Our County-Wide Transition Committee is in full swing, and has met on several occasions. Of particular focus is attending to options for any of our students who are moving in a direction other than EKLC/Transition Center or college. As a county, the committee continues to explore options, resources, and opportunities that can support our students both while they attend Hill-McCloy HS, and as they transition on to the rest of their lives. Stay tuned for updates!

• Please have the parent sign the attendance sheet at the IEP meeting if they are in attendance.
• Parent must sign and excuse anyone who is absent from the meeting that was invited and is not in attendance.
• Before you finalize the IEP, check for draft REEDs and METs that should be finalized first.
• When final, print new IEP-at-a-glance and distribute to all teachers for the student. Staff are most appreciative of all information you can pass along.
• If you have a new student, check EdPlan to see if there is a copy of a previous IEP. We are at the mercy of other districts to send information, and this may be the quickest way to expedite getting it. If the student has joined us from out of state, please call Kim to see if a copy has arrived.

Our Bowlers had a great time at their last event, and enjoyed their lunch at McDonald's as much as the bowling! Our bowlers will be in for another round December 11, so please offer them your wishes for good luck as you see them.

• Yes, we can do an amendment for a switch of consult services to direct services for social work.
• The order of amendment events: call, finalize, sign
• When pulling an amendment, the district and parent must agree on the changes. If you receive verbal agreement from a parent on the phone, just note it on the amendment. It is in our best interest to get a signature on the agreement, as that stands foolproof that the parent agreed. However, it is not required.
• Case managers continue to be the link to communicate changes with staff. This may require an updated IEP-At-a-Glance, an email, or a personal/phone communication.

New information was forwarded this week regarding "assessment due by" dates for REEDs.

The order of REED events: draft, sign, enter parent consent date only if testing, finalize

I came across this TED Talk in a class recently, and thought it was a great mind shift regarding stress. I recommend a look if you have time to watch, or a listen if you are on a bit of a driving excursion.

We have had quite a call for support from our general education peers at all levels. We continue to be a sound resource to them for advising on differentiating, accommodating, and modifying if truly necessary. If you have good resources to share with special education peers as well for updates and ideas, please continue to send them out. As we continue to update ourselves in our chosen profession and stay current (or ahead!), we prove to be the greatest support to each other!

We seem to be coming along with our focus on measurable goals. Though this is not new, our attention to this detail most certainly has been heightened recently. As an assist, remember that the guide is built right into EasyIEP to help you. Look at the blue bar directly above where you will type your goal, and there is a template that will help you remember what to include.

By (DATE)

student will (SKILL)

with (CRITERIA)

on (ASSESSMENT).

Many weak goals have GREAT objectives! Just tapping those and moving some more specific information up to the goal line can make a goal measurable and focused.

**Final note: You may keep records in any way that works for you at this point. The monitors have simply indicated that documentation may be requested if a visit it made. When we last discussed this at PLC in February, 2014, some people shared ideas for their record keeping system. I can start an email thread if you would like to trade ideas for how others are handling it. Let me know if you are interested in that.