Letter from ConnCASE President - Kathie Gabrielson
9.16.2015
Dear ConnCASE Members,
Welcome to the 2015-2016 school year! I hope that you all have had a smooth beginning to the current school year. During the first weeks of school I work hard to set a tone for staff and colleagues that will help all understand that we have a collective responsibility not just to our students and families, but also to ourselves. This responsibility is to care for our individual health and wellbeing so that we are capable for addressing all of our many and growing number of responsibilities both educational and legal.
The ConnCASE Executive Board has been busy working with the SDE on many different facets of education. We are working with them on the SSIP, Stakeholder groups on Indicator 17 – our third grade reading SSIP, and developing and planning the Leadership Forums. This is certainly not an exhaustive list, but several examples of where we are working hard for you.
As your organization, we have been busy planning some very significant professional development opportunities. We are bringing Randi Kamphouse, Ed.D. to Connecticut on October 8th for our annual Xan Lopez conference to train school psychologists in using the BASC-3. Dr. Kamphouse is one of 2 authors of the BASC-3. The benefit of learning from one of the authors is exceptional!
On October 15th and 16th we are hosting our Annual Conference at the Farmington Marriott. Art Cernosia, Esq. will be our full day key note speaker on Thursday October 15th. He will be addressing “The Year in Review and Lessons Learned” as well as “Emerging Issues in 504 Plans”. On Friday October 16th we will be hosting break-out sessions with local attorneys Michelle Laubin, Alyce Alfano, and Mike McKeon.
The work of ConnCASE and our Executive Board is important and we need you to be a part of the process. I strongly encourage you to submit your application to become a state level ConnCASE member if you haven’t already – this is different from regional membership. Should you have questions about this please see your regional representative. Membership entitles you to a reduced registration fee at ConnCASE conferences as well as the membership only section of our website. I encourage you to visit the ConnCASE website often to obtain the most up-to-date information available to our members. I also encourage each of you to “Stay CONNected” through attendance at your regional meetings. These regional meetings provide you a venue within which you can network with colleagues in your geographical area. Your Regional Representatives also attend Executive Board meetings; as such they will provide you with valuable updates on what’s happening across the state, at SDE and SERC. Your membership gives you voice and input in helping shape the future of special education in Connecticut. We need to hear you and hear from you!
This is an exciting time of change and it is our goal to make ConnCASE the “go to” resource for our members as well as the “go to” stakeholder for the Bureau of Special Education. I am looking forward to serving as your President for the next two years and I wish each of you a happy, safe, and productive school year.
Sincerely,
Kathie Gabrielson
President, ConnCASE
