East San Gabriel Valley SELPA News
Volume 3, August 2023
We hope everyone had a relaxing and recharging summer! On behalf of the East San Gabriel Valley SELPA team, we welcome all students, families, and staff back to the 2023-2024 school year! Working alongside our member districts and Community Advisory Committee (CAC) throughout the summer, the SELPA is feeling energized and prepared for the 2023-2024 school year! This energy has also been felt in numerous site visits in school sites across the SELPA over the last few weeks. We look forward to visiting more school sites of the member districts in the coming weeks.
The East San Gabriel Valley SELPA News is released in August, December, and May. For questions, assistance, to be featured in future news release, or to notify us of any events or activities throughout the SELPA, please contact us at 626-966-1679.
To support our families and parents, the SELPA is pleased to announce the expanded translations of the Procedural Safeguards/Parent Rights, now available in 17 languages at https://www.esgvselpa.org/Page/71. Additional translations are planned and any staff or parents requesting specific translations are encouraged to contact Maria Davis at 626-966-1679. Anyone with questions about the Procedural Safeguards are encouraged to contact Dr. Turner at 626-966-1679 or sturner@esgvselpa.org.
The SELPA works diligently to provide meaningful and responsive professional learning opportunities for all staff and educational partners. For the 2023-2024 school year, Directors of Special Education have been provided with a professional learning calendar to allow staff to register for the events found at https://esgvselpa.k12oms.org/.
Under a grant awarded to the East San Gabriel Valley SELPA in April 2022, the California Early Childhood Special Education (CalECSE) Network provides technical assistance, evidence-based practices, resources, and support for agencies supporting Early Childhood Special Education. The CalECSE Network is committed to improving outcomes for children and their families by eliminating and addressing barriers to successful transition for California’s youngest children with disabilities. We encourage member districts and their Early Childhood Special Education Teams to consider joining the CalECSE Network at the Inaugural CalECSE Symposium in March 2024, in San Diego, CA. View the flyer or visit the CalECSE website for more information.
While school staff are busy preparing for the new school year, member Local Educational Agency (LEA) Business and Fiscal Services staff have been actively dedicated to the closing of the 2022-2023 fiscal year. Similarly, the SELPA has been working diligently to provide member LEAs with fiscal updates.
The State funds will be allocated through the Principal Apportionment process. The 2023-2024 Advance Principal Apportionment was certified by CDE in July 2023. Each LEA’s apportionment can be found in column A-11, Special Education Mental Health Services (6546-8590) of the Principal Apportionment Summary and should have already received the first payment in July. Additional information can be found in the following links:
Federal IDEA Grants - Federal Mental Health and Special Ed Apportionments.
In collaboration with District and Site Administration, our District Autism Implementation Team (DAIT) was able to complete training in Improvement and Implementation Science from CAPTAIN and the National Implementation Research Network to build systems, participate in capacity assessments, and complete an Autism Program Environmental Rating Scales (APERS) in order to collaboratively and collectively focus on three evidence-based practices (EBP) that would benefit all students on campus. Once the data was collected, our team decided on a targeted EBP (Task Analysis) and were able to train all teachers and support staff within our program to implement the strategy with fidelity. This focused EBP implementation supported our team goal of encouraging independence in the classroom. In effort to further our work, we have continued to plan monthly ongoing data review meetings and are moving onto training and coaching our next targeted EBP.
Reflections from our School Psychologist, Dr. Angela Davis: “The first year of the Demo Site experience was memorable. I greatly enjoyed learning more about evidence-based practices and growing our skills to better support neurodivergent children. Amongst the specific trainings and collaborative meetings, it was apparent that the Gladstone educators understood the needs and supportive practices to promote learning, problem-solving, and overall growth for students in our classrooms. Our journey through the Demo Site process allowed us to better strengthen those skills with our teachers, paraeducators, students, and families. I look forward to continuing our growth into year two!”
The SELPA is incredibly grateful of the hard work and collaborative efforts to implement what we know is research and evidence-based practices to support positive outcomes for students. More information regarding our Demonstration Site can be found HERE.
