MPUSD will have a special report on special education tonight

If you're interested in special education, and you live in the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District, you should not miss tonight's report.

Two former administrators from El Dorado County and leading experts in special education will provide a summary of an independent review recently conducted of the MPUSD Special Education Program, and will present an overview of the following (according to the agenda:

District’s current special education program and present recommendations about staffing, least restrictive environment programming, response to intervention and instruction, including a review of the continuum of placement options for students with disabilities and financial consideration (cost containment and maximization of income).

Make recommendations concerning issues related to operation of regional programs, previously operated by Monterey County Office of Education, and transferred to Monterey Peninsula Unified School District several years ago. The review will analyze these programs to determine if the current structure is programmatically and financially, the optimum structure.

Determine how the District compares to statewide and SELPA data with respect to pupil count, special education income, special education expenditures, and local contribution to special education. A multi-year analysis will be prepared that includes comparative data to determine trends and areas that the District may want to focus on to a greater extent to contain special education costs.

Present on how the district is developing implementation strategies, considering financial and educational benefits related to the recommendations.

The meeting's open session begins at 7 p.m. You can watch it online, although sometimes the transmission suffers from technical difficulties and you risk missing the juciest parts.

The ghost of Marilyn Shepherd still roams

A gentle reader alerted me to a document produced by former MPUSD Superintendent Marilyn Shepherd dated June 2013. It's a review of the special education department of the Oakland Unified School District. You can find it here.

The reader fumes: how come she didn't do that for MPUSD?

Another reader retorts: how long was Shepherd employed at Oakland? While she was at MPUSD?

To be sure, I contacted the Oakland Unified District and I received this document. Shepherd appears to have been hired to produce the special education report in April. As you probably remember, she begun her leave of absence in January. 

What's more interesting to me, is that the agency who hired her, Strategies for Success, had many contracts with MPUSD up until the time Shepherd left.  Kathryn Catania, I'm told, was very good friends with Shepherd.

I find all of this fascinating. Stay tuned.

Chartwell to host free workshop about students with learning differences

The Center for the Advancement of Language and Literacy at Chartwell will host a free community workshop titled: Accommodations for Students with LD: Negotiating the Differences between High School and College

In this workshop, the speaker will discuss the key differences in how college and high school support students with learning differences. Participants will learn about the different levels of support available for students at a post-secondary institutions and the process by which they can obtain accommodations at college.

The event will take place from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 11, at Charter school, 2511 Numa Watson Road, Seaside. For more information, click here.

Autism awareness month is coming up

And even though San Jose is a bit far, some folks out there may want to attend the west coast conference of the Cambridge Center for Behavior Studies that will take place April 22 at the Mexican Heritage Plaza.

The topics presented are likely to appeal to parents, educators, and other experts. Lorri Shealy Unumb, vice president for Autism Speaks will give the keynote presentation “Autism Insurance 101 for Parents and Providers." Unumb is the parent advocate who started the autism insurance reform movement.

For more information about the event, click here.

Monterey County visually impaired students win on regional challenge

Students of the Monterey County Office of Education Program for the Visually Impaired competed on Saturday, March 2 in the Regional Braille Challenge held at California School for the Blind in Fremont.

Students competed in the areas of spelling, reading comprehension, dictation and interpretation of tactile graphics during the all-day competition.


“We're extremely proud of our Monterey County students and staff," said Martina Sholiton, Assistant Superintendent, Special Education. "Our students have had many wins in the Regional Braille Challenges in past years. Two of our students, Janie Brunson and Monserath Espinola, have scored high enough to compete against top winners in the National Braille Challenge."


The 2013 Monterey County winners are:
Janie Brunson, senior at Carmel High – 1st place, Varsity
Alejandro Aguilar, 5th grader at Cesar Chavez in Greenfield – 2nd Place, Sophomore
Rocco Romeo, 4th grader at Washington Union Elementary –1st Place, Freshman
Monserath Espinola, 3rd grader at Del Rey Woods, Seaside – 2nd Place, Freshman
Melina Mendoza, 2nd grader at Marshall Elementary, Seaside –2nd Place Apprentice


Student scores will be compiled with scores from other regional competitions, and the top winners will compete in the National Braille Challenge.

Janie Brunson also won in 2010 and 2011, and Monserath Espinola won in 2012. Janie won 2nd place nationally in 2010.

Janie and her parents


Rocco and Alejandro

Seaside workshop: memory strategies to enhance learning

What types of information are difficult for students to learn? What lessons do students forget or remember, and why? Which strategies are most effective for learning and recalling what was taught? What are some “memory tricks” to master? This workshop focuses on how memory impacts a student’s ability to learn.

Dawn Anderle has been working in the field of speech and language since 1982, specializing in neurologically based disorders of speech and language, early childhood language development, auditory disorders and other learning challenges. She will present information for parents and educators to understand how memory can be enhanced and how to use this understanding to improve instruction and learning. Parents and educators should bring their questions and memory challenges to this hands-on, troubleshooting workshop.

The free workshop will take place from 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, February 13, at Chartwell School – McMahan Hall, 2511 Numa Watson Road, Seaside CA 93955. For more information, call Graydon Mitchell at (831) 394.3468 ext. 1025 or gmitchell@chartwell.org

Monterey children with special needs: this movie show is for you

The idea comes from Aaron and Kelly Schneider, parents of a child with ASD who have recently moved to Monterey County.

