Present:  Trudy Diepholz, Sandy Dorst, Amy Grau, Ella Foster, David Hauck, Jane Redmon, Lyle

                  Stauder, Dr, Derrald Taylor, Dr. Michael Zost, and Theresa Cummings by phone

Absent:  Tom Crane, Jeff Schulte, Dr. Toni Heinze, Van Stone

Guests:  Marjorie Olson, Robert Kilbury, Joe Lanier, Carmen Dennis

I.          Roll Call/Introductions

Dr. Mike Zost, Chairperson, called the meeting to order.  Each person present introduced himself or herself.  Ella Foster announced that she would be moving to Ohio; therefore, she is resigning her position on the Advisory Council.

II.         Approval of Minutes/Adoption of Agenda

Everyone was asked to review the minutes from the July 14^th meeting for any changes or additions.  No changes were made.  A motion and second was made to accept the minutes as written.  This was approved.

III       Old Business:

          Status update from work out team – Nothing further shared

IV.      Committee Reports:

           Nominating, Membership & Bylaws

• Officers – The current officers of Dr. Zost as Chairman, Jane Redmon as Vice Chairwoman, and Theresa Cummings as secretary will remain for the current year.
   

• Bylaws and Constitution Revision
  Dr. Zost would like to chair a committee to revise the bylaws that we currently have.  DHS has revised the Administrative Code regarding the Advisory Councils structure.  As per the new document, we should have 9 members with a maximum of 16.  The make-up of the council should be more reflective of the diversity of stakeholders to ISVI than the bylaws currently indicate.  Below is a list of possible stakeholder groups that will be reviewed to see if they qualify and are interested in providing a representative member to serve on ISVI’s Advisory Council.

Amy would like to see groups not only local but state wide.  Lyle agreed and Theresa agreed also stating that the School should be seen as a statewide resource.  Mr. Hauck agreed and expressed that we need to get the word out about ISVI and with the hope of bringing in new students.  Dr. Zost would like to have it documented what the responsibilities, duties and Mission of ISVI are.  In addition, it needs to be documented how Council members are to function and participate.  He would like to see a back-up plan in place for members who are unable to attend a meeting to find a replacement from their stakeholder group to attend in his/her absence.  Jane Redmon feels that the more board members we have that the less likely we will be to get a quorum.  Another suggestion is to reduce our pool of people, such as having only one O&M board member.  Lyle thought this would not be a good idea because both O&M representative are located in different parts of the state.  Mr. Hauck would like to see more members from all over the state.  Jane Redmon suggested that we possibly have someone from the Chicago area.  Dr. Zost asked Joan what was the procedure that ISD followed.  She shared that they did allow a substitute to fill in if the member was unable to attend the meeting.  Lyle suggested that we form subcommittees and report back next meeting.

Dr. Zost will chair this committee to work on the By-laws/Constitution/Member Duties:

           Marjorie Olson

           Theresa Cummings

           Trudy Diepolz

           Jane Redmon

Lyle Stauder will chair this committee related to defining and clarifying membership make-up:

           Amy Grau

           Jeff Schulte 

• Set member terms
  Dr. Zost talked about how all members’ terms have expired.  With Theresa Cummings not attending in person but by phone, the decision was made to stager years by pulling a number out of a box.  Terms as of 09/14/2007:

Public Relations…………………………………………   Trudy Diepholz and Sandy Dorst

Trudy and Sandi asked if Stephanie Leach has made any commitments for the breakfast meeting with legislative groups.  Stephanie replied that as of this time, no.

Long Range Planning………………………………….    Dr. Derrald Taylor

Dr. Taylor is looking for sources of grants at this time.  He and Marjorie are working on a grant.

