from callers. To listen to the program click on http://www.madison.k12.wi.us/mmsdtv/mp3/1480am-radio-12-18-08.mp3 . The January 15th program focused on MMSD’s ESL and Bilingual Education program. Featured speakers were Ann Yehle, Amy Christianson, Silvia Romero-Johnson. Clara Barbosa assisted with translating. The February 19th program will feature information about MMSD Special Education and the services provided to students with disabilities. The featured speakers will be Ann Yehle, Curt Weber, Scott Zimmerman and Amy Christianson. Roberto Herrera will assist with translating. The program airs 9:00 – 11:00 am.
• 37 Inclusive Schools Grants Approved - As a component of Inclusive Schools Week, Educational Services afforded our MMSD schools the opportunity to apply for grants to support inclusive educational practices. With support from Madison Partners, we are please to report 37 grants have been approved. More information relative to the scope of these grants will be shared in the near future.
• Private/Parochial Child Find Screening – Curt Weber and his team conducted Child Find Screening for students attending private/parochial school on Saturday, January 10th from 8:00 – 5:00 at the Doyle Administration building. For more information on screenings see the attached brochure. Future screening dates, times, and locations can be accessed through the following website http://specialedweb.madison.k12.wi.us/edsvc/specialed/childfind. Please share this information with others.
• Early Childhood Special Education Data – As of December 16th there are 151 pre-kindergarten students receiving early childhood special education services in the following settings: self contained classroom (34%), itinerant (66%), and a combination of self-contained classroom and itinerant (4%).

Resources:
• Education Week’s Quality Counts 2009: Portrait of a Population provides readers with a nationwide report card on the continual push for K-12 school improvement. In addition, the special focus of this year’s report is how English-language learners are putting schools to the test. To access the report click on: http://www.edweek.org/ew/toc/2009/01/08/index.html .
• Bhutanese Refugees – The United States has launched a program to resettle tens of thousands of Bhutanese refugees from refugee camps in Nepal. Of the more than 100,000 refugees in Nepali camps, the Unites States will consider for resettlement at least 60,000. The Madison area may see some growth in Bhutanese as a result of the resettlement program. See the attached for more information.

Future Events – Community:
• January 9 – Gran Torino - this feature film stars and is directed by Clint Eastwood. This story depicts his relationship with his Hmong neighbors and gangs in a Detroit suburb. It's on at several local theatres starting January 9th.
• January 19 – Martin Luther King, Jr. Twenty-Fourth Annual City-County Observance. This year’s observance includes Rev. Dr. Trinette V. McCrary. Dr. McCrary will give the keynote address “The Inspiration of Dreams; The Responsibilities of Change” at 6:00 pm at the Overture Center Capitol Theater. Information about other community events observing Martin Luther King, Jr. can be found at www.ulgm.org/mlk .
• January 23 – The Asian American Studies Program is sponsoring Critical Perspectives in Hmong American Experiences and Scholarship - “Hmong Youth Delinquency in Minnesota: What Do We Know?” Prof. Zha Blong Xiong, Associate Professor in the Department of Family Social Science in the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Minnesota presents the problem of delinquency in the Hmong community in Minnesota, discussing issues confronting Hmong American youth, and presenting multiple data sets that look at what predicts Hmong youth’s involvement in delinquent acitivites. The presentation will take place from 2 pm – 4 pm in Ingraham Hall, Room 206, Corner of Charter and Observatory.
• January 24 – Asian Club Talent Show, 5 pm – 8 pm, Sun Prairie High School, 220 Kroncke Drive, Sun Prairie. This event is sponsored by High School Asian-American; Asian and multicultural clubs from the following school districts Madison, Sun Prairie, Monona Grove, Verona, McFarland and Waunakee.
• February 9th – Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR) Orientation – DVR is a state agency serving people with disabilities who face barriers in obtaining or keeping jobs. DVR provides services only to help people with disabilities obtain, maintain, or advance in employment. Eligible students receive services upon high school graduation and in some instances while still in high school. DVR will conduct an orientation session for students and their parents on February 9th, 4:00 pm, at West High School in room 239. See the attached flyer for more information and to sign up before February 4th.
• February 12 – Art Show, four talented photographers, twenty-one images, one gallery show at Harper Fritsch Studio, 1225 Greenway Cross, Madison, 5:30 – 7:30 pm. For more information regarding reserving your $10.00 event ticket, visit the Madison Area Down Syndrome Society at www.madss.org .
• February 16-17-18 – VSA arts of Wisconsin sponsored field trip program provides a unique opportunity for students to visit a local Madison gallery to see more than 150 artworks created by Wisconsin children and adults with disabilities, students take a guided tour, and participate in a hands-on project to take home. For more information contact Crystal Chesnik at [e-mail] .


We want to hear from you! If you have any questions, comments, concerns, don’t hesitate to contact one of the members of the Educational Services Administrative Team:

Administrator Title Email address
Ann Yehle Executive Director [e-mail]
Amy Christianson Assistant Director of ESL/Bilingual Education [e-mail]
Silvia Romero-Johnson Coordinator of Bilingual Education [e-mail]
Jan Duxstad Coordinator of Elementary School Special Education [e-mail]
Jim Haessly Coordinator of Behavior Intervention Programs [e-mail]
Ted Szalkowski Coordinator of High School Special Education [e-mail]
Curt Weber Coordinator of Early Childhood Special Education [e-mail]
Scott Zimmerman Coordinator of Middle School Special Education [e-mail]
John Harper Coordinator of Professional Development and Learning [e-mail]











DVR Orientation Session.pdfbrochure-Priv Paroch Screening K-12.pdfBhutanese Refugees in Nepal.pdf