7/26/2019
The ISVI Advisory Council met on Friday, July 26, 2019 at 10:00 a.m. in the basement of Unit 2. In attendance were the following:
DHS Chief of Staff Quinetta Wade
Council Person Jess Rogers
Council Person John Thien
ISVI Assistant Superintendent Sheila Stephens
Vice Chair Mark Peters
Superintendent Serena Preston
Jacksonville Mayor Andy Ezard by conference calling
Chair Olaya Landa-Vialand and Council Person Sue Brosmith were unable to attend.
The meeting was called to order at approximately 10:03 a.m. by Vice Chair Mark Peters.
Approval of Minutes: A motion by Jess Rogers seconded by John Thien to approve the minutes from April's meeting as read was made and approved by unanimous vote.
Approval of Agenda: Superintendent Preston said Kerrie Rawlings is not here today, Quinetta is here and she will give that report. Aimee Veith was not able to be here today nor Barbi Ballard so I will have a brief update for them. After the meeting she said she had arranged for anyone who is interested to tour the construction of the campus in a golf cart or they could take a walking tour around campus to see the work that is going on right now. Council Person Jess Rogers said he would also like to add a Vendor's Report to the agenda.
A motion to approve the agenda as amended was made by John Thien, seconded by Jess Rogers and approved unanimously.
There were no conflicts of interest.
Superintendent Preston gave the first report. She reported that this year we will have seven new students scheduled to start. Four students graduated and will be returning. Another eight students are in the process of applying and should arrive sometime during the first semester. She said there is another group looking at the second semester. She said Starr had been busy all summer giving tours. In the Business Office they have been busy with end of the school year and end of the fiscal year processes, grants and inventory. Yesterday there was an auditor here for half a day. They got everything they could from us. In Dietary they are gearing up for school, have ordered the first quarter of food and prepared menus. In Housekeeping they have been very busy this summer stripping and waxing floors in Unit 2, several in the Main Building basement and 2nd floor and classrooms. They have been busy trying to keep up with the dirt being tracked in with the construction. In Personnel we have good news, we now have a 2nd O&M Instructor. Josh Dugan worked here before and transferred to Adult Services and now he is back, and we are thrilled to have him. We recently had interviews for librarian and should be hearing some news on that. We hired three new RCWs due to retirements. They will start with the other RCWs about a week before school starts. Interviews for bus driver should be soon. One of part time bus drivers took another job. We have two new teachers. Jason Crotchett who was the secretary in the Education Office now has a teaching license. He started 2nd semester then he was hired as a teacher. Kim Batten, formerly Kim Ringhausen, a former student, will take Vicki Mullis' place teaching independent living skills. We have two new nurses, Mylene Grable and Stephanie Branson. Stephanie started the first of April, so we are fully staffed in the Health Center. Superintendent Preston said the Residential Department has been busy taking inventory of all the pods for needed supplies for the upcoming school year, reviewing handbooks and getting their training in. She said in the tech department we have worked with people in the Central Office and organized a way to utilize accumulated E-Rate funds. This year we will have around $90,000 available to spend. Some of that money is earmarked for ISD. There are two projects we are working on. Wi-Fi in the Education Building which is in progress. We have purchased access points and next need to get it installed and set up. The 2nd project is replacing lap tops and desk tops. We probably won't replace all of them this year but as many as possible then replace more the next year. She said they were looking into updating Jaws and Zoom Text software but still have a lot of questions about it. It's expensive and we're trying to figure the best way to follow through with that. In the Engineering Department she said the generator project is complete. They have completed work on the AC in the Dietary Building and they are currently in the process of working on the AC in TLC. There is an ongoing project right now to replace all the steps and rails and handrails to the entrance of the Main Building. Because of this the porch to the Health Center is blocked off. Concrete for the ramp has been poured. The next phase should be the front steps of the Main building and they will replace the other entrances of that building as well. She said they will start replacing the roof of Unit 17 soon. That project should start around August 4. She said that was very good news because we have had torrential leaking due to rains and snow. After that they will replace the roof on Dietary, Housekeeping and the Green House. The roof to TLC has already been replaced. Upcoming projects will be the renovation of the Main Building consisting most of waterproofing the basement. She said there are some areas of the basement we can't use because it is so damp. She said there are nine other PIF projects that have been approved. There is a lot going on. Vice Chair Peters asked if Unit 2 was getting new furniture. Superintendent Preston said there were some things purchased to replace some things that were worn out. She said three pods will have new furniture. Then Superintendent Preston announced to the group that she would be retiring at the end of the next school year. She said she would help out where needed. She said it was not an easy decision but wanted this group to know.
