Regional Reports:

Committee Reports:

Old Business:

New Business:

The next Parent Mentor Council meeting will be at the Co-Serrc on June 3^rd, 2008 from10:00 am to noon.  Skills and Knowledge will meet the same date from noon to 2:00 PM.

Chairperson Tami Vandygriff ended the phone conference at 11:35 am.

 Respectfully and hopefully, correctly, submitted by Teresa Karsnak

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Council Minutes - November 20, 2007  

Parent Mentor Council Meeting
November 20, 2007
Phone conference

The phone conference was called to order at 10:00am by Council Chairperson, Tami Vandygriff.  In attendance:

OCECD: Lee Ann Derugen, Barbara Rice

Northwest: Cindy Herman, Jayne Young

North Central: Vicki Deel-Lezon, Jeanine Belsterling

Northeast: Holly Palda, Teresa Karsnak

Mideast: Cathy Douglas, Amy Dell’Anno, Tami Vandygriff

East Central: Patty Joseph, Stacey Curry, Cheri McCullough

Southeast: Faith Harkins, Karen Smith

Central: Jacqueline Howley, Lauri Kaplan

Southwest: Christine Wright, Ann Maguire

Reports: 

ODE/OCECD: Lee Ann Derugen

• OCECD is waiting for the final approval of their project and are moving forward while waiting.  Their funding has been cut by $200,000 a year.  Information will be coming once decisions have been made to any upcoming cuts in programs.
• OCECD will be making Parent Mentor site visits again this year and Lee Ann asked if any site might need/want a visit to please contact her.
• Patty Dovall is the new Parent Mentor for Morrow County
• The applications for the ten new Parent Mentor Grants were due on November 16, 2007.  They will be notified on December 10^th if they will receive the grant.
• A mid-year review will have a checklist format this year and will be coming from Jo Hannah Ward in the next few weeks.

Regional Reports:

• Northeast-No meeting since the last Council meeting. Berea has hired a new Parent Mentor; Jayma Provance will begin after Thanksgiving.
• Northwest-No meeting but a holiday celebration is scheduled and the region will view a DVD on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome.
• East Central-Met on November 5^th and Jean Martinek spoke on State Performance and Annual Performance Plans.  They will meet on February 11, 2008
• Southeast-Met November 7^th and learned about the Evaluation Process.  Also, on November 14^th they had transition training.  February 8^th is the next scheduled meeting.
• Central-Met November 5^th, Co-Serrc presented on Early Childhood Transition.  December 14^th will b e a holiday luncheon.
• Mideast-Met Nov. 7^th at SST-8 and focused on Co-teaching and inclusion.  The region gave positive feedback for the upcoming fall meeting that will combine Partnering for Progress and Parent Mentor Conference.  They will meet again in Feb. 2008.
• Southwest-No meeting but will have a gathering on Dec. 4^th to discuss “Compassionate Caring.”  On March 1, 2008 they will have a Parent Conference with a variety of break-out sessions.  The region is also planning on holding a series of workshops throughout their regions presented by the mentors.
• North Central-Met Oct. 29^th and shared resources on Differentiated Instruction.  They will have an in-depth workshop on Differentiated Instruction Jan. 25^th.

Faith Harkins thanked OCECD for moving the training series to the Columbus area because it is easier to access than Marion.

Committees:

• Archives-No meeting
• Mentor Support-No meeting
• PR-No meeting
• Skills/Knowledge-Met at the fall conference and voted to combine Partnering for Progress and the 2008 Fall Conference.  Oct. 20-21 has been reserved and a hotel has been booked.  Parent Mentors will meet on Oct. 20 and then stay for the Partnering for Progress on Oct. 21, 2008

Old Business:

The Illinois Mentor representatives that visited the fall conference were impressed with our training and members.  They have requested further information on Ohio’s Parent Mentor trainings.

New Business:

• If any Parent Mentor needs a hard-copy of the PM Directory they should call Marilyn Van Gilder.
• Lauri Kaplan would like the county list of Parent Mentors currently listed in the Parent Mentor Manual to be added to the website.
• Barb Rice will check and see if “Rules for the Road” will also be available on the Parent Mentor Website.

The minutes from October 29^th, 2007  became available during the phone conference and were reviewed and approved. Cathy Douglas made the motion and Cindy Herman seconded it.

Future meetings will be:

March 11, 2008 at 10:00 am (phone conference)

June 3^rd, 2008 from 10:00am-2:00pm.  Possible location will be the CO-SERRC

The phone conference was ended at 11:00am by Tami Vandygrif

Respectfully Submitted by Teresa Karsnak

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Council Minutes - October 15, 2007

Ohio Parent Mentor Council Minutes
Crown Plaza Columbus North
October 15, 2007

The October 15th, 2007 meeting of the Ohio Parent Mentor Council was called to order by Chairwoman Tami Vandygriff. After two minor corrections to the minutes, the minutes of the prior meeting were approved with a motion from Cathy Douglas and a second from Jackie Howley.  The corrected minutes will appear on the Parent Mentor website as approved. New Council Members were welcomed and the outgoing members were thanked for their service.  In attendance were Margaret Burley, Cheri McCullough, Tami Vandygriff, Jo Hannah Ward, Barb Rice, Lee Ann Derugen, as well as..

 Northeast Region-Zivile Khoury, Teresa Karsnak

Northwest Region- Lauri Betscher, Cindy Herman, Jayne Young

East Central Region- Kathy Pavlik, Patty Joseph, Stacey Curry

Southeast Region- Faith Harkins, Karen Smith

Central Region- Marilyn Van Gilder, Jacqueline Howley, Lauri Kaplan

Mideast Region- Cathy Douglas, Amy Dell’Anno

Southwest Region- Christine Wright, Moira Laughlin

North Central Region- Lin Bils, Vicki Deel-Lezon, and Janine Belsterling.

