MOESC Board of Governors Meet, Hear Update on Student Services
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Launch the media gallery 1 playerOn Wednesday, October 21st, the Board of Governors for Mid-Ohio Educational Service Center met for their monthly meeting. Jennifer Crum, Director of Student Services, gave a presentation updating the Board on the department’s operations and progress.
The Department of Student Services, said Crum, brings myriad services to client districts including special education consultation, behavior intervention, occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech and language therapy, vision intervention, orientation and mobility, school psychology, preschool itinerant intervention, school-age intervention specialists, and school social worker services. Crum shared the department will soon include audiology services to assist area districts in meeting the educational needs of their students. She also said the department has enhanced their ability to serve parents by bringing back the Parent Mentor program in the past year.
Crum highlighted another new service that has been implemented: the District Special Education Audit. The Special Education Audit Team collects qualitative and quantitative data for the requesting district’s administration to prepare a plan for improving the effectiveness, efficiency, and compliance of its special education program. The team includes Crum herself as well as Ann Pfister and Sandra Powell, Educational Consultants.
Another large part of the Student Services Department is how they serve educators themselves through professional learning opportunities and networking. Staff development opportunities for this year are based on the 2019-2020 survey responses from client districts. Many of these training sessions are provided by our Behavior Support Team. Other trainings are relative to compliance with Ohio’s “Operating Standards for Ohio’s Schools Serving Children with Disabilities,” as well as research-based practices currently applicable to the area of student services.
For networking, Team Leaders have been selected to lead the network meetings for Special Education Directors/Coordinators, Related Service Providers and School Psychologists. Team leaders are an integral piece to developing professional learning and networking opportunities that prove valuable to their teams because they are all out there on a daily basis serving students. Together, these teams can work collaboratively within their own discipline or cross-network with other disciplines to promote robust professional learning that transforms the educational experience of all students.
Crum said, all in all, the department continues to uphold the goals set forth by Mid-Ohio Superintendent Kevin D. Kimmel to build relationships, create an environment of trust, and provide superior service for students and districts across the region.