REPORTS TO THE BOARD

Special Services Report

To:  Michael Green
Re:  March Monthly Special Services Report
From:  Deb Kernen

Date:  March 19, 2013

This month I want to highlight some of the great things happening in some of our special education programs:  

Devon Hillman, Jody Flanagan, Kim Dyson and Bryan Vogel report that our Transition Explorations class has partnered this year with "The Alpaca Group" in Ridgefield for job site training for some of our special education students.  The students have learned all about Alpaca's.  The students practice harnessing and walking baby Alpacas, to introduce them to walking on a lead.  They also clean stalls and various other jobs on the farm.  Here's the link to the website: http://www.thealpacagroupnw.com/  The Alpaca Group has been amazing with our students!  Corey, our main contact, has exciting tasks planned for us each week, and he knows all of our students by name, characteristics, and interests.  It's been a great opportunity to learn work skills and expose the community to our students. 

Devon Fliss and Jody Flanagan reports that 100% of all seniors on IEPs passed their senior culminating project presentations the first time around without accommodations or modifications to the scoring!

Our School Psychologists, Jenn Barry, Joe Crawford, and Monica Siegrist are going to be conducting a summer program this year the two weeks after school gets out. The focus will be on social and life skills. Activities will emphasize friendship building, positive interaction, emotional management, organization, following directions, and study habits. Middle and high school special education students will participate in a leadership component to boost their self-esteem and mentor the younger students. 

Veronica Heller reports that four out of our five sixth grade IEP reading students are receiving their reading instruction in the general education setting.  This is such a great milestone for these students!!

The City of Woodland and the mayor will be visiting the Partners in Transition April 10th for Arbor Day. They will be planting a dwarf apple tree for us! In May the group will be taking an extended day trip to Long Beach. Students will be researching, planning events, prices and directions for the trip. The money that they have earned from their businesses will cover portions of their trip!