Dear Staff,

We hope you're having a fantastic October filled with fun activities across the district! We're excited to share our latest monthly newsletter, which highlights our recent VUSD STAR recipients and includes important district updates, reminders, and professional development opportunities to help you support our students.

We encourage you to take advantage of these training opportunities to deepen your knowledge and continue making a positive impact on our student's academic journeys.

Thank you for your dedication and hard work.

Sincerely,

Nereida Gutierrez

Director, Special Education

September 2024 STAR Award Recipients

Congratulations to our special education staff for going above and beyond for our students. We appreciate your dedication to our students and their families.

The California Department of Education (CDE), Special Education Division is pleased to announce the update to the Notice of Procedural Safeguards, which can be accessed at the CDE Family Involvement and Partnerships web page at https://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/se/fp/.

• Notice of Procedural Safeguards (English) - Microsoft Word version(DOCX)
• Available Translations of the Notice of Procedural Safeguards

These have not been uploaded into SEIS yet

Some key highlights of the updates include:

1. The fax number for the Office of Administrative Hearings has been updated to 916-376-4207.
2. The contact information for several Family Empowerment Centers (FECs) has been updated.
3. A Table of Contents has been added to allow for easier navigation.
4. The Notice of Procedural Safeguards is also now available in Russian, Hmong, Arabic, Khmer (Cambodian), Korean, and Punjabi.

If you have additional questions regarding the Notice of Procedural Safeguards, please contact the Special Education Division by email at speceducation@cde.ca.gov.

IEP progress reports are due everytime students receive a report card. Ed Specialists and Related Service Providers are responsible for taking data on goals, recording progress in SEIS and sending progress reports home to families. Please note all progress reports MUST be affirmed in SEIS by the case manager before sending home them to families.

Progress Reports - Reporting and procedures

Need help? Please reach out to your Special Education Supervisor or Eric Walker, Transition TOSA, who can provide additional support. You can also attend our IEP Work Sessions (2 Mondays per Month at the DO) for specific questions and quiet work time.

All dually identified students must be enrolled in a designated ELD class with designated ELD instruction. Please refer to the guidelines regarding ELD Study Skills for Middle and High School Students. Study Skills/ELD Middle and High School Syllabus

• All statewide accommodations must be listed on the Statewide Assessments page of the student's IEP and used throughout the school year to support the student with accessing their education (as indicated on the Services Page).
• In order for statewide assessment accommodations to be uploaded into the Test Operations Management Systems (TOMS), all IEP statewide assessment accommodations MUST be updated in the IEP and affirmed by the following dates:

• ELPAC - by January 16, 2025

• CAASPP - by March 20, 2025

You must notify your site testing coordinator of any changes after the above dates. All changes will need to be manually updated into the system by your site testing coordinator.

Need help? Please attend one of our Monday IEP work sessions at the DO (2 Mondays/month) for specific questions and/or Office Hours on Dec. 5 for more information.

• California Assessment Accessibility Resources Matrix (List of Accommodations)

• Accessibility Resources Strategies (Explanation of Universal Tools, Designated Supports & Accommodations)

• Accessibility Resources Asynchronous Trainings (Matching accommodations to student needs, how to use specific accommodations)

The purpose of SpEd office hours is to review IEP compliance and current topics in SpEd.

Special Education Office Hours 2024-25

• November 7, 2024 - Reclassification, Middle and High School Study Skills/ELD
  
• December 5, 2024 - Occupational Therapy, Assistive Tech, Extended School Year Eligibility, CAASPP Accommodations
• February 6, 2025 - Transition Process, Individual Transition Plans
• March 6, 2025 - Preschool to TK/K transition process
• April 10, 2025 - ESY, 2025-26 Transportation, End of Year Planning
• May 8, 2025 - End of Year Planning

Upcoming IEP Work Session: October 21st

Are you new to VUSD? Are you an existing VUSD Special Education certificated team member who wants an overview of VUSD special ed procedures? If so, then please join the Special Ed Department IEP Work Sessions: 2 Mondays per month at the District Office. Drop in anytime between 3pm & 5pm.

(All sessions are voluntary and paid on a timesheet at the certificated hourly rate)

• SEIS Basics

• IEP Writing

• SAI Minutes

• Scheduling

• Running an IEP meeting

• High Profile IEPs

Please sign up in Vector for all office hours- Vector Instructions

SpEd Certificated Collaboration Days:

• October 11th from 4 pm - 5 pm - Secondary SEAS Collaboration (Bill Zoom)

SpEd Certificated and Classified CPI:

(2 day Training, Saturdays optional, paid hourly rate) - Sign Up in Vector

• Feb 8 & 22, 2025
• Additional CPI classes: NCCSE CPI 2024-25
  

Please note: you must get approval from your site administrator to attend any out of district trainings using the forms below:

If you’d like to attend a webinar, please submit a Webinar Approval Form

Please fill out a form for any travel outside of the District: Staff and Student Travel Form

Certificated: If you require a sub, please contact your site office manager for a school business sub. (Due to the shortage of subs, there is no guarantee that a sub will be available. Also, no school business subs are approved on Mondays and Fridays)

Instruction to sign up in Vector

Please note: you must get approval from your site administrator to attend any out of district trainings using the following form:

Staff and Student Travel Form

(FYI: this document is housed in your Cloud Connect under "Forms")

Certificated: If you require a sub, please contact your site office manager for a school business sub. (Due to the shortage of subs, there is no guarantee that a sub will be available. Also, no school business subs are approved on Mondays and Fridays)

If you’d like to attend a webinar, please submit a Webinar Approval Form

We are happy to announce that we will continue our contract with Goalbook this year we will be renewing licenses for those of you who used Goalbook last year. If you are interested in obtaining a license please contact Yvonne Fortin yvonnefortin@vistausd.org.