V.         New Business

Dr. Zost would like to see everyone contact their state representative and legislature to form a commission for Blind or Visually Impaired.  Legislators are familiar with the Deaf Commission.  We need to work on this very hard in order to make everyone aware of what ISVI needs.  We should encourage students, parents, educators and the community to get involved.  Joan has been working on Senate Joint Resolution 0054 and what can be done for ISVI.  Amy informed everyone that it’s in the house now so please contact your representative.  Dr. Kilbury agreed that the best advocates for the school are our student body, alumni, and people who are visually impaired.  Jane Breen would like to see a statewide registry for our student’s parents or guardian.  Jane Redmon thought that the Materials Center should have a list of all students who are visually impaired in the state.  Dr. Zost stated that the Advisory Council should work on getting this done so that every person is provided with the appropriate educational and learning materials.  Carmen asked if school districts get money for these students attending ISVI.  Jane Redmon replied that they do.  At IEP’s we now hand out the ISVI fact sheet.  The past we were not able to.  She explained that in her area there is not a problem with sending a student to ISVI.  The problem is in the Chicago area.  Amy suggested that until we have a clear picture, maybe we could set up a satellite program up north in the future and work with ICRE on a GATES type program.  Lyle suggested that ISVI be the focal point but branch out into all parts of the state.  Dr. Kilbury agreed that this would be a great idea, but we just do not have the money.  However, ISVI is a resource center to all of the state and it should be used.  Dr. Kilbury stated that there is pressure on the residential schools right now because the public schools are doing a much better job than they have in the past.  Specialized schools are “a thing of the past” due to families wanting their children to attend schools in their community.  Dr. Taylor will talk with Eric Phillips from ICRE and Sue Dalton on these concerns.  Dr. Taylor asked about the Independent Living Center and if this information is needing to be sent out to the community.  Dr. Kilbury also mentioned about having a summer program.  Joan stated that Paul Drake is working on a program that would last about 3-4 weeks.  Lyle agrees that the campus should be used during the summer months offering programs.  There is staff here working during summer months.  Lyle would like to see ICRE work with ISVI on programs.  Dr. Kilbury agreed that we should look to ICRE for vocational, O & M, and basic typing lessons that will help students in the work force.  Dr. Zost asked if parents are notified what their child is learning in the work place and if they are reinforcing this at home.  Lyle expressed how parents do not realize what their children are capable of doing until they are away from them in the school surroundings.

VI.       Student Council Report

None

VII.       Reports:

Status of Superintendent Search…………………………………    Marjorie Olson/Rob Kilbury

Marjorie explained that we are on the second round of interviews for the Superintendent.  On the first round in June, the position was offered to two candidates.  Both turned the position down.  As of September 7^th we had two applicants and did interview both candidates on September 13^th.  There were 13 members on the interview committee with 12 participating.  These members worked with a recruitment firm in the selection of candidates.  Trudy inquired as to the intentions of the candidates for long-term employment with ISVI.  Marjorie replied that this is a question that we are not allowed to ask.  Once the candidate has been chosen, Mr. Kilbury will conduct a phone interview with both candidates.  Then a recommendation is made and sent to the Governor’s office for approval.  This will be a priority so that the position can be filled prior to Mrs. Forney leaving.  Dr. Kilbury suggested that Advisory Board members write letters to get this position expedited.  Mr. Lanier asked if the search committee will be notified once the selection has been made.  Mr. Kilbury replied yes.

Current Superintendent……………………………………………..    Joan Forney

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

Administrative Changes                             R and M Projects

Funding for Textbook Purchases            Physical Plant Changes

Grant and Trust Awards                              In-house Projects

Technology Purchases                               Summer Curriculum Workshops

Additional Funding for Technology         Parent/Infant

Funding for STEP Program                        Parent/Infant Budget

Funding for Additional Food                      Summer Camp

ISVI Budget Information                              Goals Advocacy Transition

Grants FY 08                                                   Plans for this year – IEP changes

CDB Projects at ISVI

            Questions on written reports……………………………..…………    Joan Forney

            NCA Accreditation…………………………………………………….    Cindy Miller

            ISVI Parent Association……………………………………………...     Flora Dennison

Flora informed the Council that the ISVI Parent Association will be holding a flea market on 9/29.  This information is posted on the web site.  There will also be a basket raffle and at this time we have 12 baskets to raffle.  All proceeds will go to the Parent Association.  Not only parents, but also staff have participated in bringing in items for the baskets.

VIII.      Adjournment

There was a motion to adjourn the meeting,  Trudy seconded the motion.  The meeting adjourned at 1:35pm.

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