Task Force on Blind Student Academic and Vocational Performance Blind Task Force (BTF)
Minutes
Zoom Meeting of Committee Representatives May 3, 2022
For information on the BTF, visit https://dese.mo.gov/special-education/advisory-panels/blind-task-force
Members in Attendance: Bob Bedell, Interim Assistant Commissioner, DESE/OSE; Geoffrey Barney, Superintendent, Missouri School for the Blind; Jenny Cannack, Consumer Organization: National Federation of the Blind; Linda Coccovizzo, Parent Representative; Rose Ehresman, Teacher of the Visually Impaired, Carla Keirns, Parent Representative; Jonita Scarbrough, Institution of Higher Education; Samantha Scott, DSS/RSB; Brent Sharp, Public School Building Principal; Louise Whitworth, Teacher of the Visually Impaired; Robert Woerther, SE Administrator; Sheila Wright, Rehabilitation Council for the Blind; AngieYorke, Employer, Lighthouse for the Blind-St. Louis

Members Not in Attendance: Denise Boucher, Student Representative

Guests in Attendance: Jessica Hall, Anthony Blade, DJ Butcher, Blind Skills Specialists; Jane Herder, Director Outreach/Deaf-Blind Technical Assistance Project, TVVCOMS, Missouri School for the Blind, Ann Silia,

Minute taker: Regina Miller, Administrative Assistant, OSE, DESE

Carla Keirns, 2022 Chairperson, officiated over the meeting.

•	Call to Order at 10:00 a.m. by Carla Keirns

•	Welcome, Introductions, and Roll Call: C. Keirns
Bob Bedell, Interim Assistant Commissioner, Office of Special Education, Department of Elementary and Secondary Education was introduced to members. C. Keims,Chairperson, shared that the goal ofBTF which is to ensure that the Department and BTF members have the information and data needed, in their perspective roles, to enswe the best services to our blind/visually impaired students across the state of Missouri.

•	Review and approval of May 3, 2022 Agenda: C. Keirns Motion made by J. Carmack; L. Whitworth, seconded. Approved.
•	Review and approval of February 1, 2022 Minutes: C. Keirns Motion made by J. Carmack; S. Scott seconded Approved
•	DESE Update: Bob Bedell, interim Assistant Director
Budget - State:
•	Final two weeks of the legislative session.
•	Minimal changes to DESE's budget bill. Passed without controversy.
•	Topics under discussion
o	Funding of the Governor's minimum teacher salary line item
o	Fully funding transportation formula
o	Senate position includes over $240 million of new funding for K-12 education.
o	Education committee moved quickly to both hear and vote out HB 1858 relating to
•	parents bill of rights
•	

•	social studies curriculum
•	general curriculum transparency
These items will likely be addressed during remaining ten days of session.

Budget - Federal:
•	On March 15, 2022, President Biden signed a 1.5 trillion dollar spending bill to fund the federal government for the remainder of fiscal 2022, which ends October 1, 2022.

State Performance Plan/Annual Performance Report (SPP/APR):
•	DESE submitted the state's SPP/APR to the Office of Special Education on January 24, 2022
•	Clarification period completed in April 2022
•	Report submitted and accepted April 28, 2022

Proposed Changes to Part B State Plan:
•	Office of Special Education (OSE) submitted to State Board of Education on March 8, 2022, a request for approval of changes to the state plan and regulations implementing Part B of Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) which included:
o	Removing Speech Implementers as a provider of speech therapy;
o	Adding licensed assistant physicians and advanced practice registered nurses to list of persons who can diagnose a health impairment; and
o	If approved, as a final order of rulemaking, the changes will go to the Joint Committee for Administrative Rules (JCAR) and then to the Secretary of State to be published in the Missouri Register.

