CASE and CEC Name New Executive Directors

As most of you know, our two national organizations, the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) and the Council for Administrators of Special Education (CASE) have had searches underway for the position of Executive Director in their organizations.  The two organizations recently made announcements about these positions.

 CASE Names Phyllis Wolfram as Executive Director Beginning March 1, 2020

It is with great pleasure that we announce the next Executive Director for the Council of Administrators of Special Education, Phyllis Wolfram. Please join me in congratulating Phyllis as she assumes this important leadership role within our organization. She will leave her position as the Executive Director of Missouri CASE and assume this new role on March 1, 2020.  As many of you know, Phyllis has been at the heart of CASE's leadership for many years and also comes to us with many years of leadership experience at the local, state and national levels. 

Phyllis was selected as the next leader of CASE through a rigorous and competitive process facilitated by the Executive Committee of CASE.

This new appointment for Phyllis comes as  Dr. Luann Purcell announces her retirement after serving as the Executive Director for CASE for 17 years. While Luann leaves great shoes to fill, we have no doubt Phyllis will carry our organization to new heights into the future.  Her expertise in special education, professional development, non-profit association leadership, and organizations are essential to our future and she brings energy and dedication unmatched in our field.

CEC Names Chad Rummel as Executive Director Beginning January 1, 2020
As key leaders and volunteers in the field, it is my sincere pleasure to share with you the exciting news that Chad Rummel, M.Ed, CAE, a leading association executive, thought leader, and long-time member of the education community, will become executive director of the Council for Exceptional Children, effective Jan. 1, 2020.

Chad comes to us from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, where he has been executive director since 2013. You can read more about his distinguished career and professional credentials in our official press release.

Veto Session Update

The Fall veto session for the Illinois General Assembly had a few big priorities for IAASE and we are pleased to report that much progress was made on our big legislative goals.  Here's the rundown:

Senate Bill 460

What it does:  Delays the implementation of certain portions of House Bill 3586/ Public Act 101-0515. 

Why we pushed it:  This was the biggest legislative priority for IAASE.  While we had been working on some big legislative fixes for the bill, we compromised with our partners and agreed to a delay of implementation on the paperwork component.  The rest of the bill (service logs, etc.) remains intact for now. 

Where it stands:  The Senate passed the bill during the first week of veto session and the House passed it unanimously during the second week of veto session.  It now heads to the Governor's desk for signature. 

What's next:  Once the bill is signed (should be very soon), then the paperwork component of the bill (i.e. having to send paperwork home in advance) will no longer need to be done.  That portion is delayed until July 1, 2020.  Between now and then, IAASE will work with others to negotiate a fix for the remainder of this bill.

Read the bill online at this link.

Senate Bill 10

What it does:  Changes a component of the school code and allows paraprofessionals to be licensed after taking a test.

Why we pushed it:  This was a mistake that was made in a licensure cleanup bill that was pushed in the spring.  As a result, it put a strain on the number of teaching assistant's coming into the pipeline.

Where it stands:   The House and Senate approved the bill this week.  It now heads to the Governor's desk for signature. 

What's next:  Once the bill is signed (should be very soon), then paraprofessionals will be able to take a test and become licensed as a paraprofessional again.  

Read the bill online at this link.

House Bill 3897

What it does:  Changes the age at which students transition from their Transition programs.  It moves it from the day before their 22nd birthday to the end of the school year.

Why we opposed it:  At this point in a student's schooling career, school districts have done a thorough job of supporting the student into early adulthood and connecting that student with necessary services in the adult system.  Delaying this transition any more is not appropriate for students and presents significant costs to high schools.

Where it stands:   The House Human Services Committee did not take up the bill.

What's next:  The sponsor of the bill is expected to continue to push this legislation in the Spring session (beginning in January) and members will need to stay on top of this issue in order to be sure that students have appropriate transition services as they move into the adult system.  

Read the bill online at this link. 

Keynote Follow Up - Randy Grieser

A great additional resource to participants would be our free Workplace Cultural Health Assessment Tool that can be found here. This is an amazing resource, and those who fill it out will receive a detailed report on their organization’s culture.

