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Inside this issue
Important Upcoming Events/Meetings
April 1 April's Fool Day April 2 Read 180 Universal PD April 2 FAST User Call April 2 Children's Book Day April 4 EBD Cohort April 4 School Librarian Day April 9 ASD/DCD Cohort April 12 School Psych Cohort April 15 Leadership Team April 16 National Stress Awareness Day April 17 Superintendent Council April 21 Kindergarten Day April 22 Earth Day April 24 CAREI Problem Solving PD - Session 3 of 4 April 24 Administrative Assistant Day April 26 Speech Cohort April 27 Tell a Story Day April 28 Great Poetry Reading Day April 28 International Astronomy Day April 29 ADSIS Spring Conference April 30 Work Skills Challenge Day in Northfield |
The Progress, April 2019:
Volume 4, Issue 8 The Progress archive
Click here to view past issues from the current school year. Comments? Suggestions for new articles?
Contact Jillynne Raymond, jraymond@gced.k12.mn.us 
April is Stress Awareness Month.
Take care of yourselves this month and always. |
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April is also...
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CAREI Membership
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The Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvements' (CAREI) mission is to improve the quality of education for all learners. Remember that GCED's membership extends to our member districts. CAREI offers several professional development opportunities to support a district's system, group, and individual level work. We are engaging in the problem solving PD this year. CAREI also offers PD in universal screening, progress monitoring, improving tier 1 instruction, and more. To access GCED's membership benefits and rates, please contact Jillynne Raymond.
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Reminder:
CAREI Problem Solving Teams PD Session 3 of 4 April 24, 2019 9:00 am to 3:00 pm UMN - St. Paul Campus 1954 Buford Avenue |
We interrupt state testing for this newsletter...
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ASL Course Learners Persevere!
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ASL Learners really survived the winter of 2018-19.
We live in Minnesota; we understand winter. It was only natural that as we planned dates for an ASL course to be offered in Lake City and in Zumbrota, we fully knew the weather would interfere with the schedule.
We did not realize that all make up dates would be used up even before the first class met. The ASL learners have not only survived the winter of 18-19, but they thrived! Thank you all for your perseverance with your learning. Best wishes for an awesome final project when you sign a children's book for your class!
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Remaining Schedule for ASL
Zumbrota-Mazeppa High School
Bluff View Elementary School, Lake City
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GCED's Jump Start PD - August 13, 14, 15
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TUESDAY 8/13/19
8:30 - 11:30
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WEDNESDAY 8/14/19
8:30 - 11:30
12:30 - 3:30
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THURSDAY 8/15/19
8:30 - 11:30
8:30 - 3:00 with 1/2 hour lunch onsite
12:30 - 3:30
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2019 - 2020 CPI Training
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Online Component
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Classroom Component
The classroom training component builds on your background knowledge gained from the online training component.
THANK YOU to our CPI instructors for their commitment to building your capacity in the use of CPI:
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Region 9 & 10 STAR & Links Program Training
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STAR Comprehensive Workshop:
Payment information
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STAR Workshop Content The instructional methods of discrete trial training, pivotal response training, teaching functional routines, and positive behavior interventions and supports form the instructional base of this comprehensive program. Participants receive examples of STAR Program lesson plans at each instructional level in order to practice their skills in implementing the program.
What You Will Learn
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Region 10 Registered Behavior Technician TM (RBT®) Workshop
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Monday, August 05, 2019
Friday, August 09, 2019 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM Wood Lake Meeting Center (507) 281-6699 210 Woodlake Drive Rochester, Minnesota 55904 REGISTER HERE |
The Registered Behavior Technician or RBT has quality and more extensive training on understanding behavior and how behavior works. They support school teams to help implement, train, monitor and follow up on plans that are designed by the team or behavior specialist. Practice under close supervision of BCBA or Related Licensed Professional Primarily responsible for the modeling and assisting in implementation of behavior analytic services.
RBT does NOT design intervention or assessments. Training will be based on requirements needed to become a certified Registered Behavior Technician (RBT) through the BCBA
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I learned! Highlights from the All County Board Meeting
GCED's school board is made up of one board member from each of our member districts, a superintendent representative, and our executive director Cherie Johnson. Once a year we invite all of the board members and superintendents from our member districts to an evening of learning. Here is a glimpse into what they learned about the relationship between their member district and GCED.