Teachers of the Visually Impaired:
•	Dana Welch, Assistant Director of Special Education Compliance has been asked to gather information to assist districts that do not have TVI's (or shortage of) for their visually impaired students.
o	Information from State of Missouri regarding additional coursework required by DESE
o	Past requirements noted 24 hours of Blindness and Low Vision (BLV) coursework, all online.
o	An additional 29 hours of professional education coursework was added in order to earn a Missouri teaching certificate and qualify as a Teacher of Students with Visual Impairments
o	DESE Educator Certification has been asked to provide history and rationale for the increase in hours in order to obtain the certification.
o	B. Bedell asked Jane Herder, Director Outreach/Deaf-Blind Technical Assistance Project, TVI/COMS, Missouri School for the Blind, to share items of interest with the members related to TVI/COMS.
•	Shortage of TVI's have been historically an issue in the field
•	1VI's areexpected to know an exuberant amount of materials
•	TVI shortages have been addressed by American Federation of the Blind, Association for the Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind, as well as many qualitative short studies, articles, and various discussions, reports, and data
•	TVI's currently are working with visually impaired students ages birth to 21
•	Adding 350 hours of internship for Certified Assistive Technology Instructional Specialist (CATIS) certified in assistive technology
•	Required proof of proficiency in braille
•	These points do not serve to entice new TVI candidates
•	
Member feedback related to TVI/O&M:
•	Create a vehicle of employment in the rural areas (not private contracting) with benefits
•	Additional hours required for certification is limiting not enabling
•	Offered to help First Steps with transition evaluations and provide assessments. No response
•	Core group available to TVI's and COMs for help and guidance
•	Help schools understand the need and value ofTVI's and COM's
•	St. Louis and Kansas City have some but not enough staff
•	Drop off in services for Early Intervention to preschool particularly for legally blind/low vision students
•	Falling short in learning core skills needed before entering kindergarten
•	Need for qualified persons that can provide assessments
•	Mentoring
•	Expand Blind Skills program
•	Help districts grow their own
•	Make online grants available to teachers
•	Revisit the certification model
•	Teachers who were working with students in the Children's Center for Visually Impaired and Missouri School for the Blind were enrolled in the program for initial certification for TVI/O&M. Additional hours were required (retaking some courses already completed)
•	What piece or pieces, given the expertise in this group, would we like to see DESE take on? o	Building mentorship for teachers in practice
o	Talking to the schools about the need for TVI's and O&M's
o	Support to help create a more positive atmosphere
o	Create a cohesive group that TVI's and O&M's can reach out to
o	Prepare qualified candidates to fill the large number of vacancies resulting from retirement, especially in the St. Louis City area
o	Current number of credit and practicum hours required are prohibitive
o	The added requirement caused a large number of people to drop from the program
o	Core materials for the Masters. Teachers are being asked to retake courses previously completed during the initial certification training if these classes were taken more than five years ago.
o	MSU was under credit review and were told to add in more credit hours based on the basic teacher (BS in Education Degree).
o	DESE has an opportunity to revisit these certification requirements due to current teacher shortages. If there's not strong rationale for the increased and repeated coursework (repeating classes because of time), this matter should be re-evaluated.
o	The reality that there are hundreds of students who are currently not able to finish kindergarten and move on to first grade due to the inability for districts to find service providers to work with these children.
o	So many of our visually impaired/low vision students are coming into the school district not ready. Even if you do the assessment and determine they are visually impaired and in need of services, there is no one to deliver those services.
o	Need to have solid assessments done prior to the child entering the school system because that documents need. If the assessments are not finished or completed at all, there's no indication to the incoming school district that they need to even start looking for TVI. Under our current contract as a Blind Skills Specialists, we can go in with First Steps as part of transition, I can go in and work with a two-year-old, do an assessment, have parent become familiar with me and aid in that transition. The school district could then start looking for
o	
services a year prior to when they needed it. Last year I was involved in a situation where the district did not know they were getting a three-year-old VI student in needed intensive services until three months before school started. It would take no change in our contract or First Steps contract. But again, I did not get any follow through from First Steps on that
offer. If they do feel like if that by providing an assessment that documents need then they don't know who's going to provide services, this doesn't relieve us as educators of saying this is what that child needs.
o	Would like to reach out to Office of Childhood and First Steps and have specific conversations to try and bridge this gap. Doesn't make sense to identify the need without an opportunity to provide the services needed.
o	We've struggled in our district (30 miles North of Springfield) to get vision specialists in to work with our students. We have a dire need. When you start looking at teacher shortages, it's a bigger issue than just certification. From the elementary perspective - I've had two open kindergarten positions since March and no one is applying for them. So, there's a bigger issue here than just certification. Certification is going to have to change across the board. Things are changing and the state needs to catch up. Being in the professional of education now is not deemed as respectable like it was when I was a child. Special Education needs and no applicants. All districts are fighting to fill slots with no applicants.
o	We have to acknowledge that education has had a "pandemic". Quarter  of  administrators in the state of Kansas have left their professions. Fifty to sixty percent teacher burnout. People go into education because they want to teach and serve our kids. Can we figure out how to take care of our teachers?
