ICASE Business Meeting
February 16, 2007
Radisson - Indianapolis
(These minutes are
considered a draft until approved at the next scheduled
general membership meeting.)
Executive
Committee/Past Presidents' Dinner (2-14-07): Cindy
Pittman hosted the after-dinner meeting and called on
Joan McCormick to brief the group on the afternoon
hearing of SB 451 regarding the re-instatement of
emergency permits for teachers of communication
disorders.
Awards (2-15-07)
During the luncheon awards session, Leonard Burrello
(Indiana University) was presented the ICASE Career
Achievement Award. Honorary Membership was granted to
Julia Prather (West Central), who donated the value of a
retirement clock to the Porter Scholarship Fund.
OFFICERS PRESENT AT
BUSINESS MEETING: Tom Adams (President), Pam Wright
(President-elect), Cindy Pittman (Past-President),
Vendetta Gutshall (Treasurer), Gary Collings
(Secretary)
1. Minutes Tom Adams
called the business meeting to order at 8:00 AM and
requested approval of the September 29, 2006 minutes.
MOTION: After a motion for approval by Pat Pierce
and a second by Joan McCormick, the minutes were
approved as presented.
2. Treasurer's Report
- Vendetta Gutshall presented the Financial Statement
noting year to date expenditures of $71,707.29 of the
$167,650 budget, with a favorable revenue balance of
$188,125.05, pending expenses related to the Spring
Conference with an additional $30,000 protected cash
balance. An unofficial total of the Thursday night sale
of the Super Bowl footballs ($1,000) and the basket
auction ($2,134) netted, which will be added $3,134 to
the Porter Scholarship Fund current account balance of
$3,049.12 plus the $6,600 invested balance in the CASE
Indiana scholarship account.
3. ICASE Reports:
a. Membership
Vendetta Gutshall reminded members that the membership
year begins in July at which time new levels of Patron
Membership will be marketed. The products subcommittee
is seeking ideas for additional products of interest to
the membership. The website subcommittee has added many
improvements <www.icase.org>. Theresa Oberley and Mary
Custer are co-chairing the Membership Committee.
In response to a
question about rolling dues into registration fees,
Vendetta said that in the past the membership year began
September 1 and members often confused the payment of
the Fall Conference fee with payment of the annual
dues. The July 1 membership year also matches that of
the CEC/CASE. She noted the Membership Committee would,
however, be pleased to re-consider the option at the
discretion of the Executive Committee.
b. Legislative Tom
Adams complimented the membership for its participation
at the Legislative Breakfast. Joan McCormick spoke to
the successful Senate hearing on SB 451. She thanked
Kelli Waggoner of the KWK Management group for her
partnership and support in all of the details and
arrangements. Joan noted Senator Kennedy's federal SB
578 titled Protecting Children's Health in Schools Act
of 2007.
c. CASE Vendetta
Gutshall reminded members to monitor the CASE website <www.casecec.org>
for federal legislation, national news, conference
dates, etc.
d. CEC Tom Adams
encouraged members to attend the CEC Convention in
Louisville on April 19 21, 2007. ICASE is a
co-sponsor of the CASE Fun Night to be held at the
Kentucky Derby Museum. As a result of the ICASE
nomination, George Van Horn announced that Leonard
Burrello will receive the Harrie M. Selznick CASE
Distinguished Service Award at the CEC Convention. It
is the highest CASE honor in recognition of individuals
who have been career-long leaders in the administration
of special education programs.
e. Fall 2007 Pam
Wright confirmed that the Fall Conference 2007 on
September 26 - 28 will be held at the French Lick Resort
with reasonably priced overnight room rates. She
encouraged members to register early for access to the
block of rooms.
f. Strategic Plan 2006
Conference Cindy Pittman reported the plan is moving
forward with several work groups, which recently
reported progress to-date to the overseers group. She
will be compiling the notes and timeline for a future
report.