- 7 students transitioned back from setting IV to their Member Districts - Amber Lohman
- Pathways is a choice program with consequences - Jim Wendt
- Setting IV transitions = 7! 2 more additional in April - Heidi Jones
- Perkins could be used for alternative (technical/academic) course work. - Jim Wendt
- EL Funding - Janie
- We have been working on MTSS for 6 years - Jim Wendt
- Special Ed is only one of the programs offered by GCED. - Amanda Peters
- There will only be 12 education districts, never more - Steph Miller
- Lease Levy for Building - Kevin Anderson
- 107 students enrolled in 3 different programs housed at RBEC - Eric Enger
- Maude is the GCED therapy dog’s name - Eric Enger
- I learned about services provided for birth - 3 years - Steph Miller
- Fuel Education had 700 total enrollments in 2018-19 - Dawn Balow
- 42% of RBEC students reached goal of Meets or Exceeds reading standards in 2018 - Dawn Balow
- ALC is primarily for “at risk” students - Katie Locher
- MTSS, Assessment is helping the growth of students math/reading levels - Katie Lochner
- PAES Lab is for 10 and 11th grade students; helps with future plans. - Kevin Anderson & Katie Lochner
- There are 155 students receiving EL services this year. - Debb Paquin
- 90,000 students served in Education Districts in MN; 98 districts served by 12 Ed Districts - Deb Paquin
- I learned about MTSS; I learned about reading scores I did not know about - Marilyn
- Just got 17-18 Data from MDE this week - Amber Lohman
- I see a lot of opportunity to go to the legislature to improve special ed funding - Marilyn
- I learned we need to come up with a different way to get students to read a higher level along with math - Jim Bryant
- We're fully staffed for school psychologist for 2019-2020 (but still short for other SpEd Licenses) - Heidi Jones
- I would like to know more about Perkins Grant. Good thing to help students that may not want to go to college - Jim Bryant
- I learned we need to keep Resource Officer funding w/Special Ed - Jim Bryant
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I wish they [students] could come with some self-esteem, so they feel dumb. I want them to understand that no matter what we do for them, that they are worth the effort. 
Shelly Angell, RBEC Social Worker
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Rapid Round with Shelly
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It was during one of Shelly Angell's college level social work classes when she realized, "I fit. This is a fit for me." Shelly has been a social worker for GCED since the late 1990s; it has been an exceptional fit.
Shelly Angell began college thinking that she would go into business; she took classes on that path. The competition and the personalities in the business classes never felt quite right for her. But when she took a psychology course that was a requirement for business majors, she felt the fit and investigated more. The social work program was right for her. Part of her program included an internship, which she fulfilled at St. Cloud Children's Home. This is where she moved from a fit to "I love this!" It was fascinating working with male juvenile offenders; the residential facility, law enforcement, and social work all connected.
She began her internship with having kids tell their stories - how did they get here? How did they move from truancy issues to homicide? That was her fascination and the first step in helping them. She needed to understand their story - how they got to a locked facility - in order to help them chart a different path moving forward.
Shelly graduated from her program and began work with Prior Lake - Savage Area Schools Special Education Coop. She worked with a young man that had Tourette Syndrome; she worked with him independently and also met with this teacher and his family. This helped Shelly understand the connection with the schools. At this time there was a paraprofessional opening "back home" in the Red Wing area. GCED hired Shelly Angell in 1994 as a paraprofessional, then she was a "reintegration specialist" for a brief period before an actual social worker opening became available.
Shelly always had that interest in social work in the schools; she has always loved working with kids and they took on the main focus in her new role. In fact, she still remembers that first interview for Wastedo. She was able to pull on her internship to respond to interview questions. It worked out well.
