5.16.08 Amy's Notes final.pdf - BoardDocs

May 16, 2008
Amy’s Notes
Happy Rainy Friday! I’m glad to be back writing these notes after a hectic couple of
weeks. First, congratulations to our retirees whose service to the IU was celebrated at
last night’s employee recognition dinner. Anita Meiser and Norma Watson shared
some of their history with the IU from the 1970s and 1980s which was both entertaining
and awe-inspiring. Many thanks to CAIU Board Member Jean Rice for her participation
and to our co-hosts Brian Griffith and Cheryl Giles who could easily fill in for Regis
Philbin and Kelly Ripa in a pinch. The committee – Jeanette Bloes, Rennie Borreli,
Steve Davis, Theresa Kinsinger, Jen Neusbaum, Karen Ott, Irene Wray, Mary
Wright and Vickie Zeiders - did a superb job in putting together a terrific evening. A
final note of appreciation to our corporate sponsors who subsidized the cost of the event:
Sovereign Benefits Consulting, Capital Business Systems, Fox Rothschild, and Hillendale
Associates.
An item of special note:
Don’t forget to return your completed health insurance forms to the HR Office by May 30.
Our Mission:
“The Capital Area Intermediate Unit will achieve educational excellence with families,
schools and communities through leadership, partnership and innovation.”
What have we done this month to achieve our mission?
Leadership
Here’s some little known but impressive information about one of our
employees: Sue Voigt, an Evaluation Specialist on our Curriculum Services
Team, is an on-line course coach for Harvard University’s WIDE World
professional development program for educators. (WIDE stands for Widescale
Interactive Development for Educators). As Sue explained it to me,
“The Harvard Graduate School of Education online courses, on-site
workshops, and individually designed district plans guide teachers, teacher
leaders, coaches, and school leaders on coordinated journeys towards widescale
improvement in classrooms and schools, helping schools implement
sustained, systemic improvement in teaching practice and student performance.” Sue was
personally selected by Harvard’s Director of Program Development as a result of her outstanding
participation in their “Getting Started with Data Wise” course. Her training to become a coach
included a rigorous course on how to become a Harvard online course coach. Sue shared that
“while the training and my coaching occur outside of my regular CAIU job, many of the concepts
and skills I have learned and use in the course have been incorporated into my daily work at the
IU in working with improvement plans and data analysis support with school districts who request
our services.”
Additionally, Sue has been asked by Harvard to represent the Data Wise course in a follow-up
workshop and training for the Kentucky Department of Education at the end of May. Likewise,
her services have been requested by Harvard to serve in that same capacity in New York City

later this month. I always knew Sue traveled the Commonwealth in her role, but now she is
going national! We are very proud of you.
Partnership
Here are two recent examples of our staff partnering with our member districts to serve children
beyond their regular assignments:
Tracey McDevitt, School-Age Speech/Language Clinician assigned to Steelton
Elementary, has partnered with the reading specialist in the school district to
create workshops and pamphlets for parents which will focus on developmental
milestones and accessing services for young children (birth to age 5). Thank you,
Tracey, for collaborating with your district colleague to achieve our mission of
achieving educational excellence with families through partnership.
Jodi Rineer and Rich Marlin from the School-Age Speech/Language Program
participated in Career Day at Mechanicsburg Middle School. Career Day is an
authentic opportunity for students to begin to explore future career choices and
to hear firsthand experiences from individuals working in
those fields. There were over 150 Career Day presenters in
areas as diverse as medicine, construction, resort
management, theater. It’s never too early to help children
understand the opportunities available to them in life. And
given the shortages of speech professionals nationwide, I’m pleased to see the
recruitment efforts are beginning in middle school!
Innovation
I want to keep you informed about an innovative initiative in which the CAIU is engaged.
PAIUnet is being created by the 29 intermediate units across the state. PAIUnet will be a private,
high-speed network that will connect all intermediate units and their member districts (if they are
on their IU’s regional wide area network) to one another. This connection will facilitate faster,
more secure content and service delivery by bypassing the regular “commodity internet” (the one
we all use now). I have been serving on the governance committee to develop the Articles of
Agreement, and the experience has been terrific; there is a great sense of collaboration among
the 29 IUs, much like the level of collaboration we see with our own member districts. By
September, PAIUnet will be operational. A 4.3 million dollar eFund grant over the next four years
has certainly assisted in moving this project forward. How might PAIUnet affect you? Consider
the value of being able to take virtual field trips anywhere in the world or being able to interact
with students from around the globe. As this project moves forward, our curriculum, technology
and student services teams will be sharing the new opportunities afforded us by this powerful
tool. Stay tuned!
Exemplary Customer Service
Ann Bailets, Supervisor for School-Age Speech and Language Services, shared this nifty
message with me recently. Ann writes, “The following was written by a parent to Rich Marlin,
School-Age Speech/Language Clinician at Sylvan Heights Science Charter School:
‘I told my son’s Behavioral Specialist Coordinator (BSC) about you. I told her how you're the
coolest and the progress she's seeing in my son’s interaction with other students is from you.’”
Expertise is required, but the coolness factor can accelerate results!
Send newsworthy items that illustrate the CAIU at work on its mission to Rennie
Borreli (rborreli@caiu.org).