Reports:

ODE- Jo Hannah Ward reported that Greg Maloney will be at our conference on the 29^th. She also announced that she has been promoted to the Assistant Director of Resource Management. Her replacement has not been named. Regarding the 10 new Parent Mentor Projects, the RFP has been written and should go out this week. These grants are funded out of TANF dollars and will need to follow TANF guidelines. These grants are only a one year program. Jo Hannah informed us that the current project grants were brought back up to the original $25,000 figure and should stay at this amount in the future. This was accomplished by moving two projects to federal dollars which freed up the state funding. Jo Hannah suggested we look at the ODE website to read the State Performance Plan and the Annual Performance Plan. To locate this information, type in SPP in the search engine. The State Performance Plan includes 20 indicators from the Federal Government.

OCECD- We were happy to have Margaret Burley with us today. She said they did receive the Parent Training and Information Center Grant from the Federal Government. This was renewed for five years. She said Senator John Peterson was very helpful in the process for the new Parent Mentor Grants. The Special Education Scholarship Legislation was vetoed. Only the Autism program was continued at the present time. The other legislation will be reintroduced at a later date. Margaret also discussed a Supreme Court ruling which has significance regarding Juvenile Court implications. Ohio now says a juvenile must be represented by legal council, whereas they were previously able to waive right to council. The regionalization of the SERRC’s was also discussed. There are now 16 State Support Teams. They are currently developing the Performance Agreement for each region. Some concern is noted as to whether the family services will still be provided as in the past. This will be based on the regional assessment of needs. The direct implications for Parent Mentors may be a reduction in available professional development hours available to meet our individual PDP Plans. The lowest performing districts will be a prime focus as we move forward. This will be a learning year and feedback is necessary.

Regional Reports:

Northeast- The region met on September 18^th in East Cleveland. On the agenda was the OCALI Guidelines for Autism and a speaker from HMG. The region also questioned what happens to grants that are turned back in.

Northwest- The region met on October 3. Sandy Brickner provided the Evaluation Process training for the group. They also replaced Laurie Bestcher as the OCECD rep as she is helping with It’s My Turn. Future trainings will be held by viewing a seven series DVD collection of subjects as well as a speaker from the Autism Society.

East Central- The region met on September 17. Each mentor shared what activities and changes are going on and have occurred in their respective regions. Jim Martinek will speak at the next meeting on the SERRC reorganization.

Southeast- The region met on September 19^th with everyone present. They had a speaker from Ohio Legal Rights who led a Q and A session.

Central- The region met on September 17^th. Planning was completed for the upcoming Transition Summit.  They also finalized their calendar for the year and possible training ideas. They also had a program called the Friendship Circle Program.

Mideast- The region met on September 13^th where they welcomed two new mentors to the region. The group discussed the new Parent Mentor Guidelines and had a few suggestions for changes. They heard a presentation of the “Take Me Home” program. The November training topic will be Co-Teaching /Inclusion.

Southwest- The group met on October 2, 2007. The group looked at their own meeting skills in regards to making the meetings more focused on topics. The group also discussed future meeting dates and training to be provided as well as reviewed the new PM Guidelines.

North Central- The region met on September 28^th. Vicki presented training on appropriate reading programs and resources. The new OCECD Board reps will be Carol Lauferswiler and Rebecca Shaw. The next meeting will be at the fall conference after dinner.

Committee Reports:

Archive- The group met on October 1^st. Discussion centered on the “Caption This” contest which will be held at the Fall Conference. The committee will try to have only two work sessions per year.

Mentor Support Committee- The group has not met since the last conference, but communicate via email. They are asking everyone to share resources at a table at the conference. The new directory is almost complete. If anyone needs a hard copy of the directory due to not being able to access, they are to call Marilyn Van Gilder.

Public Relations Committee- The committee met on October 2^nd. They reviewed the results of the Public Relations Survey. They want to remind everyone to look at the Parent Friendly link button on the Parent Mentor website. They discussed distribution options for the Publicity Tips Guide. They also discussed the possibility of pursuing television exposure for the Parent Mentor Program.

Skills and Knowledge- The group met via conference call on August 29^th to complete the plans for the Fall Conference. Greg Maloney has been confirmed for the Spring Conference speaking on the New Rules. The group discussed the idea of redesigning the way we presently hold our conferences. Budget constraints are hitting many mentors and training may become an issue. Many pros and cons were brought up regarding alternatives. This will be discussed further at the October meeting. A survey regarding training needs of mentors has been sent out. There will be no new parent mentor training this year due to the low number of new mentors. The group will meet daily during the conference.

Old Business:

The new Parent Friendly link has been added to the PMO website and it looks great. Invite parents to check it out. Thanks to Pat Linkhorn are extended for her continued hard work on maintaining our website.

There are two corrections to the Parent Mentor Guidelines.  In Article VIII, Section A we added the word “are” after the word projects in the first sentence. In Section VII, B5, the words “this means you “was deleted. On a motion from Kathy Pavlik and a second by Theresa Karsnak, this motion was approved by vote of the Council.

New Business-

Jo Hannah Ward reported that she will be mailing our Performance Plan in November. This will be in an abbreviated checklist format for the January reporting verses the narrative format at year end.

A survey was sent to all regions to see how they work together to provide trainings etc.. If you have not completed this as a region, do so quickly and send back.

There was some discussion of whether an option may be to regionalize the conferences verses the one conference for all. This would save on accommodations and travel expense and time for everyone. Speaker expense may be increased for numerous presentations.

Teresa Karsnak will take over the Recorder position from Vicki Deel-Lezon at the next meeting.

Lee Ann Derugen reported that representatives from the State of Illinois will be present at our Conference to view our program as they have started one in their State.  Cheri and Tami will be their hostesses. The state of Georgia’s Parent Mentor Program is moving also nicely. They have a website and some resources which were passed around to view.