A special “thank you” to our District Autism Implementation Team, especially highlighting the teachers and support staff who work with our students daily.
- Kristina Cardeno and her support staff Marissa Hernandez and Sandra Calderon
- Irma Guerrero and her support staff Maria Sanderson, Lisa Reed, Jennifer Romanek, and Christian Contreras
- Elizabeth Mason and her support staff Megan DiVizia and Ashley Cichon
- Ashley Lujano and her support staff Jen Sarzoti and Robbin Berry
Thank you to Senior Director of Specialized Services Danielle Walker, Site Principal Allison Daniels, and School Psychologist Dr. Angela Davis for supporting our staff and believing in the benefits of participating in the process.
Thank you to our Speech-language Pathologists Chelsea Gladue and Sydney Preston and our Occupational Therapist Jeff Verner for participating and ensuring that we have continuity and fidelity with evidence-based practice implementation across environments and settings.
Lastly, the SELPA would like to acknowledge Katherine "KC" Balino, SELPA Program Specialist, for providing training and hands-on coaching in our classrooms! KC’s modeling and coaching are an imperative part of supporting our teams in the classroom.
With the dedicated support of our Community Advisory Committee (CAC) members, many parent trainings and other events will be made available to families throughout the SELPA and can be found at https://www.esgvselpa.org/domain/22.
Employment Expo
Our CAC is particularly excited to offer the Inaugural Employment Expo on Saturday, September 30th, 2023, at the Hockwalt Adult Resource & Transition Training Center in Walnut Valley Unified School District. Students with disabilities in grades 9th through Adult Transition and their families are encouraged to attend to learn of valuable resources and employers in the San Gabriel Valley.
Annual Arts Festival
The CAC will also be hosting the 9th Annual Arts Festival on Monday, October 30th, 2023, at Royal Oak Middle School in Charter Oak Unified School District with transportation provided by the SELPA. Additional details and the theme for this year's Arts Festival will be announced in the coming weeks, but for now please hold the date!
The East San Gabriel Valley SELPA Transportation Team would like to welcome you back to the 2023/2024 school year! We have been working hard over the summer to ensure all students have a successful start to the year. If you have any questions about transportation, please reach out to the SELPA Transportation office by calling 626-966-1670 and choosing option 2.
Driver Kick-off Meeting
In July, Durham School Services held its annual Driver Kick-Off Meeting. The SELPA Transportation Team shared important information about incident reports, student management, and route reading at this event. Our top priority was to guarantee a seamless beginning to the year, free from any possible obstacles. At the meeting, Durham School Services leadership provided drivers with important information regarding defensive driving techniques, child check procedures, and accident reporting. We value our partnership with Durham School Services and the collective efforts to provide safe and efficient transportation services to our East San Gabriel Valley SELPA students and families!
Annual Driver Training
The East San Gabriel Valley SELPA team recently held its yearly training session for Durham School Services bus drivers. The training aimed at equipping drivers with the knowledge and skills necessary to effectively manage student behavior and ensure safety during transportation. Jennifer Wolfe, SELPA Autism Coordinator, and Trina Guillen, Board Certified Behavior Analyst, led the session and provided valuable insights on proactive and reactive behavior strategies, incident reports, confidentiality, and other essential topics. The SELPA's top priority is the safety of our students and we remain committed to providing the best-trained school bus drivers. Complimentary breakfast sandwiches and refreshments were provided to drivers who attended during their summer break.
The ESGV SELPA is composed of 15 Local Educational Agencies (LEAs) with a combined average daily attendance of approximately 83,000 students. Member LEAs include Azusa USD, Baldwin Park USD, Bassett USD, Bonita USD, Charter Oak USD, Claremont USD, Covina-Valley USD, Glendora USD, Walnut Valley USD, West Covina USD, San Jose Charter Academy, California Virtual Academy @ Los Angeles, iQ Academy, Opportunities for Learning - Baldwin Park, and Options for Youth - San Bernardino.
Email: sturner@esgvselpa.org
Website: www.esgvselpa.org
Location: 1400 Ranger Drive, Covina, CA, USA
Phone: (626) 966-1679