o	I'm out in multiple buildings and multiple districts every day and watching the burnout among the special education and general education is alarming. I'm hearing people on interviews on their lunch hour for HR jobs. I understand. What people are being asked to do is outrageous. It's hard to grow your own when you're trying to pull from a field that's already shrinking so fast.
o	I hope that from the DESE connection, that it's not a "one and done". It's onedayat a time and we need to continue the communication and look at solutions to these problems. My philosophy is not to throw up our hands but, take one step at a time and make it better.
o	Work on the certification. What is needed? How many hours will be required? Why were extra hours added in? How do we get to the point where it meets the needs of those going into the field without putting an undue burden on them?
o	This matter puts a lot of demands on those who, for instance, might be working TVI working in early childhood special education centers asking them to also be certified in assistive technology when that's not their core group.
o	Internship hours not to mention the expense of the application and the test. If the teacher
does not pass, are they not able to teach because they're not CATIS certified.
o	Part of the BRITE Act is that instruction  will be done at home, within the community  an,d on the weekend. How are you going to find that extra time? It also needs to be mentioned, if our students with a visual impairment are in school during the day and then they're  going to  go home and do an O&M lessons, we are expecting them to attend more time in the school  than their non-disabled peers. The reality of it is that it has a lot of kinks without  data input from other TVI's throughout the state.
o	Does NOT require CATIS. "Either CATIS OR certified TVI". They have amended that and now it is CATIS or. As a TVI in rural districts, that was assumed that things like Independent Living skills and social interaction skills were taught and we had to be creative in how we were going to provide that instructions to be least disruptive for the students schedule. We did several after schools. There are summer programs we can implement
o	
where we can include those areas. If we neglect the expanded core curriculum, we may have a student graduating with straight A's in Chemistry and Spanish and History but who cannot go shopping for groceries and come home and cook their own meals. We have not educated these students.
o	Expanded Core Curriculum can happen in our school districts. A lot of districts don't realize that it is their responsibility. Many districts are misinformed as to the IDEA requirements for functional curriculum. It is not only for those with cognitive disabilities. "Anybody with an IEP has to have access to a functional curriculum if needed". So, a student with a visual impairment has an IEP, they have to have access to a functional curriculum if needed.
Another misconception is that it's illegal to provide mobility services off campus and after hours. All mobility instruction should take place only in the school setting because they feel that it's illegal to do otherwise. The BRITE Act will serve to inform districts of what their responsibilities truly are.
o	Resistance from schools about being more creative in early childhood curriculum. My experience bas been with service providers who always made it fun and incorporated different activities to include the social and emotional interaction and skills while still working on the foundational expanded core curriculum. There are opportunities to provide those experiences so that students don't have to come home and work additional hours after spending an entire day at school. The students want to be successful and the parents/guardians want their kids to be successful and they are open to ideas.
o	Things can be worked out if people are willing to work at it.
o	If you have TVIs and O&Ms that need extra support, there is currently an opportunity in Springfield during class hours o-nthe second Friday of every month. Email DJ Butcher for more details.
o	How do we provide access to the expanded core curriculum? The pressure put on the general education and special education teachers to teach those specific skills are immense. Because the test scores really matter, a lot more focus is put into the success in the reading and math classes. It's difficult to find ways and the time to provide access to those other pieces of the ECC during a typical school day. That doesn't include the additional occupational and physical therapy services the student may require.
o		It's important for us to figure out how educators and the blind community can work together. The teachers need resources to help get the job done. They need to know who they can work with (parents, teachers, and community organizations) and pull together the resources that will supplement what they need to accomplish.
o	How can this be put into a more organized structure?
o	There is a transition program through National Federation of the Blind. Make a list of topics that students are needing. Leaming from other blind students, employers, etc.• can be very beneficial. There are funds in place to put toward this. Give us feedback from educators and let's brainstorm about this.
o	Mission BEAM and BELL Academy - 1f we have people who are wanting to participate in Mission Beam is that going to be open to everyone? RSB is primary funding source. If there's a student that needs to participate and benefit from participating in it. We will do what we can to make sure students getting what ·they need. Lack of funding should not keep them out of the running to qualify.
o	You have to be a certified teacher of student with visual impairments and hold a CATIS OR hold a valid and current national certification. You are not required to have both-just ONE of these.
o	There also tends to be confusion between an IT person and an AT person. They are completely different.
o	
o	MSB is running summer programs again this year. MOSPIN Program; 2017 (7 active families) 2022 (49 families) Delta Gamma (birth through 5)- Family Retreat; Lions Night;
Need is out there to get out and have fun. Fall PD
o	SOAR- Legally Blind (15-21) We never get many applications. We can accept 12 kids.
One-on-One sessions at Webster University
o	STARS (6 to 15 years old) 3 people show up - Can we start in Columbia, Springfield.
Couldn't get applications in. Families are often not aware that these programs and services are available throughout the summer months for their children.
o	We need to do more to get the word out. We need to have a source in place that will get this information out to the districts and families.
o	TVI's are very creative. There needs to be themes and marketing in place to spread the word.
o	Registration periods need to be more conducive to when schools are in session (January or March)
o	Blue Ribbon Commission (https://dese.mo.gov/blue-ribbon-commission) is looking at teacher shortage.
o	DESE has begun to research information related to the additional hours required.