The next meeting of the Council will be via teleconference call on November 20, 2007.

Respectfully submitted by Vicki Deel-Lezon.

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OCECD: Lee Ann Derugen, Barbara Rice, Pat Linkhorn
ODE: Jo Hannah Ward
Mideast: Tami Vandygriff, Cathy Douglas, Kitty Boylan
East Central: Cheri McCullough, Patty Joseph, Kathy Pavlik
North Central: Lin Bils, Vicki Deel-Lezon
Northwest: Cindy Herman
Southeast: Carla Brown, Faith Harkins
Central: Jacqueline Howley, Marilyn Van Gilder
Southwest: Christine Wright
Northeast: Zivile Khoury, Holly Palda

• JoHannah Ward reported for the Office of Exceptional Children. The year end reports are online again this year. Pat Linkhorn can help if you encounter problems. The reports are due by June 30^th.
• The yearend Performance Narrative Reports are due by July 31^st. These should be the same as we did in January with any updates added. They are hoping to modify the report next January with perhaps a checkbox format.
• The grant applications are being worked on by the Fiscal Dept and should be mailed out in the next two weeks.
• In the State Budget, the House approved a pilot special education scholarship that will be available for all disability categories. It will go on to the Senate for approval. The provision for 10 new parent mentors at $25,000 each is in the budget.
• The OISM competitive grants will be reviewed by the end of June and the results out by July 1^st. The IDEA allocations are behind schedule and should be on the CCIP today. This is the final year of the IDEA allocations getting on cycle. This year will be FY 08 money plus the balance of FY07. Fiscal year 09 will only be current year funding. It looks about a 20% cut for districts. The SPDG has been applied for to replace the SIG grant. The OISM framework will continue with the focus on leadership and skills for superintendents.
• Jo Hannah has also been assigned Juvenile Justice as part of her duties.
• The new rules revision is on schedule. They are to be before the State Board in the fall and a March 1, 2008 anticipated date for the final approval. Comments have been collected and are being reviewed at the present time. JoHannah has about 300 Parent Mentor brochures left if anyone needs some.

• Lee Ann Deluge reported that it looks like there will be no more additional dollars for special education funding. She inquired as to whether the OCECD reps. are attending the Parent Mentor Regional meetings and if they are being notified. She reviewed the list of which OCECD staff were assigned to which region and reported the changes. All regions are to send of copy of their scheduled meetings to the OCECD office, Pat Linkhorn for the website, and also to Jo Hannah. The representative for the North Central Ohio region will now be Nancy Mandernach because Sandy Brickner had two regions, and Pat Linkhorn will be East Central Ohio Region. These assignments are mostly for attendance at our regional meetings. Parent Mentors still have the same assigned OCECD rep for their assigned counties.

　

Archive:
No report

Mentor Support:
Marilyn Van Gilder reported that the group has not met but did discuss the new mentor future training. This may be held in Marion on September 12. They would like to see a table available for mentors to share their resources. The Parent Mentor directory still has a few corrections to be made. Any changes in the directory need to be sent to Pat Linkhorn. If anyone needs a hard copy of the directory they should contact this committee.

Public Relations:
A meeting was held in May where discussion items included the Public Relations regional survey that was handed out. One is to be completed per region and responses turned in by October 1^st. The group also further discussed the suggested changes to the Parent Mentor website to make it more parent friendly. The changes will be discussed at the meeting today.

Skills and Knowledge:
Barb Rice reported that the Fall Conference will be held on October 29 and 30 at the Marriott NW at Tuttle Crossing. We will have a choice of sessions and a full schedule. The Spring conference will be March 5^th at All Occasions in Waldo Ohio. The topic will be the new rules with Greg Maloney presenting. The group will meet at the conference during the lunch hour both days as well as a conference call on August 29.

New Business:
Award recipients, Teresa Karsnak and Paula Taylor were recognized for their awards in their respective areas. Please share any recognition of this type. Congratulations ladies!!

Parent Mentor Website
On behalf of the Public relations Committee Zivile made a presentation including a CD of the groups’ proposed enhancements for the Parent Mentor Website in regards to making the website more parent friendly. Overall the information is basically the same, just rearranged into a different format. Unfortunately Pat Linkhorn related that the changes to the homepage would be nearly impossible to implement due to the amount of work it would take. It was decided that there will be a more prominent link that will say " for parents" and information directing parents to click here. The changes will be reviewed by Council at the next meeting. Kathy Pavlik made a motion to make the changes to the Parent Mentor website as per the recommendations of the PR Committee and the following discussion with a second from Faith Harkins. Motion Carried. Thanks to both the PR Committee and Pat Linkhorn for all of the work they have put in on this project. Also further thanks to Pat for maintaining this website and taking the time to make the changes.

Parent Mentor Operating Guidelines:
The group reviewed the draft document prepared by JoHannah Ward and her committee and made all of the changes necessary for final approval and adoption. Cathy Douglas made a motion to adopt the Guidelines with a second from Holy Palda. The motion was approved by the group. This document will replace some items in our Parent Mentor Notebooks and will also be posted on the website. Thanks to the Committee for all of your hard work!!

Action Plan:
The Parent Mentors of Ohio Plan of action was formally approved with a motion from Cathy Douglas and a second from Lin Bils. Motion approved.

Council Minutes, February 26, 2007

Parent Mentor Council Meeting Minutes
February 26, 2007

The February 26, 2007 meeting of the Ohio Parent Mentor Council was called to order at 10:00 a.m. by Chairman Tami Vandygriff. The meeting was held at the Worthington Board of Education. The following members were present:

OCECD: Lee Ann Derugen, Barbara Rice
ODE: Jo Hannah Ward
Mideast: Tami Vandygriff, Cathy Douglas
East Central: Cheri McCullough, Patty Joseph
North Central: Lin Bils, Vicki Deel-Lezon
Northwest: Cindy Herman, Lauri Betscher
Southeast: Carla Brown, Faith Harkins
Central: Jacqueline Howley, Marilyn Van Gilder
Southwest: Moira Laughlin, Christine Wright
Northeast: Zivile Khoury, Holly Palda

The minutes of the   meeting were reviewed and approved with a motion from JoHannah Ward and a second from Jacqueline Howley.

