2015 - 2016 Wrap - Up of the Diversified Learners Committee Work

Dear Members of the DL Committee,

It’s a wrap!

2016 - 2017 DL Executive Committee Meeting Schedule – Please place these dates and times on your calendars!

Dr. Haggarty thanks you all for your powerful collective efforts advocate for all learners in our care. This next year, I would like to be more intentional with our DL Executive meetings by moving our DL Executive meetings to one host school location each year within the King County vicinity. This would allow us to be centered and steeped within a DL school and hopefully allow DL members to visit and observe if your time permits. Also, free parking! We are going to start this first year of meeting at a DL host school with St. Madeleine Sophie School so we can learn and work out the kinks.

Location: Host School for the 2016-2017 School Year: St. Madeleine Sophie School, Bellevue.
Times: 9 -11 AM (Optional time for lunch, networking with teachers and staff, or take a local tour of the school – 11-1 p.m.)
Wednesday, August 24
Thursday, October 13
Tuesday, December 6
Thursday, February 9
Thursday, April 6
****With the goal of presenting the body of our 2016 - 2017 DL findings at the final May Principals' Mtg which will be Thursday, May 4, 2017.

4 DL Guiding Documents attached for your review and sharing:
1) DL Guidebook with Glossary - First Edition: We did it! We published but now the core effort is to encourage faculty and staff to read it, engage with it, and activate it at the local level. ALL school leaders received a paper and electronic version at the May 16 Principals’ Leadership meeting. Please help me bring our work into your August in-service opportunities to uplift the DL conversations and action plans locally.

2) DL Implementation Template - 2nd Edition: BRAVO to Sarah Gudaitis and her team for revising the template to make it more efficient as schools are developing or reviewing their DL Implementation Plans for 2016 - 2017.

3) 2015-2016 DL Primary Point person in each of the 74 schools Contact List. I have a draft pdf attached for your review. The goal for this contact list is to know who is the PRIMARY staff person identified to receive DL resources and updates throughout the year. This way I can send to ALL 74 schools when necessary. The principal is the default person and can delegate this responsibility to a staff person. Per our May 16th meeting, here are the contacts I have been given. NP = New Principal. If there are edits, just send them to krista.vandyke@seattlearch.org An updated roster will be generated in August.

4) 2015-2016 DL Executive Committee and DL Regional Membership Roster (Our DL working groups): Finally, the last pdf shows where I think we are in terms of our DL regional team membership who are AMAZING!!!!! I know we will have movement as people are coming and going but truly, we thank you for walking this important journey with us. If you know of staff who would like to join your DL region as we prepare for 2016-2017, know that all are welcome. Just send name, role, and work email to Krista Van Dyke as she will now be working on the 2016-20 17 DL regional roster.

NEW Resources to Ponder:
1. Julie Gunter – We have received a YES to support Julie’s Internship through Seattle University for the 2016-2017! Many of you have now met Julie Gunter, writer and parent volunteer, who will be walking the DL journey with us during the 16-17 school year. This is such a win-win for us! Julie will be using her time to research and write articles, stories, etc. about the work of the DL Committee and the students we serve. There are so many dimensions possible to capture and Julie will have the gift of time and access to explore these important themes. Julie will also be doing some volunteer work in our schools so she has first-hand experience with the call to inclusion. I anticipate you will see Julie at our DL Executive Committee meetings when they work into her schedule. Many hands make light work! Thank you Julie for joining our DL team!

2. Shout out to the Pierce DL region! The Pierce DL region will be hosting a year of SLINGERLAND Institute Training for the 2016-2017 school year at St. Patrick School, Tacoma! BRAVO! There is still time to register for this year-long in-depth training! Could use Title $$ for this PD opportunity! For more info: www.slingerland.org

3. Resources to explore this summer:
• Online DL forums at the OCS - Great resources to consider for next steps! http://www.ocsww.org/site/forumdisplay.php?f=73 and http://www.ocsww.org/site/forumdisplay.php?f=116

• Religion and Spirituality Division of the American Association of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, which works to foster opportunities for spiritual growth for person with disabilities. http://www.aaiddreligion.org/

• In this link, you will find several resources on grief and bereavement for families and people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Gleanings, a religion and spirituality online magazine at http://us2.campaign-archive1.com/?u=...7&e=6dd6ab888c

• St. Madeleine Sophie School 10th Year Anniversary video – Worth enjoying and sharing with your faculty-staff. https://vimeo.com/162903060 Thank you!

• www.Understood.org Website designed to help parents of children with learning and attention issues. AWESOME site!

• Hannah Bogen – Brain curriculum – August in-service idea Carrie Lindemuth, and Hannah Bogen formally released their metacognitive curriculum aimed for teachers and therapists called Brain Talk. Here's the website with information about the curriculum: http://www.braintalktherapy.com/

• Learning Ally: This is an organization that has been recommended by Bonnie Meyer which is really making a difference for students who have identified disabilities in reading. The yearly subscription is about $100 so for many families it is out of their reach. We have been discussing if schools would be interested in joining an “Institutional subscription” to collectively secure a lower cost. www.LearningAlly.org or 800-221-4792. The DL Committee could participate in a Fall Learning Ally webinar to study this more deeply.

• www.n2y.com Online Special Education Publishers. This company was shared by Kaitlyn O’Leary, OCS, as it offer online curriculum bringing standards based, age appropriate instructional materials to all students PreK-12. There is a free online summer curriculum and a free newsletter option. Audience: Teachers, Learning specialists, speech pathologists, assistive technology professionals.

As always, it is a joy to be building the Kingdom with each of you! Thank you for your goodness, your commitment, and your confident spirit to bring the DL initiatives to life for every student we serve. If we can be of service, please contact: Sandra.smith@seattlearch.org and krista.vandyke@seattlearch.org

Blessings and gratitude always,
Sandy and Krista