East San Gabriel Valley SELPA News

It has been an amazing start to the 2024-2025 school year! Member Local Educational Agencies and the SELPA team have been working diligently in recent months to ensure programs and services are running optimally. As we approach the month of November, the SELPA is pleased to share highlights of events that have recently occurred, while also sharing in the excitement of events that are quickly approaching!

Editions of the East San Gabriel Valley SELPA Newsletter will be released in the fall, winter, and summer of each school year. For questions, assistance, to be featured in a future newsletter, or to notify us of any events or activities throughout the SELPA, please contact us at 626-966-1679.

The 10th Annual Community Advisory Committee (CAC) Arts Festival kicks off stronger than ever this year! In addition to artwork, activity booths, and student performances, this year we welcome the Rollettes, a wheelchair dance team whose goal is to empower women with disabilities to live boundlessly and shift perspectives globally. We look forward to seeing all of our staff, students, and volunteers and performance from the Rollettes! Thank you to Charter Oak Unified School District for their willingness to host this event!

With a successful Inaugural Employment Expo held last year, the ESGV SELPA CAC in collaboration with Workability is proud to offer the 2nd Annual Employment Expo to be held on Saturday, January 25, 2025, at Chaparral MS in Walnut, CA. This year's keynote speaker is the Gott Family who will share their journey of Danny Gott. Participants will be able to explore resources and network with community business leaders, while also having an opportunity to participate in skill building workshops related to employment. Thank you to Walnut Valley Unified School District for their willingness to host this event!

On October 25th, the ESGV SELPA is conducting a professional development targeting Job Coach Strategies. The training will be led by Janet Estervig MS, RN, Director of Curriculum and Training: Transition, Employment and Supported Living. Participants will learn principles and strategies for successful job coaching including: expert guidance, navigating the workplace, aligning curricula with work experience, tailoring interventions, and developing smooth transitions from education to employment.

Every year, our team of Business Administrators and staff across our member Local Educational Agencies (LEAs) are busy during the summer months closing their books for the past fiscal year. Year-end closing is the process of reviewing and verifying that the LEA’s financial transactions throughout the year are properly recorded according to the accounting standards. The success of year-end closing is attributed to the great work of the LEAs fiscal team. We want to welcome all the new Business and Fiscal Services staff within our SELPA. We look forward to working with you on fiscal-related matters and seeing you at our Business Administrators meetings. To further meet the needs of new Business and Fiscal Services staff, the SELPA is in the process of scheduling Zoom overviews on various fiscal and program-related items that will be offered in the months to come!

All SELPAs must operate under an Administrative Unit (AU) which serves as a legal entity that receives the special education funding on behalf of the SELPA LEAs. For East San Gabriel Valley SELPA, the AU is Covina-Valley Unified School District (C-VUSD). We want to highlight the tremendous work that C-VUSD staff do for SELPA related transactions. C-VUSD supports the SELPA in distributing revenue to the member LEAs, recording financial transactions, payment of vendor invoices, approval of various contracts, and maintenance of the SELPA building. The SELPA's relationship with C-VUSD has grown to accommodate the increasing number of students served, as well as the work related to new funding awarded to the SELPA. C-VUSD continues to provide great service and support!

Please contact the SELPA Financial Operations Analyst Michelle Dela Cruz at 626-966-1679 for any fiscal-related questions.

The Fall 1 2024 CALPADS reporting officially kicked off on Tuesday, September 17th! Local Educational Agencies (LEAs) began submitting special education data from SEIS to CALPADS on that date. Additionally, an admin level and teacher level SEIS training was conducted on that day. As a reminder, Fall 1 data encompasses enrollment between the beginning of the school year to the first Wednesday in October (October 2nd, 2024).

Starting the 2024/2025 school year, a Desired Results Developmental Profile (DRDP) rating record is required for transitional kindergarten (TK) students. However, if the child turns 6 at any point during the school year (July 1 through June 30), the DRDP is not required in either the fall or spring assessment periods.

Lastly, pay special attention to students who transition from preschool to kindergarten and who do not have a school aged program setting and/or % in general education entered into SEIS. If a student is 5 years old and in TK or kindergarten as of 10/2/2024, they will need a school aged program setting and % in general education reported to CALPADS.

For technical support or assistance with CALPADS, please contact Lucky Do at ldo@esgvselpa.org.

The SELPA ASD Program has adopted the element "GOLD" as our symbol. Not only does the AU represent Autism, but it also represents the fact that our students, families, and staff are precious, rare, and highly valued.