Reports:

OEC

• JoHannah Ward reported that the new Director is Greg Maloney who started in January. He did receive the plant purchased by the Ohio Parent Mentors. Greg will be attending our fall conference.
• JoHannah reported that she received Performance Reports from all of the Parent Mentors and they looked great. Mentors will be required to send the reports again by July 1^st based on what your project results. This report will continue to be submitted two times per year. Mentors will receive a letter and instructions as to how to complete the year end report. This should be a collaborative effort between the mentor and the district representative.
• The SIG project is ending this year. They are applying to the Fed for a new grant. It will be called the SPED Development Grant and will not be funded to the same level as in the past. Districts will need to contribute funds.

OCECD

• LeeAnn Derugen reported that the OCECD was a co-sponsor of the SPED Law Conference in Cleveland this month.
• House Bill 431 did not pass. This was the special education voucher plan that would have been similar to the Autism voucher.
• The OCECD has requested additional funding to increase the number of Parent Mentor projects to a total of 75 from the currently state funded of 56. They will know if this additional money is in the biennium budget July 1^st.  The question was presented from Council as to whether some of this anticipated funding could be used to bring the current Parent Mentor Grants back to the previously funded level of $25,000. LeeAnn said that decision would be up to ODE and OBM. 
• The “It’s My Turn” training has been expanded across the state.

Regional Reports

• Northeast- Zivile reported that they had a meeting on January 21^st where the discussion centered on RTI and when to qualify. They had a speaker from Vocational Guidance Services and they participated in the Recreation Fair with their SERRC.
• Northwest-  Lauri Betscher reported that they met on December 6^th and networked and reviewed their bylaws. They will have Metlife present at their next meeting.
• East Central-  Cheri McCullough Reported that the group met on December 5^th and January 5^th. Planning for both meetings focused on preparations for the law conference they are coordinating.
• Southeast-  Faith Harkins reported that they met on December 15^th and February 16^th. They received training on PBS and networked. They also brought forth that mentors in their area have a lack of available training in order to meet their job requirements.
• Central-  Jacqueline Howley reported that the group met in December, January, and February. Ohio Legal Rights presented at the January meeting and Marilyn Van Gilder presented a program at the February meeting as well as Joe Farry from COSERRC.
• Mideast-  Cathy Douglas reported that the group met on November 3oth. They welcomed a new mentor from Brunswick, discussed Performance Reports, and received training from HMG.
• Southwest-  Moira Laughlin reported that they last met on November 21^st and cancelled the February meeting due to weather. They watched a DVD regarding Procedural Safeguards and are considering making their own in order to make the subject more understandable for parents.
• North Central-  Vicki Deel-Lezon reported that the region met on February 2^nd. Sue and Janine gave reported on recent conferences they have attended and Vicki presented training on Adapting and Modifying Curriculum. MetLife will speak at their next meeting.

Old Business

• There was a reminder that carryover hours can be submitted from the months of April, May, and June for next year.
• Most of the Mentors have still not received their new OCECD publications from their OCECD reps. as of this date. It is anticipated that they will be handed out at the Conference or at your regional meetings.
• JoHannah Ward handed out the draft of the Operating Guidelines for Parent Mentors. The draft was formulated from a variety of sources. Council members are to review the draft and be prepared to discuss at the June Council meeting.

Skills and Knowledge Committee

The Fall Conference will be October 29 & 30, 2007 at the Marriott N.W. again. They will be meeting today after the Council meeting. They last met on December 4 via conference call. The fall conference will include more breakout sessions to accommodate the different skill levels and experience of the Mentors. Anticipated sessions are RTI, OCALI, Reading/Literacy, Communication Skills, Social Skills, ADHD, Grant Writing, P.M. Library, and Newsletter writing.  

Public Relations Committee

The group met on January 31^st and focused on ideas to make the Parent portion of the Parent Mentor website more user friendly. The committee proposed many changes but the opinion was that is would perhaps be easier to create a new website rather than make the proposed changes. Tami reported that Margaret Burley would like us to keep our website as is due to how its implementation was funded. .The original purpose of the website is for Parent Mentor use.  Zivile and her committee had many good ideas. It was decided that this will be a separate agenda item at the June meeting. Pat Linkhorn will be present at the meeting to give her valuable input as well.

Mentor Support Committee

Marilyn Van Gilder reported that they are working on a pictorial directory and hope to distribute at the Spring Conference. The question was raised whether everyone needed to have a hard copy due to printing expense. It will be announced at the conference to see who would need a hard copy printed for them. There are also some mentors who have not completed the survey. A list was passed around and those will be reminded from each region. Spam may be an issue for some in receiving the emails.

Archive Committee

Cheri McCullough reported that they have been gathering digital photos in order to convert to video for our conferences.  JoHannah Ward has compiled the video. They have met to work on the new album. The group’s mission statement is “The mission is to preserve the history of the Parent Mentors of Ohio”.

New Business

• Holly Palda introduced a discussion regarding the question of who we serve. Is it parents or parents and schools? She felt that the definition varied depending on which brochure you read.. There was a lot of discussion but no changes were decided upon. The discussion did bring to light the fact that expectations were sometimes different based on where your project is located.
• Barb Rice let everyone know that she is in the process of updating the “Rules for the Road”. This, as well as the new Operating Guidelines will later become part of the Parent Mentor Manual.

The next meeting will be June 1^st at COSERRC in Columbus from 10-2 p.m. The meeting was adjourned at 12:00 p.m. by Tami Vandygriff.