After experiencing a "sensory film screening" in Ohio, they approached Jeremiah Leach, general manager at the Century Theater in Monterey about hosting a similar event here. At 9 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 24, families with children with special needs will have the chance to watch Wreck it Ralph in its non 3D version in an environment that let's them be. Cost: $6.50 per person.

 The movie theater would like to have an estimate of how many people will be attending. Call 831.373.8051 or email jleach@cinemark.com to let them know you'll be attending.

Chartwell School in Seaside holds open house

Check out the programs at the private, non-profit Chartwell School, which helps prepare students in grades K-8 with dislexia or other language-based learning difficulties.

Likewise, the New High School Project serves students in grades 9-12 who may have struggled in more traditional high school settings.

The school offers open houses regularly. The next ones are coming up Nov. 3 and Nov.6 from 10:30 a.m. till noon. At the school, 2511 Numa Watson Road, Seaside CA 93955 For more information, call 394-3468 or click here.

CORAL Academy on the road of rejection -- again

It doesn't look good for the proponents of CORAL Academy, a proposed charter school in the Monterey Peninsula that's been trying to get approved for more than five years.

After being rejected twice by the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District, and twice by the Monterey County Office of Education, CORAL petitioners turned to the state. Earlier this month, the advisory committee on charter schools recommended CORAL be rejected, using language that was pretty much used already by administrators at MPUSD and at MCOE.

"The CDE finds that the CORAL Academy charter petitioners are demonstrably unlikely to successfully implement the intended program, and the petition does not contain reasonably comprehensive descriptions of the 16 charter elements."

Further, CDE administrators say CORAL Petitioners are proposing a program to serve special needs population, but are not explaining how to staff such a program or how to pay for it.

"The petitioners significantly underestimated the number of support staff, side-by-side assistants, special service providers, health care professionals, and psychologists that will likely be required to appropriately serve the anticipated school population. Additional services that may be reasonably anticipated for the target population, such as transportation, extended school year, and alternative student placements have not been budgeted."

The advisory committee recommends the full State Board of Education hold a public hearing and reject the charter. On occasions, state trustees go against their staff recommendations and vote their way, but it's not common -- which makes an approval for CORAL unlikely.

No public hearing has been set yet. Stay tuned.

Chartwell gets $130,000 for financial aid

Chartwell School received a grant of $150,000 from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, $130,000 of which is designated for the financial aid program that benefits 35 to 40 percent of students at Chartwell School and The New High School Project.

It is the sixth year that The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation has supported
financial aid for the school's student population. Chartwell serves students with learning disabilities.

Good luck, Seaside's Monserath Espinola

Eight year old Monserath, who will start third grade in the fall at Del Rey Woods Elementary, will represent the state of California in the 12th Annual National Braille Challenge.

The all-day event on Saturday in Los Angeles will test students on their abilities to read, write and spell in Braille. Quite a challenge for such a young girl!

Monserath was born legally blind duet to congenital glaucoma.

Monserath will compete in the "apprentice" category for students in the 1, 2 and 3 grades. Last year, she won second place at a competition in Oakland, and this year she won her pass to the national event by winning first place in the state competition in Santa Clara, her father Bernabe Espinola said.

"She's excited," Dad said. "She's been preparing for two weeks."

Good luck, Monserath!

Get help for your child with disabilties in Monterey County

Attention parents: of you have a child with different abilities, this resource fair is for you. The Monterey County SELPA will hold a community resources fair called “Getting Help for My Child with Disabilities” from 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, May 16 at the Monterey County Office of Education.

The resource fair will help parents and caregivers become more aware of services and programs for children of all ages with a variety of disabilities. Representatives of agencies and programs serving special needs children in Monterey County will be available to discuss the services offered. Educational, recreational, health and governmental agencies will be invited to participate in the community resources fair.

The session will be offered in English and Spanish. Spanish translators and childcare are limited, but available upon request. Those interested in attending must register online at  or by telephone at 831.755.6464 no later than May 11. Please leave number of adults and number of children, including ages and disabilities, if any. The resource fair will take place at the Monterey County Office of Education, 901 Blanco Circle in Salinas.

Confessions of a "bad" teacher

In case you've missed it, there's a really good opinion piece in the NYT by William Johnson, a special ed teacher who tells it like it is when it comes to the pressures of teaching:

"The truth is, teachers don’t need elected officials to motivate us. If our students are not learning, they let us know. They put their heads down or they pass notes. They raise their hands and ask for clarification. Sometimes, they just stare at us like zombies. Few things are more excruciating for a teacher than leading a class that’s not learning."

All this outcry about "public schools being failures" fail to recognize, like Johnson points out, that we'll always have different outcomes if we have different inputs. Children in wealthier schools, with more educated parents, do better. Look in our county, who are our winners in the math and science competitions? You can't blame poverty on the teacher. So far, all it's done is create an antagonistic -- and completely undeserved -- culture of blaming teachers.

Torlakson and students with special needs

Last week, during the conference of California school superintendents, Calif. Chief of Schools Tom Torlakson addressed Latino superintendents and administrators and told them about efforts to revamp education for language learners. I wrote about it here and here.

A reader called "Merry3000" asked when was Torlakson going to talk to administrators about students with special needs.

I have an answer for you.

According to Pam Slater, spokeswoman for the California Department of Education, Torlakson "speaks about the needs of students with disabilities in every context from physical fitness to the use of technology in education and has had a lot of meetings that addressed the topic." The California Department of Education also recently took part in a Disability Awareness Month (which is observed in October).

Hope this helps. Ask anytime.