Present:  Sandy Dorst, Amy Grau, Jane Redmon, Jeff Schulte, Lyle Stauder, Dr, Derrald Taylor, Dr. Michael Zost

Absent:  Trudy Diepholz, Tom Crane, Dr. Toni Heinze, Van Stone, David Hauck, Theresa Cummings

Guests:  Marjorie Olson, Robert Kilbury, Joe Lanier, Carmen Dennis, Donald Wilkerson, Keith Sepp, Brenda Bell, Allen Bell, Janet McGovern, Brenda Christian, Brando Collins, Josh Webster

I.                   Roll Call/Introductions

Dr. Mike Zost, Chairperson, called the meeting to order.  Each person present introduced themselves.

II.                  Approval of Minutes/Adoption of Agenda

Members were asked to review the minutes from the September 14th meeting for any changes or additions.  No changes were made.  A motion and second was made to accept the minutes as written.

III.         Student Council Report - Josh Webster

Josh read the report that was sent out to all Advisory Board members prior to the meeting.  Jorge Lopez, student body president, wrote this report.  Josh gave an update on the recent basket raffle $466.00 was made off the raffle.  ISVI student council will be using the proceeds from this fundraiser for the senior prom.  Student council also decorated boxes and put in different areas on campus to collect items for the Women’s Crisis Center.   The fundraiser that is planned for spring is to sell Uncle Jerry’s T’s which the student council will make 50% of all items sold.

Brando Collins recently attended the National Federation of the Blind Conference.  This conference was based on technology for the visually impaired and transportation issues.  Items that were addressed were better access to transportation in the Springfield and Chicago area.  Dr. Kilbury also asked Brando about his trip to Baltimore this summer for the convention.  He said he enjoyed it.    Dr. Taylor reminded the Principal that the Vision Leadership would sponsor one student to attend Space Camp again this year.  Mrs. McGovern has a student in mind that would be interested and will get back to Dr. Taylor. 

IV.      Old Business

            Nominating, Membership & Bylaws            Theresa Faith Cummings

• Bylaws/Constitution/Member Duties Update – Dr. Michael Zost
  This committee (Jane Redmond, Theresa Faith Cummings, Marjorie Olson, Trudy Diepholz) convened prior to the meeting to discuss updating the Bylaws and Constitution.  Due to its complexity, only the preamble was discussed.  The rest of this document is to be completed by the March 14, 2008 meeting.
  
   

• Membership Recommendation Update – Lyle Stauder
  The sub committee that is working on the membership is Lyle Stauder, Jeff Schulte and Amy Grau.  They presented a handout to all members of their proposal.  Discussion of the proposal brought out several good issues on specific representation.  Reference to #8, Jane Redmond felt that any teacher from the Public School System and not just an IAER member should be eligible.  Regarding an ISBE, perhaps we could work with the state board and if they aren’t available to attend they could appoint an ex-officio member to attend in their absence.  Dr. Zost will be contacting ISBE regarding setting up a meeting with Kris Koch.  Jane Redmond also stated that we need to cover the whole state when looking for board members.  Mrs. Forney would like to see a person who is a professional in field of vision.  This person should be familiar with children from the age of 0-22.  Mrs. Forney commented regarding alumni representation.  If a person is a graduate within the past five years they are more aware of changes in the school.  Mr. Lanier disagreed that a representative from the alumni group shouldn’t be restricted to a recent graduate.  Mr. Lanier feels that past alumni deserve equal opportunity, and should be voted upon by the alumni to represent them.  Mr. Schulte stated that when they were putting the membership together the members thought it should be a student who has graduated within the last five years.  This person would have knowledge of what is going on now with the school, and not 10-20 years ago.  Jane Redmond thought maybe we should balance it out with a recent graduate and an alumni member.  Flora addressed the council to possibly do a survey of 5^th year seniors to see if there is even an interest in being on the Advisory Board.  Mrs. McGovern said she could take take care of the survey.

V.          Reports:

Acting Superintendent - Joan Forney

Mrs. Forney gave a PowerPoint presentation with these topics being covered:

Questions & Answers:

Lyle asked what areas the 0-3 programs cover, and what percentage of students will attend ISVI from this service.  Dr. Kilbury replied that many participants in the 0-3 program end up at ISVI, but as far as a percentage he didn’t have an answer for that.  Mrs. Forney stated that at this time we have 2 full-time educators and one is on contract.  The areas that they are working in are Springfield, Champaign, and Bloomington.  These three are meeting once a month in Decatur.  At this time they are looking to have a playgroup in Champaign.  Dr. Zost expressed that this is good exposure for ISVI.  Lyle asked if there could be a possibility that in the future if we would expand to the Chicago area.  Dr. Kilbury states that would be something to address.

We have three students planning on attending the GATES program in January.  Amy asked how we were getting the information out on this program.  Jan McGovern attended a special education conference recently and information was given out at that time.  This information is also located on the web site.  This is not a direct referral program.  Placement of students is handled by the school district.