Respectfully Submitted by Vicki Deel-Lezon

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Council Minutes, November 7, 2006

Parent Mentor Council Minutes
November 7, 2006

Participating Members:

• OCECD: Lee Ann Derugen, Colleen Miller, Barbara Rice
• ODE: Jo Hannah Ward
• Mideast: Tami Vandygriff, Kitty Boylan, Cathy Douglas, Becky Thomas
• East Central: Cheri McCullough, Patty Joseph, Kathy Pavlik
• North Central: Lin Bils, Vicki Deel-Lezon
• Northwest: Cindy Herman, Lauri Betscher
• Southeast: Carla Brown, Faith Harkins, Katie Stroop
• Central: Jacqueline Howley, Marilyn Van Gilder, Lauri Kaplan
• Southwest: Moira Laughlin, Christine Wright, Rose Kahsar
• Northeast: Zivile Khoury, Holly Palda
•  

The November 7, 2006 Council meeting of the Ohio Parent Mentors was called to order by Chairman Tami Vandygriff at 4:05 p.m. in Dublin Ohio. Tami welcomed the new members as well as thanked the outgoing members for their contributions.

The minutes from the June 7, 2006 minutes were reviewed. With a motion from Beckey Thomas and a second by Cathy Douglas , the minutes were approved as presented.

Agency Reports:

OEC:

• Jo Hannah Ward reported that Thomas Scheid is their new director. The Evaluation report for the Parent Mentor Grants has been completed and compiled and will be handed out to all mentors on Thursday. She thought the evaluation process worked great by completing online. Feedback is welcome for any improvements for this year end evaluation. Jo Hannah related that the district reps provided much more data in this format and had wonderful things to say regarding the program.

OCECD:

• Lee Ann Derugen reported that Margaret, Colleen, and Martha represented the OCECD at the OSEP conference in Washington. Updating on HB 431, Lee Ann reported that there will be a hearing on November 14 which Margaret Burley will attend. She said it should be voted on by the end of December and may result in a pilot project possibly beginning July 1, 2007She also reported that HB115 was approved which revolves our Regional Delivery System. This will go in effect next year and realigns services to reduce overlap between the SERRC’s and The RSIT’s. The ESC’s will be the fiscal agent. There will still be 16 SERRC regions.
   

• Lee Ann wanted to let everyone know that she had personally read many of the PDP‘s and was very impressed with some of the great things going on.Colleen Miller wanted everyone to make sure we have the current material list from the OCECD as they have been receiving some that are not current. It was decided that all mentors will be receiving a copy of the complete inventory from our OCECD reps at our next regional meeting. This will be 18-20 publications. Please make sure you are using current materials. All materials are dated with revision dates. The new MFE publication will be printed in January. Spanish booklets are available upon request as well.

Regional  Reports:

• Northeast- Zivile Khoury reported that they met on September 13 and had speakers who were a gifted coordinator and a parent of a dual diagnosis child. Their next meeting is January 24 in Parma
   

• Northwest- Laurie Betscher reported that they met on October 4 with Jo Hannah Ward as their program focusing discussion on the new performance report. Their next meeting is December 4East Central- Kathy Pavlik reported that they met on August 23 and October 5. Discussions are centered on the Spring Law Conference they are planning and the Performance Report concerns. Cheri McCullough presented an Autism Safety and Awareness Training
   
• Southeast- The group has participated in a Positive Behavior Support Training and will meet again on December 15.
   
• Central- The region met on September 18 to set their meeting schedules and trainings. They also hosted a Transition Summit at LOSERRC in October to an audience of 80 parents.
   
• Mideast- The group met on September 28 to network and provide mentor support. They will meet on November 30 and December 13 which will be regional training on Early Intervention.
   
• Southwest-  Moira Laughlin reported that the region met on October 17 for information sharing and helped their new mentor with goal ideas. The Performance Report was also discussed.
   
• North Central- Vicki Deel-Lezon reported that the region met on September 22 and were given the Behavior training by Sandy Brickner. The group also decided to join the OCECD Governing Board. The next meeting will be at the Fall Conference.

Committee Reports:

Archive Committee:

• Cheri McCullough reported that the committee met on October 30 as they updated the albums and prepared for the “Caption This “ contest for the conference. The next meeting will be in February to prepare for the spring conference.

Mentor Support Committee:

• Jacqueline Howley reported the committee met on September 7 and elected a new slate of offices with Marilyn Van Gilder to serve as Chairperson.
• They discussed the preparation for updating the PM Directory.
• They also planned their participation in the new PM orientation to be held at the fall conference.

Public Relations Committee:

• The committee met on October 25. Agenda items included revamping the PM website. Discussions will continue on this subject after meeting with Pat Linkhorn.
• They also discussed having the Parent Mentors of Ohio listed on the Yellow Pages with Jo Hannah listed as contact.
• We are hoping for a link to the PM website.
• Publicity tip sheets are still under discussion.
• They also discussed whether mentors need to be writing letters to legislators regarding continued funding of our grants. Lee Ann suggested that Margaret feels we are ok at this point and will inform us if anything changes in the proposed budget.

Skills & Knowledge:

• Moira Laughlin reported that they will be meeting tonight to discuss programming for the upcoming conferences.

OLD BUSINESS:

• Jo Hannah Ward said she is still working on the PM Operating Guidelines document. She has not assembled the committee as she is gathering her information first to be able to prepare a draft for the committee to fine tune. She has 12 pages prepared thus far and should be finished in the next few weeks. The committee will finish a draft and bring to the PM Council for review and subsequent approval.

NEW BUSINESS:

• The PM event calendar was discussed. This will be on the PM website and any region or mentor can plug in dates of meetings and trainings. Tami handed out the instructions for everyone to share with their regions. Tami reported it is very easy to use.
   
• Tami reminded everyone that the PM website address has changed to .org verses .com. You can still access through the old address as well.
   
