Central Rivers AEA Special Education updates

September Updates

Regional Administrator Roles – This year, RAs will work with each administrative team to set regular meetings for more proactive support. These meetings will also cover required check-ins for Level 2 and 3 IDEA-DA plans and help build your District Support Plan for Professional Learning and Media services. Leadership Connections will provide updates for principals.

Priority Work – As an AEA System we have been talking with our staff about the three priorities that HF2612 clearly outlined for the division of special education within each AEA:

• Child Find
• Support & Related Services
• Improved Outcomes for Students with Disabilities (closing the achievement gap)

This one-pager provides some examples of things our staff should be doing within these priority areas and also some things they may need to focus on less frequently in order to make time for priority work. If you have any questions about this, please talk with your RA.

ACHIEVE Data Support – Thank you for your patience as we build our ACHIEVE support team. This list shows your current district contacts. We’ll train new staff soon and update you when ready. For ACHIEVE questions, use the ticket system or contact your data tech.

Braille Materials from Heartland – The AEA system is still supporting this service through Heartland AEA. Last year, AEAs covered material costs, but this year, districts will be billed for them through Heartland’s creative services. IESBVI staff are available to help districts access the service if needed.

Tele practice in Speech Services – Tele practice is an effective way to deliver communication services, just like in-person sessions. Central Rivers has used tele practice for six years. It’s not a change in placement but another method of providing services. RAs may contact principals to discuss tele practice options for students this school year.

Medicaid – Medicaid eligibility reports are still unavailable in ACHIEVE, so districts don’t have updated student lists. The old reports are outdated and no longer reflect current IEPs or billable services. AEAs face the same issue, and we’ve created some time-consuming workarounds. I’ll share updates as soon as we have more information.

ACHIEVE District Responsibilities – Information was sent to districts about these new roles in ACHIEVE.  If you have any questions, reach out to your RA.

• Family Verification Role (district and/or building level)
• LEA User Manager Role (to assign permissions for general supervision tools)
• DHH database – please follow these directions to set up the advisor field in your SIS

Special Ed Networking Opportunities – We’ve scheduled four statewide webinars and four Central Rivers AEA networking sessions for the year. Calendar invites will be sent to LEA Special Ed contacts in my email group. Please review this list and update it with your contact person if it’s not accurate.

i3 Procedures Update – In June, a sentence was added to the re-evaluation section, allowing schools and parents to agree that a re-evaluation isn’t needed for continued eligibility. We will create training and support materials before updating our practices to apply this change properly.

Non-public Consultation – AEAs must hold yearly meetings with public and non-public districts to discuss special education services. This year, RAs will schedule one-hour meetings with each district that has a non-public school. District leaders involved in arranging special education services should attend. Meetings will begin in January unless an earlier date is needed.

Updates for Special Education Directors – this video was sent out to the SE email group last week.

Reach out to Annette Hyde, Executive Director of Special Education, with questions.