News for Superintendents and Board Members: September 27, 2007
PSBA Standards for Effective Governance and the Code of Conduct
We received a PSBA Poster recognizing the IU1 Board for its adoption of the PSBA Standards for Effective Governance and the Code of Conduct at the May 24, 2007 Board of Directors meeting.
Program Operations
We have all of our programs up and running for the new school year. We are starting the year operating 104 school-aged special education programs housed in our school districts. At the Colonial Campus in Brownsville, we are operating a multi-classroom Alternative Education program, seven Therapeutic Emotional Support programs and three Multidisability Support programs. At the East Franklin Campus in Waynesburg, we are operating four Partial Hospitalization programs in partnership with Centerville Clinics, three Therapeutic Emotional Support programs, a Life Skills Support program, an Autistic Support program, and an Early Intervention program. At the Clark Campus in Washington, we are operating a multi-classroom Alternative Education program and two Emotional Support programs. At our campus in Laboratory, we are operating three Multidisability Support programs, an Autistic Support program and a community based Life Skills Support program. In addition, we are operating 94 early intervention programs in various locations throughout the tri-county area. We are providing itinerant English as a Second Language (ESL) programs for 78 students throughout the region. We have ten counselors and teachers supporting the non-public schools. The adult education program is hoping to exceed last year's enrollment of 900 students at its 17 locations.
PAIU.net
As I indicated in my letter to you, the Pennsylvania Association of Intermediate Units (PAIU) is working to create a statewide network that will connect various regional wide area networks throughout the state. This statewide network, PAIU.net, will enable all participating IUs, school districts and other educational entities to share educational content over a virtual private broadband network. The PAIU intends to lease telecommunications services from one or more telecommunications service providers pending the outcome of a Request for Proposals (RFP) competitive procurement. The procurement will be conducted in accordance with E-rate program requirements and PA eFund program requirements and, PAIU intends to apply for E-rate and eFund grants to defray the costs of this project.
IU1 Health Insurance Trustee Vacancy
We currently have a trustee vacancy for Washington County. As per the IU1 Health Consortium Trust Agreement, any vacancy occurring before the end of the term of a trustee shall be filled by selection of a majority of all trustees for the unexpired term. The term will expire on June 30, 2008. If you would like to nominate someone from Washington County, please send nominations to Andy Musiolowski by October 1st.
IU1 Service Catalog
The administration has been working over the past year to delineate the array of services that we provide to our school districts, non-public schools, and other entities. The catalyst for this study was the increasing demands placed upon us to meet the needs of our districts and to assist PDE with its statewide initiatives, many of which are a result of the NCLB requirements. Unfortunately, with these increased demands we have not had a concomitant increase in revenues to meet these demands. That is, we have not increased the school district contribution to our general operations budget in 10 years. Also, eleven years ago Governor Ridge cut the state appropriations to IUs by 50% and the legislature has not increased our appropriation since. To address this dilemma, the department directors and I conducted analytical discussions about how we do business, how we can be more efficient, more cost-effective, and better meet the needs of school districts. Our goals have been to: establish a system that can more equitably deliver services to our educational clients, create a catalog of services that describes services and articulates how those services are funded (e.g., General Operations, Special Education, etc.), and set a fee structure for services.
As a result of our study, we have compiled a catalog of services. With a modified approach to the delivery of services, continued grant writing activities, and a change in how we fund one of the 151 services, we are able to deliver the services that our districts expect and support the PDE initiatives. The one controversy is in creating a charge for customized, onsite professional development activities. When we have no other source for funding this type of service, we will charge our districts $200 for a half day and $400 for a full day of professional development. This is the only change that we have made in how we fund the 151 services. The information has been shared with the Superintendents Advisory Council, Curriculum Coordinators Council, and the Board of Directors.
IU1 STEM Center Initiative
This month, Nancy Tsupros, the project director, provided the Board and Superintendents with a summary of the initiative.
New priorities addressed in the American Competitiveness Initiative focus on improving Science, Technology, Engineering & Math (STEM) education to ensure that our students graduate with the mathematics, science and technical skills to compete in a global society. For many years, IU1 has taken a leadership role in promoting research based curricula and instructional strategies through a number of science, technology, engineering and math initiatives. These existing programs provide a well-organized infrastructure for the Intermediate Unit 1 Center for Best practice in STEM Education. In January we received a grant from the Benedum Foundation in the amount of $123,200.
The focus of our research and planning is to determine the needs and wants for staff development to enhance teaching and learning in math and science, particularly to utilize more hands-on and project based instructional strategies. Also, we are looking at how to assist in the development of curricula that prepare students for careers in engineering, nanotechnologies, biotechnologies, etc. that are emerging in western Pennsylvania. We are integrating current IU1 projects such as the Science Matters program, the Robotics Engineering program, the Math Resource Center, and the Math and Science Collaborative as supporting structures for the STEM Center. We believe that one of the roles the IU1 staff needs to play is that of coordinator. That is, we hope to partner with various educational institutions and businesses in order to create a cohesive network that supports the STEM Center initiatives operating in our schools.