There is no such thing as a "typical" day for Shelly. The day usually starts with meeting staff getting ready for the day. She communicates any changes that may have happened overnight. She also meets kids in the entry way every day. Greeting students at the door allows her to look for anyone that may just be "off" and address if in the morning. She is with kids while they are having breakfast; this is a great time to build relationships and check in with kids. The rest of her day is built around the school structure. She might be leading a student group in STEP; she might meet with an individual student in or our of crisis; she might be helping with crisis management in a pod; she might be in the planning room either supervising a student or processing with a student; she might be in an IEP meeting; she might be completing a transition assessment for a special education evaluation. She moves to the need and needs certainly exist.
The top issues that Shelly sees our students struggle with include:
Shelly assures us that she recharges so that she has energy day after day; her family recharges her. Within a few years of returning to Red Wing she met her husband and son Brandon through friends. They married and added Jacob (currently 10th grade) and Emily (currently 6th grade) to the family. Spending time with her family is a priority: they have dinner almost every night together, they camp, they go to the gym for fun and social connections.
However she recharges, we are so glad that she does. We need her to take care of herself in order to take care of so many students.
Shelly Angell began college thinking that she would go into business; she took classes on that path. The competition and the personalities in the business classes never felt quite right for her. But when she took a psychology course that was a requirement for business majors, she felt the fit and investigated more. The social work program was right for her. Part of her program included an internship, which she fulfilled at St. Cloud Children's Home. This is where she moved from a fit to "I love this!" It was fascinating working with male juvenile offenders; the residential facility, law enforcement, and social work all connected.
She began her internship with having kids tell their stories - how did they get here? How did they move from truancy issues to homicide? That was her fascination and the first step in helping them. She needed to understand their story - how they got to a locked facility - in order to help them chart a different path moving forward.
Shelly graduated from her program and began work with Prior Lake - Savage Area Schools Special Education Coop. She worked with a young man that had Tourette Syndrome; she worked with him independently and also met with this teacher and his family. This helped Shelly understand the connection with the schools. At this time there was a paraprofessional opening "back home" in the Red Wing area. GCED hired Shelly Angell in 1994 as a paraprofessional, then she was a "reintegration specialist" for a brief period before an actual social worker opening became available.
Shelly always had that interest in social work in the schools; she has always loved working with kids and they took on the main focus in her new role. In fact, she still remembers that first interview for Wastedo. She was able to pull on her internship to respond to interview questions. It worked out well.
There is no such thing as a "typical" day for Shelly. The day usually starts with meeting staff getting ready for the day. She communicates any changes that may have happened overnight. She also meets kids in the entry way every day. Greeting students at the door allows her to look for anyone that may just be "off" and address if in the morning. She is with kids while they are having breakfast; this is a great time to build relationships and check in with kids. The rest of her day is built around the school structure. She might be leading a student group in STEP; she might meet with an individual student in or our of crisis; she might be helping with crisis management in a pod; she might be in the planning room either supervising a student or processing with a student; she might be in an IEP meeting; she might be completing a transition assessment for a special education evaluation. She moves to the need and needs certainly exist.
The top issues that Shelly sees our students struggle with include:
- Emotion regulation = students have less ability to regulate their emotions, which she attributes to inconsistencies in their environment. They are missing secure and safe relationships.
- Lacking a sense of safety and sense of control = Students face a lot of aggression, but lack coping skills. Shelly's role is to help students build their toolbox and get them to use their coping strategies.
- how to use their words - being able to ask for what they need;
- being aware of how their body feels when it is building stress;
- how to create good boundaries for themselves;
- the qualities of a good relationship;
- little things like breathing through their nose and exhaling out the mouth; and
- for the older kids help them learn that they have to slow down and talk to the adults. The students need to understand that the adults are willing and able to help more when they know any issue(s).
Shelly assures us that she recharges so that she has energy day after day; her family recharges her. Within a few years of returning to Red Wing she met her husband and son Brandon through friends. They married and added Jacob (currently 10th grade) and Emily (currently 6th grade) to the family. Spending time with her family is a priority: they have dinner almost every night together, they camp, they go to the gym for fun and social connections.
However she recharges, we are so glad that she does. We need her to take care of herself in order to take care of so many students.
Remember that you have access to free resources through Infinitec.
AND if you are reading this, send an email to jraymond@gced.k12.mn.us with the words, School is Cool, in the subject line.
The first person to respond wins this month's fabulous prize!