You can also subscribe to Randy's personal newsletter to receive my blogs, videos, and free resources. They can do that here.

Upcoming Webinar - Parent Engagement - Your FAPE Depends on IT

Parent engagement isn't always easy.  Thankfully, we'll learn some tools of the trade from Luis Rodriguez, Partner at Engler, Callaway, Baasten, & Sraga on our next webinar.

Wednesday, November 13, 2019
1:00 p.m.

Get registered now at http://bit.ly/2pp0qXa

WELL Summit 2020 - Coming Soon!

IAASE is pleased to serve as a co-sponsor of the 2020 WELL Summit (Women in Education Leading and Learning).  WELL - An event to empower, connect, inspire, support, celebrate and develop women in educational leadership - will be held on March 11, 2020 and March 12, 2020 in Bloomington, IL.  Our colleagues at the Illinois Principal's Association have populated this great website with all of the latest and greatest information.

You can learn more about the summit by downloading this flyer.

Veto Session Information - Where We Stand As Of Friday, November 1, 2019

As we have noted in the past, things move very quickly in veto session.  We wanted to be sure to provide all of you with information about where we stand as of today since the first week of veto session is now complete.

A bit of a recap:
On Sunday afternoon, our team orchestrated a call between the leaders of several organizations to attempt to seek clarity and come to agreement on final language for the bill.  We are really proud of the people who were on this call for us and the collaboration that occurred on this call because it allowed us to understand some of the differences that existed between our organization and some groups who wanted to see other language in the bill.  While there was a deal reached during that meeting, there were some details that needed to be ironed out between some parties on Monday morning.

On Monday morning, as we sent the update message to all of you, negotiations around the bill continued.  Teams of people were discussing the issue in Louisville, KY (site of the CASE/NASDSE Conference), Springfield, IL (as the veto session began) and in several other satellites all throughout the state.  One thing became clear to all of us - we needed more time to address the challenges with this bill and come to agreement about how to move forward.

Given this, we agreed to make changes to the bill so that the bill becomes effective on July 1, 2020 (instead of being effective now).  The updated bill language is available as SB 460 (click here).  We strongly believe that this date will allow IAASE leadership to negotiate a bill with our colleagues in other groups that is agreeable to parent groups and that also is not a tremendous burden to special education professionals.  That also means that the current bill language is in effect (unless and until the legislature acts to change the date of implementation and the governor signs it).

SB 460 was sponsored in the Senate by Senator Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant (D-Joliet) and it was passed by the Senate Education Committee in the early part of the afternoon of Tuesday.  The full Senate then voted on the proposal and it was passed unanimously.

Where we stand now
The measure has now been sent to the House of Representatives where it will be carried by Rep. Fred Crespo (D-Hoffman Estates).  The first thing that will need to happen is that it will be assigned to a committee and the committee will hear it.  If it is passed by the committee then the full House will hear the bill and it must be passed by the full House.  If the full House passes the bill, then it is sent to the Governor for his signature or veto.

What we need from you
We strongly encourage all members and people who care passionately about this issue to begin contacting your State Representative to ask them to support this bill when it comes up for a vote.  Please click here to find the phone number for your State Representative. Then call them in their Springfield office and ask them to vote YES on SB 460.  Here is a sample script that you can use:

Hi there – my name is Dave Director. I live in Robert Representative’s district and I wanted to ask him to vote YES on SB 460. We need to make sure that the bill is passed when it comes to the floor for a vote during veto session.

A few final thoughts:

• You can share this post with others (teachers are definitely heavily impacted and should be aware of this. General education administrators should be making calls as well).
• Please be sure to contact your own State Representative (not the bill sponsors).
• If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out to a member of the IAASE Leadership Team.
• THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to the hundreds of people who have called, tweeted, texted, asked questions, or just given a smile of support during this process.  We really appreciate everything that you have done during this process.
• A special thanks to a few people who have been doing more than their fair share of the work - Melissa Taylor, Jami Hodge, Shannon Miller Bellini, Judy Hackett, and Teri Engler.