•	Children's Vision Summit-R. Ehresman - This Saturday at Missouri School for the Blind. Registration opens at 8:00 a.m. We currently have 88 registered (including volunteers) to attend. Would love more volunteers. MSB has amazing things on campus that will give attendees, parents and teachers some things to think about. A lot of folks don't realize what kids with vision loss can do. I'm so excited that we are going to be able to showcase a lot of what MSB has to offer. Set up will begin noon on Friday. There will be four breakout sessions and a panel discussion during lunch. Theme is Experience Teaches. Kids and adults will participate in a rope course, climbing wall, seven-person bike, running on track using wires, goal ball. It was suggested that sessions be videotaped in the next vision summit.

•	COVID Learning Recovery- C. Keirns-What are you hearing in our schools and communities about what we are doing to help our kids recover?
•	Importance of keeping students engaged.
•	Recovery reading and math. Teachers staying after school working as mentors for students to help retain skills lost in reading and math. Helping to get kids caught up.
•	Need to acknowledge the emotional and social skills piece. I see our students and teachers are struggling. They are so far behind in their social skills development. This makes it more difficult to teach and learn while also trying to provide the emotional and social support they need as they reenter the school environment.
•	Rural areas returned to the classroom quicker than the cities. Academically, the struggles are stemming from the lack ofTVI's and people certified in the world of vision. We are falling down as a profession with expanded core curriculum. COVE groups will be working to teach ECC and how that can be incorporated into the academic curriculums.
•	Matches what has been seen in research and broader social groups nationally.

•	Rehab Services for the Blind Update - Sheila - I don't at this time. The official meeting is Friday. Will report in August.

•	BRITE Act - Sheila
Attached to Senate Bill 681 which has made tremendous progress over the past two weeks. Third reading on the bill yesterday. There were no new amendments to the BRITE Act section of that bill. Last day oflegislature is May 13th•

•	Bill's purpose is to clarify that certified professionals providing services and that the amount of instruction of braille should match what students are getting in the Gen Ed curriculum in similar areas. It also includes the expanded core curriculum which had not previously been required. Hope is that that will give more support to teachers and families when they raise those elements of education for these students. That ECC is a national standard that is again not required by IDEA and so there's been a lot of back and forth about its importance. Important that this bill does include the extended Core curriculum
•	Team worlring on BRITE Act are looking at talring up the shortage of qualified TVI and O&M people in the state. Anyone interested in working on that with the team?

Sub Committees
Student Achievement - Data, topics, research suggestions Academic and Vocational Services - Nothing
Children's Vision Summit
Rules- Student Membership push; postsecondary students meeting virtually; designated time to have a. spot and do 30 minutes for the student to report, Q & A, Put questions out to students  for follow  up. Not  necessarily  that  they have to attend during the actual meeting.

New members and vacancies
Postsecondary and Vocational - we need to be sure and update bylaws Alpha Pointe (possible consideration as Employer)- Carla will follow up
Brent Sharp is now Building Principal (Change membership list to show change) Carla Keirns- will serve another term.
Rose will serve another term.
Linda Cocovizzo - Will not be renewing.
Children's Vision Summit- Student Recruitment Flyer

Current workshops and events

Agenda items - Send to Carla or Regina ECC
Summer Programs Teacher Shortage Coursework Certification
RSB implemented an online form Jonita move to adjourn
Rose second
Motion to adjourn- J. - Seconded by R. Ehresman - Motion carried Meeting adjourned at 12:14 p.m.
Next meeting scheduled for in-person August 2, 2022 Department of Natural Resources Building
1738 E Elm Street, Jefferson City, MO Bennett Springs Conference Room
Catering and refreshments will be provided by Panera (Menu will go out with meeting announcement).