Special Education Update

September 2017

Greetings From the Executive Director...

Welcome to the 2017-18 School Year and the first Special Education Update for the year. The Special Education Update is the communication tool that the Special Education Department utilizes to keep you in the know about our priorities, professional development and resources. We are excited about the new school year and look forward to working with you on behalf of students receiving special education services.

August is always a busy time for our department as we welcome both new and returning staff and provide essential professional development for a smooth start to the school year. I enjoyed spending time with school leadership, rolling out the Multi-Tiered Systems of Support Framework and continuing to support efforts for Inclusive Practices. Special Education Staff led and collaborated on many sessions at the Equity Leadership Institute and the Language and Literacy Institute. One of my favorite professional development experiences in August was welcoming the new special education staff at New Teacher Orientation. I was impressed with the energy, equity awareness, and special education content knowledge of our new teachers. We are thrilled that you all chose our MPS Special Education Team!

The Special Education Department took time in August to celebrate the progress made on the Special Education department plan and are actively discussing next steps. We are making final revisions in our department plan for 2017-18 and I will share with you in the next Special Education Update. You will see alignment with the Superintendent’s four priorities: Literacy, Equity, SEL, and MTSS. Speaking of alignment, we continue to align our staffing to Associate Superintendents in a Network Model. As Associate Superintendents shifted schools, our staffing has shifted also. I hope you have had a chance to meet the new Special Education Department staff that will be supporting your school or program or are welcoming back familiar faces. For a look at our 2017-18 Organizational Chart, please click here. While you are on our webpage, take a look around! We have updated our resource tools and you will see some new interactive tools also.

The Special Education Department thanks you for all your work with our students receiving special education services. I am so honored to be starting my fourth year leading this dynamic department. My personal goal this year is to spend time out at schools, hearing from and innovating with instructional leaders and staff – see you soon!

Rochelle Cox

Executive Director of Special Education and Health Services

Minneapolis Public Schools