• The new Performance Report was discussed. Jo Hannah quelled everyone fears over the new report with the background and the thought process which drives this report. This is just a pilot at this point and will need to be revised to suit the needs and scope of work of the PM projects. The first part of the process which is due on January 31st is a mid  performance report  and the four parts expected are as follows:

·        1.  Section A- This section is really a project narrative which is the same narrative that you already have in your grant application. You just could copy it into this report or amend and write additional information.

·        2.  Section B- Critical Elements- This is section is related to what problems your project encounter, What gets in your way..Example.. could be funding, locations to meet, etc….

·        3.  Section C- Data Collection- As your year end evaluation report will stay the same, the answer to this section is just the categories that we collect data in. For Example….# of parent contacts, etc… No numbers are needed here, just the categories. We will all have the same thing in this section.

·        4.  Section D- Measurement- Improvement in Student Outcomes- This is how we focus on parent involvement. Your answers can include 1 to 1 coaching, parent trainings, support groups, newsletter. This does not need to be in great detail and actually can just be bullet points. No form will be sent out. Complete this information on a Word document and MAIL to Jo Hannah Ward.  The district reps should be completely involved in the process. Reminders will be sent to the regions by Tami as the time nears. This entire report should be less than 5 pages.

• Additional Information regarding this report:

·        It was suggested that we may be able to  evaluate parent involvement through a parent involvement survey which will be developed later in the year. There currently is a parent involvement survey that  is connected to the State Performance Plan. It has been conducted by parent mentors and has been conducted as a group. Do not make up your own survey.. There are already parent surveys the OEC is using which will be revamped for our use. Parent involvement is a huge piece. Are parents feeling involved and do they feel it impacts their child in a positive way? Our projects are designed to promote parent involvement which according to research should impact the outcomes for our students.

·        The final report will be due on July 31, 2007. This is a requirement for those of us who are state and federal funded through OEC and is encouraged for those who are not considered a project with OEC.

• Professional Development Plan Update: After much discussion a motion was presented by Becky Thomas and approved as follows: Once the current year PDP is completed, supplementary hours completed in April, May, or June, not to exceed a total of 10 hours, may be applied to the supplemental hours for the following year.
   
• Online Registration: Barb Rice said that the online registration will continue from this point forward. Make sure your email information is accurate as this is the only way you will be notified. Read your email carefully and review your selections before you press send as you cannot make changes online. She may also implement a cutoff date for registration in the future as some individuals are waiting too long to register and this leaves Barb with inadequate time to make room reservations and provide a food count.
   
• Lyn Bils announced that former Parent Mentor Paula Foster is ill and she will have a card available for everyone to send their best wishes.

As there are some potential scheduling conflicts, the next meeting date will be emailed to Council members when a date and location are confirmed.

Tami Vandygriff adjourned the meeting at 5:50P.M.

Respectfully submitted by Vicki Deel-Lezon

 Download a copy

Council Minutes, June 7, 2006 -

Parent Mentor Council Minutes
COSERRC
June 7, 2006

Participating Members:

• OCECD: Lee Ann Derugen, Colleen Miller, Barbara Rice
• ODE: Jo Hannah Ward
• Northeast: Cindy Wilcoxon, Zivile Khoury
• Northwest:  Laurie Betscher
• East Central:  Kathy Pavlik, Cheri McCullough
• Southeast:  Carla Brown
• Central:  Lauri Kaplan, Jacqueline Howley
• Mideast:  Tami Vandygriff, Becky Thomas
• Southwest:  Moira Laughlin, Rose Kahsar
• North Central:  Lin Bils, Vicki Deel-Lezon

The June 7, 2006 meeting of the Parent Mentor Council was called to order by Tami Vandygriff at 10:00 at COSERRC. There were 18 members in attendance.

Minutes from the February 23, 2006 meeting were reviewed and approved as presented with a motion by Rose Kahsar and a second from Jacqueline Howley.

Reports:

OEC:

• Jo Hannah Ward reported that the Asst. Director Deb Telfer is now serving as interim director until a replacement is found to replace Mike Armstrong.
• The new grants have all been mailed with the dollar amount remaining the same for next year. The budget items for the 08-09 school year will be decided by June 07.
• Jo Hannah handed out the revised scope of work for parent mentors which was included in each of the grant packets for this year.

OCECD:

• Lee Ann Derugen reported that the IDEA regs should be out by the end of August as they are on the agenda for the OSEP conference. Regional meetings will be held in October but no specific dates are available. There are 6 regions in the country and we are region 4.

• If anyone knows anyone who would be a good candidate to replace Mike Armstrong, please contact the OCECD office.

• We received an update on House Bill 431 which would make available vouchers similar to the Autism vouchers for all disabilities. The proposal is to use a weighted formula based on the disability label. It is not anticipated that it will be voted on before the November election. The OCECD has passed on their input regarding the program. Jo Hannah Ward related that there is no line item to support the cost of such a program so districts could bear the brunt based on what they already receive. The Autism Grant is currently $20,000 and slated to increase to $28,000. There are currently 435 students on the Autism Grant.

• Partnering for Progress will be held on October 12^th at the Marriott North.

• Colleen related that the Brown v. Board of Education is coming to the forefront again this year.

• Colleen announced that two new staff members have joined the OCECD. Mike Thomas will be covering the Dayton area and Marbella Caceres is specializing in Spanish/Latino community support and training.