g. Article 7 Work Group
Tom Adams explained the Executive Committee has formed
a work group to be prepared to draft position papers for
member reference at public hearings or with various
stakeholders. The work group will review the
strike-through draft being prepared by the State
Advisory Committee.
h. IAPSS Tom Adams
reported John Ellis has accepted the ICASE offer to pay
the expenses for George Batsche as the keynoter for the
IAPSS Winter Conference to be held on January 31, 2008.
i. Damar Update Bill
Dreibelbis briefed members about the service delivery
system for the residential facility in the RISE
district, which has been under review as to whether RISE
or Damar will provide the teachers and staff for the
educational program. The CEO of Damar has recently
committed to fully staffing the educational program. As
a result, there will be potential changes in the
placement process and billing for costs for step down
services in RISE.
4. Election of
Officers Pam Wright, President-elect and chair of the
Nomination Committee with members Ann Schnepf and Karol
Farrell, presented the following slate of officers:
Lynn Gosser, President-elect (2007-08) and Vendetta
Gutshall, Treasurer (2007-09). Pam explained the
nomination process and reviewed the resume of each
candidate. MOTION: Pat Pierce moved to accept the
slate of officers as presented with a second by Tammy
Ummel. No action taken.
Before the Call for the
Question regarding the slate of officers, Nancy Becker
was recognized and presented a nomination from the
floor. MOTION: Nancy Becker moved to nominate Mary
Custer as President-elect with a second by Joan Riley.
No action taken.
Pat Pierce/Tammy Ummel
offered to amend their original motion to include Mary
Custer as an option for President-elect. No action
taken. MOTION: Pat Pierce moved to accept Vendetta
Gutshall as Treasurer for 2007-09. Motion died for lack
of a second.
After considerable
debate, the membership agreed all active, voting members
present would use the back side of his/her respective
name card as a ballot to vote for President-elect and
Treasurer.
Vendetta Gutshall
presented a list of 92 active members eligible to vote
if present. Gary Collings was asked to proctor the
voting process and announce the outcomes after the
keynote presentation by Steve Kukic. During the ballot
counting process, Gary requested the two candidates for
President-elect join him in confirming the voided
ballots and in the tallying of the valid ballots,
without revealing names of those casting a ballot for
either candidate.
Before announcing the
outcome of the ballot election, Gary Collings reviewed
the ICASE constitution provisions for voting privileges
with Active membership, which is open to an individual
in the field of special education in public schools who
holds membership in both CEC-CASE and ICASE. He reported
67 name tag ballots had been collected. In comparing
the ballots to the active voting list, 17 ballots were
voided with no consequence to the final outcome. Gary
asked the membership for permission to forward the list
of 17 names to Vendetta for follow-up with no opposition
expressed. Of the remaining 50 ballots, one voted for
neither candidate for President-elect, 8 voted for Mary
Custer, and 41 voted for Lynn Gosser. There were no
write-ins for Treasurer, and Vendetta Gutshall received
37 votes. The membership accepted the ballot votes as
conclusive for the confirmation of the respective terms
of office for both Lynn Gosser and Vendetta Gutshall.
5. Vendors At the
conclusion of the business meeting, Tammy Ummel
conducted a drawing of vendor door prizes and thanked
the Event Sponsors (Bose McKinney Evans, Mecca Tech,
Claimaid Consulting Corporation), the Patron Member
vendors (NCS Pearson, Claimaid, Mecca Tech, Spectrum
K-12, Three Springs, Educational Concepts, MetLife/MetDesk),
as well as additional vendors (First Team Education,
ICAN Project, VSAI, Sopris West).
6. Division Report
The day before the business meeting (February 15), Bob
Marra briefed the membership on the following topics:
child count/funding issues, school-based Medicaid,
speech language pathology, ISTAR, assessment, parent
survey, disproportionality, early childhood,
determination categories, IN-SIG update (Brett
Bollinger), and progress report for Article 7/Advisory
Council <http://doe.state.in.us/exceptional/advisory/welcome.html>
NEXT MEETING: September
28, 2007 at French Lick Resort