Dr. Kilbury expressed his thanks to all who were on the search committee.  They did a great job.  The final outcome was that Mr. Reggie Clinton would be returning to ISVI as Superintendent on January 2, 2008.  Mr. Clinton is familiar with not only ISVI but DHS rules and regulations.

ISVI recently hired a new accountant to replace Mr. Suttles in the Business Office.  John Wilcox, the Business Manager, recently accepted another state job.  His new employer was gracious enough to loan him to ISVI & ISD for the first two weeks of December.  John trained Nancy Bradbury on what his job duties are here at ISVI & ISD.  Nancy will be temporarily assigned to this position.  Dr. Kilbury informed everyone that Nancy is a former CPA and is highly recommended for this position.

Mr. Bell and Mr. Wilkerson asked if it would be possible to volunteer at ISVI.  Mrs. Forney replied that would be a great idea.  She recommended that interested individuals contact Mr. Lewey who is in charge of the volunteer program.  Individuals will need to complete a volunteer packet and Mr. Lewey will provide that.

The Transition Committee here at ISVI has worked very hard this year and will continue with a new chairperson, Todd Williams.  Mr. Williams handles IEP’s for all students.  Mr. Williams has put together notebooks on all students for the school year.  Mr. Williams is also working on the GATES Program that will be held four times a year at ISVI.  Amy asked if a student attending the GATES Program would be offered the same classes that they are currently taking at their school?  Dr. Kilbury replied that we would have the students keep up their schoolwork from their local school district.  Mrs. Forney replied that ISVI would provide a tutor for that student if needed.  Lyle questioned why we wouldn’t send them to JHS.  Mrs. Forney replied that not every school is on the same program in classes so that is why we are offering a tutor.  They will bring their homework assignments with them from their school district.  These assignments will be completed just as if they were at their own school.

Amy expressed a concern with evening staff that needing help with certain students.  She would like to see a social worker on call for the evenings.  She has a concern that issues, which happen in the evening, aren’t dealt with until the next day when the social worker is notified.  Another concern Amy shared is that if there is abuse that takes place at night, there is no one here for the student to talk with.  Mrs. Forney replied that there is a Residential Supervisor here and they should be contacted.  Administration is always on call in any type of an emergency.  Dr. Kilbury will see if we can possibly write a contract to this effect.  Mrs. Forney will also look into this.

Amy asked if ISVI received the Autism Grant.  Marjorie Olson replied that we should know by December 31, 2007.  Dr. Taylor and Marjorie worked on a Low Vision Grant but there is no decision on this one yet either.  The Samuel J Garras and Etta Garras Trust award was $112,000.  The purpose of this grant is to serve students who are blind in the surrounding Springfield area.

Other issues discussed:

The question came up about how the program in the TLC is progressing this year.  Last year problems with students not wanting to work did occur.  Mrs. McGovern replied that this year students have to agree to work if living in TLC.

The question came up about our summer camp and if ISVI students were going to be allowed to attend.  Mrs. Forney replied that last year we did offer this to our students as a pilot program due to low interest in the camp.

Lyle inquired about the 40 computers that were donated to ISD from the Lieutenant Governor and why ISVI wasn’t included in this program.  Dr. Kilbury replied that the superintendent at ISD was involved in a committee, which received a donation.  This donation was from parents of a deaf student and Wal-Mart Corporation was involved where they donated 40 computers to ISD and 40 computers to students overseas.  Dr. Taylor thought this would be a good committee for ISVI to be on.  Rob will try and talk with the committee to see if ISVI could be represented.  Dr. Kilbury also suggested that a letter be sent from Dr. Zost on behalf of the Advisory board.  Lyle suggested that Dr. Zost try to arrange for a meeting with the Lieutenant Governor.

Lyle inquired about residential reports and if parents are contacted and when.  Mrs. Forney replied that parents are always called and a copy of the report is sent out within 48 hours of the incident.

VI.        Committee Reports:

Public Relations - Trudy Diepholz/Sandy Dorst

None given at this time.

Long Range Planning - Dr. Taylor

Dr. Taylor has put together a handout which shows foundations that were under a search for blindness or visually impaired.  He would like to see a letter developed and sent out to all on the list and possibly even getting a sponsor from the list.  Dr. Zost thought maybe we should contact the Delta Gamma in supporting ISVI.

VII.            New Business

New Projects/Direction

Dr. Zost presented a handout on Goals for the Future of ISVI.  There was a motion to accept the Goals and second by Jane Redmond.  Dr. Zost also talked about the ISVI Mission Statement being changed.  Mrs. Forney stated that the Ms. Cindy Miller and the NCA committee is working on the Mission Statement at this time.  Lyle would like to see the word education in the Mission Statement.

VIII.         Adjournment

A motion to adjourn at 1:50pm, a second was made and accepted.

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