We are in the process of reveiweing GoalBook usage so if you are not using GoalBook, you will be contacted so we can reallocate your license.

The next Goalbook virtual training session is scheduled for January 22 from 4 pm - 5:30 pm (sign up in Vector). In the meantime, please feel free to complete the on-demand trainings and/or participate in an upcoming webinar. The instructions are included below, along with the Goalbook webinar schedule. All sessions are recorded and are available to watch on demand if you sign up.

• Link to Goalbook On-Demand Training Instructions (Vista Unified)
• Link to 24/25 Toolkit Webinar Schedule

We have a shared google drive called "SpEd Guidelines" that stores all of our office hour notes and important documents. Please take some time to explore the drive if you haven't already.

If team determines student is eligible:

• Tentative Dates: June 9, 2025 - July 3, 2025 (no school on June 19 or July 4, 2025)

ESY services should be added to the IEP by April 25, 2025, and all ESY transportation forms must have BIP and health information attached. Send to Doris Cruz @ the District Office.

Meet Debra Harris and Yvonne Fortin, our Data Techs, also known as our data “unicorns” due to their magical SEIS abilities. Please do not hesitate to call or email them if you have a question about SEIS. They are happy to help!

• Debra Harris: Preschool, Elementary, Non-Public/Private schools, x 92908
• Yvonne Fortin: Middle school, High School, Adult Transition, Records Request x 92910

PREVIOUSLY ON...Friday Tips...

• 10/18/24 - Updated Assistive Technology Request for Consideration Form and Updated Procedural Safeguards
  
• 10/11/24 - Affirmed with wrong meeting date or meeting type
  
• 10/04/24 - Documenting Late IEPs
• 09/20/24 - Census Day
  
• 09/13/24 - Delay Codes!
• 09/06/24 - Progress Reports - a Walkthrough
• 08/30/24 - How to select the correct meeting type
• 08/23/24 - Annuals and TRIs due in the same school year and Social Service Questionnaires
• 08/16/24 - Previously On, the 60 Day Timeline and How to Read the Thursday Report
• 08/13/24 - Adding new students to SEIS Caseload
• 08/09/24 - Incoming non SEIS students, Incoming NPS or Court School students

• CAA/AltELPAC - contact Kinga Nagorny at kinganagorny@vistausd.org
• Alternative Pathway to a Diploma - contact BIll Foley at williamfoley@vistausd.org
• Supplemental Interventions - contact Eric Walker at ericwalker@vistausd.org
• SEIS Assistance

• Elementary contact- Debra Harris at debraharris@vistausd.org
• Middle and High School contact- Yvonne Fortin at yvonnefortin@vistausd.org
• Transportation Forms - contact Doris Cruz at doriscruz@vistausd.org
• Vector - contact Dafnee Ramirez at dafneeramirez@vistausd.org
• Unique/N2Y Licenses - contact Kinga Nagorny at kinganagorny@vistausd.org
• WJ Protocols - contact Dafnee Ramirez at dafneeramirez@vistausd.org

Please ensure that you submit any transportation forms received to Doris Cruz, our Special Education Community Liaison, at doriscruz@vistausd.org. Include updated BIPs and any relevant health or medical information.

If parents need to update their pick-up or drop-off addresses, please have them complete a new transportation form. Please send the updated copies to Doris to ensure that student transportation can be adjusted accordingly.

Please share the flyers with our VUSD families and any teachers or staff you believe may be interested in attending.

Upcoming Workshop: Tuesday, October 15, at 5:30 PM VIC

Meet our team of "unicorns;" Our exceptional, unique, and magical district office staff who can help you with your special education department needs. Please feel free to reach out to them as they are happy to help.

From left to right:

Joe Garza, Yvonne Fortin, Dafnee Ramirez, Debra Harris, & Doris Cruz

Certificated:

• Education Specialist - Moderate/Severe Teacher $5,000 hiring bonus)
• Substitute Speech Language Pathologist
• Speech Language Pathologist- Special Education

Classified:

• INSTRUCTIONAL ASSISTANT-BEHAVIORAL INTERVENTION - $500 sign-on bonus
• SPECIAL EDUCATION ASSISTANT IV-SH/PH - CONTINUOUS application SIGN-ON BONUS OF $500

• INSTRUCTIONAL ASSISTANT II-LH/CH/RSP - Permanent - 6 hours per day! $500 Sign-on Bonus

Special Education Department

Phone: (760) 726-2170

Hours: 8:00 am - 4:30 pm

specialeducationdept@vistausd.org