Regional Reports:

• Northeast:  Zivile Khoury reported that the region met on April 4^th. Discussion revolved around the Hope Mentoring program and a school psychologist spoke to the group on RTI.
• Northwest: Laurie Betscher reported that they had two speakers at their meeting on April 5th, one who addressed audiology and the other was a mobility specialist.
• East Central: Kathy Pavlik’s group met at the last conference and discussed the new committee proposal.
• Southeast:  Carla Brown reported that Valorie Dombroskas joined the group for an open discussion. They also hosted an OISM training from their SERRC.
• Central: Jacqueline Howley reported that the group met on April 7^th and received training on OISM from Ellen Frasca and discussed next years PAC meetings. Three of their mentors presented at the Ohio Association of Gifted Children. They also met in May to hear from both Ohio Legal Rights and On My Own Inc.
• Mideast:  Beckey Thomas reported that the group had a meeting with their regular format of networking and sharing of ideas.
• Southwest: Moira Laughlin reported that they met on April 25^th with discussion revolving around the new committee proposal.
• North Central:  Vicki Deel-Lezon reported that they met on the eve of the Wrightslaw seminar to organize and meet with Attorney Wayne Steedman. The conference was a huge success and many thanks to the OCECD for sponsorship.

Committee Reports:

Parent Mentor Support Committee:

• The committee met on May 24^th. They will be assisting with the new mentor orientation which will probably be on November 7. This is open to brand new mentors and those who are still in their first and second years. The group also discussed ways to provide support to all mentors including ways to strengthen the buddy system.

Archive Committee:

• The committee met on March 30 and 31^st to document Parent Mentor activities and finish the 2005-06 album.The group discussed how they could better serve our program. Other discussion centered on how to make the most of each member’s time and where to meet. They liked the “Caption This” contest they held at last year’s conference but no decision was made as to repeating the activity.

PR Committee:

• The group met on May 18^th with three members present. They have researched the PM website further and found out that the site is actually privately owned by Pat Linkhorn. The PR Committee, with agreement from Pat Linkhorn and the OCECD will work on adding content and making suggestions to implement a parent center link. There was also discussion to make sure all important links are provided and best ways to access the site. In Council discussion it was also suggested that ODE provide a link to the PM website. A PM networking area would also remain with the possibility of adding a password to enter.
• They also discussed ways to promote to our specific regions including a publicity tip sheet which should be available at the Fall conference

 Skills and Knowledge:

• The group met on May 22^nd in Columbus. They discussed the proposal to rotate all committees and decided that their committee would not support the proposal as their work is done a year in advance.
• Plans were finalized for the November Fall Conference. The dates have been changed to November 8^th and 9^th with some committees to arrive on the 7^th. The location will be the Columbus Marriott Northwest in Dublin. The committee is hoping to distribute packets prior to the conference this year.
•  On November 8^th our speaker for the day will be Cathy Ann Hamilton who is from the Framework for Poverty with an emphasis on literacy. There will also be regional breakout time with given discussion topics. Our second day morning speaker will be Ann Cooper-Guinan on the topic of the Federal regulations. The Ohio Parent Resource Network will present in the afternoon regarding school climate guidelines and resources available.
• The group also discussed the conference evaluations including a new format and strategies to make sure all mentors participate as this information is vital.
• It has also been decided that the March Conference will be for one day with no overnight, also due to OCECD budget cuts. Barbara Rice related that the one day event will most likely not be held at a hotel and is actively seeking suitable facilities. They are hoping to book Paula Kluth, author of “You’re Going to Love This Kid”.
• The committee also reviewed the PDP. The 40 hour total has remained the same but the breakout will be different due to the conference structure change. This will be absorbed as an increase to the supplemental hours. The 22 hours supplemental will also include one training at a regional meeting. During meeting discussion it was determined that there are other ways to make up core hours if you are prohibited from attending the conference.
• The PM survey to see training needs was reviewed. There were 18 main areas of training desired. A new online survey will be conducted using this list to prioritize the needs of the group.

 Facilities:

• The Facilities Committee was scheduled to meet on Monday June 19^th at the Marriott to make final decisions for the Fall Conference. As the OCECD has faced a 10% budget cut, Lee Ann suggested that the OCECD take over making these arrangements as they already do the Spring Conference. This will save money in regards to decorating, meeting, and lodging expense. It was agreed to disband this committee immediately as the OCECD could easily absorb these duties.

 Old Business:

• At the last meeting Council was provided recommendations from the PM Committee Review Group. This was a 3 prong recommendation which all Council members were to take back to their regions for their opinions and impending vote at this meeting. During the regional reports each region recapped briefly the opinions of their members. There was also a lengthy discussion under Old Business later in the meeting. There was a variety of opinions and some offers of alternative versions. Some of these were to rotate the others but not Skills and Knowledge, some related having no interest at all in rotating any of the committees due to personal interest levels of their members, find other ways to make new members feel welcome, consider the increased use of technology, etc.. The majority of council members felt that currently there was a good representation from across the state on all committees. As this is viewed as a motion, a vote was taken with 6 regions against the proposal and 2 were in agreement. Motion failed. This topic will remain in the Action Plan to continue to be reviewed/updated.
• The Council divided into groups to have a work session to review the current Action Plan. All of the updates were presented to the Council including making the Action Plan effective until 2011 (5 year plan). A motion to adopt the review updates was made by Lin Bils and seconded by Kathy Pavlik. Motion Carried. It is noted that the Action Plan will need ongoing consideration to add new plan priorities and updates and that this is not a final document.

New Business:

• Tami Vandygriff handed out the Parent Mentor Council Co-Chair revised Application Form. Anyone interested in the co-chair position will be able to submit their application via on-line. Barbara Rice will be sending out the application to all mentors. Please submit your application to Tami by September 15^th. Remember that this is a 4 year total commitment as you would serve 2 years as the co-chair and 2 years as the chair.
• Lee Ann Derugen discussed the On-line survey with the Council. There was discussion as to what we could effectively do with the information as there are many items that the Council does not have control over. It was suggested that mentors share this information with their District Reps to see if any changes could be made in comparing how other areas use their grants.
• As a follow-up to the survey discussion Lee Ann presented that they are planning on scheduling a meeting with District Reps this year. Items to discuss, among others, could include access to VI-B funds and the PM budget process. Details to follow.
• The Parent Mentor Operating Guidelines were reviewed.
• The Non-State or Non-Federally Funded Parent Mentor Project Guidelines were presented. A change is to be made in number 4 regarding the number of regional meetings that are required.
• Jo Hannah Ward would like to prepare a sort of organizational flow for the Parent Mentors which could be adopted as Parent Mentor operating guidelines.  This would detail our entire program including our mission, etc. A committee was formed under Jo Hannah’s leadership to work on this in the fall.