Assistant Superintendent Sheila Stephens reported to the group that Prom this year was very successful. The theme was "Beach" and they reported it as wonderful. She said four students graduated this year and all would be returning this year. Assistant Superintendent Stephens said ISVI hosted Opening Doors this year with the theme "Hidden Gems". She said 28 families applied and 21 attended. She said it was an outstanding program for those parents and their children. Next year they were planning to extend by another day. She said you could see parents excited and enthused, and perhaps relieved. She said it was very successful. Assistant Superintendent Stephens said in October they are planning to have an additional Outreach session so that parents who attended Opening Doors can attend to continue that collaboration and services. Mrs. Stephens said there are several students scheduled for domains and there are 60 students on campus in the k-12 program. She said ISVI does have a need for paraprofessionals. Some of our former paras have gone on to be RCWs. If you know someone who is interested have them call Aimee Veith. It does require licensure and we need at least three. She said letters will go out to parents and staff next week. It's hard to believe July is about over and we are looking at August. We are excited about the term Hidden Gem and to celebrate here with our students. Domains are scheduled August 8th and 9th, and 12th through the 15th. We have purchased a new diagnostic test, Woodcock Cognitive Testing. Our CAE coordinators have participated in training. Our employment program continues to be strong. Christie Best will manage that again this year. Mrs. Stephens said grants have been completed for FY20 and submitted for approval. Summer Camp had 46 campers, three of them will be students this year. She said Barbi reported on another O&M joined our staff, she supervises them. She said school will start soon and it's always great to have the kids back. Superintendent Preston explained to the group where the theme Hidden Gem came from. She said it came from our five year accreditation cycle. When the external team was here on campus, they were excited about suggested why don't every blind child that's blind come to this school, there's lots of great things to see. One of the stakeholders used the term during their interview and the review team included that term in the final report. They believe we need to get the word out and let people know what we do and that we do it well. That where this term came from. She told the group that as a reminder that in talking about summer camp, those 46 students are not current ISVI students. These are another 46 completely different students. Our current students cannot attend summer camp. She said various teachers have been working all summer long on curriculum to include new mandates and new standards. She said the last two SIP meetings they have been doing a lot in a short time. We meet once a month all school year at 7 a.m. and during summer they worked got 4-5 days to finish out analyzing student achievement data to see their needs, look at staff needs, teacher evaluation, and feedback and survey results. The School Improvement Team has four teachers on the committee whose focus is school improvement and student achievement. We had a technical assistance visit from ISBE on our CTE program. She said ISVI also had a visit from Ms. Tasha Ivy, an Ombudsman from the Secretary's office. She had a tour and it was a very enjoyable visit. She was not here because of any kind of problem. The Secretary sent the Ombudsman to the field to meet people now rather than waiting until there's a problem.
Chief of Staff Quinetta Wade told the group about her change of title to Chief of Staff. She said Rahnee Patrick took over as Director May 20 and does intend to come and visit, she's trying to get out as well. A couple of things she wanted to share about DHS goals is making a dent in employment for people with disabilities. She said we need to engage more young people in their transition. She said in STEP we still hear from parents that say they don't know what's available out there. We are trying to engage the community across the state, trying to engage people who can help us. She said Vocational Rehabilitation has funds earmarked for these populations and we don't want to turn those funds back in. Human Services is going out and talking to schools, trying to get the word out.
Old Business:
Professional Development: Superintendent Preston told the group they took some text books to the library. We are in the process of looking into more resources for the library. She said AFB used to produce a lot of textbooks and professional development resources for this field, but they no longer do that. They joined in an agreement with APH who will be doing that. APH sent out surveys about what do you use and what do you want to see. We may be able to use these quota funds to get more resources. She said there was nothing to report on ISU's Graduation LVB Program. Under New Advisory Members she said Olaya has reached out to another person, a parent, to serve on the board. We are waiting on that. New Officers: Mark Peters was nominated for the position of new Chair by Jess Rogers. Mark accepted and was confirmed by the Council. Olaya Landa-Vialand was nominated as Vice Chair by John Thien, 2nd by Jess Rogers and confirmed by the Council. John Thien remains Secretary. Jess Rogers term is up, he represents the National Federation of the Blind. We will be looking for a replacement.
Stakeholders: John Thien, who represents Lions Club said the Low Vision Clinic will meet again in October. He expects more people through advertising will be coming to it. Right now, a lot of people do not know about it. He said it's a good cause for the kids. He was concerned about the construction going on. Superintendent Preston said the roof should be done. Mr. Thien said they are trying to get a low vision clinic in the southern part of the state for adult services in an effort to help adults. They sometimes have nowhere to go.
Jess Rogers told the group a project he has been working on is coming together. He's been trying to put together a free training for any student interested in going into the vending program. He is working with John Gordon and Kathy Dyson to provide free transportation and things like that they need. It just kind of fell together. He said Modesto is willing to work with the kids getting specific locations in Jacksonville. He said he had some trainings in Springfield and had some successes so he thought it would be good here. Getting these kids employed is the goal, the vending program has been stable. He said some vendors only make $10,000 and some make $200,000, the sky is the limit.
Mayor Andy Ezard said Governor Pritzker was sent a letter inviting him over to Jacksonville. He said you don't expect they will come but a young man from Governor Pritzker's office who answered the letter and followed up with a phone call and met with the Mayor. He said they spent three hours together touring Jacksonville and had lunch. He said he shared with him about ISVI, they drove by the campus. He said ISVI is on their radar. When things are bad there are always rumors for closing ISVI and ISD. He told the representative about the JDC closure and he assured me the Governor would not do that. I just wanted to share that with you. Someday I will get the Governor over here. He said he is republican, but city government is nonpartisan. He said it doesn't matter who is in office I am trying to do the best for Jacksonville and making sure you know we are pushing for ISVI and if this office can do anything to help we will. He said there is a big project on delay, on East State Street from Downtown Square to South Clay, it's been pushed back to spring of 2020. He said it's been a quick summer but good. He said the city was in fairly good shape as far as the rainy day fund. If you have any questions for me feel free to ask.
Councilperson Arlana Henley said she had no report. She said the school does a great job for our kids. She said her son is doing well, we are glad he's there and he's excited to come back. He has found his fit. We couldn't be happier. Keep up with whatever you are doing there. She said her community knows Carson goes there. He's been talking to people, he's more vocal about where and why he goes to school there so our community is more aware. He's doing very well and I'm a very proud mom. Superintendent Preston said we are proud of him too and we are glad he's here.
Chairperson Mark Peters said he had no report on the Alumni. He said there should be a reunion in 2020.
A motion by Councilperson John Thien to adjourn was made, seconded by Councilperson Arlana Henley and approved by the council. The meeting adjourned at approximately 11:50 a.m.