On September 27, 2024, our CAPTAIN cadre held our 7th Annual Evidence Based Practices Conference called “Building Your Toolbox to Support Inclusive Practices” at Willow Adult School in Hacienda-La Puente. Over 140 special educators, general educators, related service providers, and parents attended the conference. The day focused on discussion about how evidence based practices for individuals with Autism can be implemented to support opportunities for meaningful inclusion of all students at school and in the community. Kevin Schaefer, from Supporting Inclusive Practices kicked off the day as our keynote speaker. Ethan Thomas, a recent Diamond Bar High School graduate and current college student, served as our afternoon speaker. Our CLIC Cadre provided amazing breakout sessions about using antecedent based interventions, visual supports, level of prompting and differentiated reinforcement to support students across environments. It was a great day! Special thanks to Hacienda-La Puente for the partnership with providing their beautiful site to support our event. Thank you to the Hacienda-La Puente Adult Culinary program for providing our breakfast and lunch catering for the event!

Walnut Valley Unified School District's Special Education Director Emiko Chapman and SELPA ASD teacher at Diamond Bar High School Adriana Garibay shared information about Autism and the SELPA Autism program during a recent School Board Study Session. The Special Education team presentation was incredibly informative, offering opportunities for Cabinet and School Board members to hear information about the full continuum of services that the district provides. Visual supports were provided for all in attendance. The presenters provided opportunities to ask and answer questions using AAC devices! Thank you to Emiko Chapman, Adriana Garibay, and Walnut Valley USD for their ongoing support and partnership!

Kevin Troudy from South Pointe Middle School in Walnut Valley USD recently presented to site staff on the topic of “Diving Into Autism.” Kevin fully embraced his role by dressing as a lifeguard and sharing information about characteristics of learners with Autism, supports that can be provided across settings, and creating safe and supportive spaces to have conversations about how best to support students in more inclusive settings.

As we kick off the new school year, the ESGV SELPA office is excited to welcome everyone back! We hope you had a restful and enjoyable summer break. With the start of the new academic year, we are dedicated to ensuring that our school bus transportation services are ready to provide safe, reliable, and efficient travel for all our students. The safety of our students remains our top priority. Our committed team of bus drivers and transportation staff have undergone extensive training over the summer to ensure they are well-prepared to handle any situation.

In September, we conducted school bus evacuation drills to prepare our students for emergencies. These drills are especially important for our students with disabilities, ensuring that they know what to do and what to expect if an emergency arises. Participating in regular drills helps to build confidence in students, making them more prepared and less anxious in the event of a real emergency. Familiarity with the procedures can significantly reduce stress and improve their response during an actual evacuation.

At our local Transportation Facilities across September, Durham School Services celebrated Latino Heritage Month, honoring the rich cultural contributions of the Latino community. The celebrations highlighted the diversity within the organization and featured traditional Latino foods, allowing everyone to experience and appreciate the vibrant culture.

We are excited about the new school year and the opportunities it brings. Our transportation team is committed to providing the best service possible to support our students' educational journey. Thank you for your continued cooperation and trust in our services. Welcome back, and let’s make this school year a fantastic one!

Thank you for your continued support of the East San Gabriel Valley SELPA Transportation Department. We look forward to another successful year in 2024-2025! For transportation related questions please contact 626-966-1670, option 2.

Fall is an exciting and busy time for our District Private School Representatives and Consultant. Service Plans are being renewed, we are learning the needs of our private schools and their students, and we are identifying which students have moved to which schools. Our SELPA currently provides consultation services to 22 private schools in East San Gabriel Valley. All the private schools that are located in the East San Gabriel Valley SELPA have been mailed a copy of the "Child Find" notice. Representatives from Private Schools that are eligible for consultation were invited to attend our Annual Timely and Meaningful Consult Workshop which took place on September 18, 2024. We also held a meeting for our District Private School Representatives on September 25, 2024. The SELPA looks forward to the continued collaboration and partnership with Private Schools throughout the region.

The ESGV SELPA is composed of 16 Local Educational Agencies (LEAs) with a combined average daily attendance of approximately 86,000 students. Member LEAs include Azusa USD, Baldwin Park USD, Bassett USD, Bonita USD, Charter Oak USD, Claremont USD, Covina-Valley USD, Glendora USD, Walnut Valley USD, West Covina USD, San Jose Charter Academy, California Virtual Academy @ LA, iQ Academy, Opportunities for Learning-Baldwin Park, Options for Youth-San Bernardino, and Options for Youth-Duarte.

Email: sturner@esgvselpa.org
Website: www.esgvselpa.org
Location: 1400 Ranger Drive, Covina, CA, USA
Phone: (626) 966-1679