The next meeting of this Council will be on November 7th from 4-6 p.m. before the conference.

Tami Vandygriff adjourned the meeting at 2:10.

Respectfully submitted by Vicki Deel-Lezon, Recorder

Download a copy

Scope of work document

Council Minutes, February 22, 2006

Parent Mentor Council Minutes

Ohio State School for the Blind

February 23, 2006

Participating Members:

OCECD:  Lee Ann Derugen

ODE:  Jo Hannah Ward

Northeast:  Cindy Wilcoxon, Zivile Khoury

Northwest:  Lauri Betscher, Debra Weber

East Central:  Kathy Pavlik, Cheri McCullough

Southeast Central:  No representation

Central:  Lauri Kaplan, Jacqueline Howley

Mideast:  Tami Vandygriff, Cathy Douglas, Beckey Thomas

Southwest:  Moira Laughlin, Rose Kahsar

North Central:  Lin Bils, Vicki Deel-Lezon

The February 22, 2006 meeting of the Parent Mentor Council was called to order by Tami Vandygriff at 10:00 a.m. at the Ohio State School for the Blind. There were 17 members in attendance.

Minutes from the November 1, 2005 meeting were reviewed. A motion to approve the minutes was made by Jacqueline Howley and seconded by Rose Kahsar. The minutes were approved as presented.

Tami Vandygriff announced that she will step into the Chairman position as Pat Linkhorn has joined the OCECD. Those persons who are eligible to assume the co-chair position will receive a form to express their interest in the near future.

Reports:

OEC

• Jo Hannah Ward discussed that there will be some changes to the grant process. The first addition is that the department will be adding the scope of work to the RFP. This was apparently part of the original RFP and has not been included in recent years. This document will explain what each party is responsible for and expected to do to maintain the grant. This new documentation will be part of the new grant application that will be out in the spring. A copy of the document was passed around the room to get any initial comments. The only discrepancy was that the form stated that it was preferable that the mentor has or have had a child with a disability in that district to serve a certain district. This had previously been a requirement, not a preferred item.

• Jo Hannah also stated that there will be some additions to the year end evaluation process. We are to complete as usual this year. The changes will be for the following grant year. The addition is called a logic model which covers five different areas to look at the inputs, outcomes, and goals. This process will be added to other state grants as well.  This is a more narrative format which can provide better information to the legislators as to the impact our grants make to children with disabilities.

• Jo Hannah also reported that she has done site visits with various members of the OCECD and they were well received. New mentors were the focus as this took the place of a formal orientation. If a site would like a visit, you are to schedule through Lee Ann Durugen. This process can also be used to problem solve. The question was brought up as to visitations to privately funded sites. Jo Hannah is not able to participate in these as they are not part of her scope of work, but the Coalition could be contacted for requests from these mentors.

• The discussion of privately funded mentors was more fully discussed as to the guidelines for inclusion in our activities and evaluation process. It was decided that a subgroup of the Council may want to fully investigate the role of the privately funded mentors and make recommendations back to Council as to their responsibilities, access to our conferences and resources, and costs to participate. Becky Thomas, Tami Vandygriff, Jacqueline Howley, and Cathy Douglas will spearhead this committee with the help of a representative from the Coalition.

• Jo Hannah also reported that there will be no separate PBS, Autism, and Access grants for next year as they have been combined into one OISM Grant (Ohio’s Integrated System Model). These will be district based grants and can help the district streamline information.  This is not the Autism Scholarship Grant program although there are some anticipated changes in this area as well.

OCECD

• LeeAnn Derugen reported that they are providing funding on April 25^th, 2006 to sponsor a Wrightslaw Conference at LCCC which will be free for participants.  The North Central region will be organizing the event. It is for the Northernm, Mideast, and Northeast region of the state.

• The dates for the 2006 fall conference will be November 1,2,3, and will be held at Cherry Valley Lodge or Clarion Dublin. The Spring ‘07 Conference may be at Marriot NW Tuttle on March 1^st and 2^nd.

• The Very Special Arts Awards will be held in Columbus on May 17^th with a final location to be determined. The Walter Horn Awards luncheon will be held at Villa Milano on August 16^th from 11-2P.M. Partnering For Progress will be held on October 12 at the Marriot North in Columbus following the OISM event on October 11^th.

• Lee Ann asked that we each review the publications list from the OCECD website and make sure we have a copy of each publication. If you do not have some of them, please call and request what is needed. The Spanish version of each publication is also in the works. On March 6^th, the OCECD welcomes a new employee, Marabella Caceres,  who is bi-lingual and who will assist in translating publications and trainings as well as other exciting duties.

Regional Reports:

Following is a brief synopsis of the regional reports as presented.

• Northeast:  A meeting was held on January 24 at which all mentors shared activities going on in their areas. The speaker was from the Polaris Career Center discussing a job training program.

• Northwest: A meeting was held on February 1. The region welcomed a new mentor Jayne Young who is from Findlay.

• East Central: The group met on December 8^th and February 9^th. Jim Martinek was the December speaker highlighting NCLB, highly qualified requirements, and focused monitoring. In February, a new mentor Stacey Curry was welcomed and discussion centered on how to orient and support her.

• Southeast:  No representation

• Central:  The region has met monthly. They also welcomed a new mentor from Westerville Schools, Tracey Davis. The group sponsored IDEIA training in Worthington on January 18^th.