SPED meeting brings regional focus on issues

By Marconi Calindas
Reporter

Schoolchildren with disabilities throughout the region stand to benefit with the start of the Western Regional Resources Center Pacific meeting yesterday at the Pacific Islands Club’s Napu Room.

The meeting will encompass two days and address issues in special education. No less than its director, Caroline Moore, heads WRRC’s four-person team for the meeting, which is being held in collaboration with the Public School System.

Aside from special education directors from the CNMI, SPED officials from American Samoa, Federated States of Micronesia, Guam, Republic of the Marshall Islands, and Republic of Palau are also attending the regional meeting.

Moore said they are here to provide technical assistance to implement effective education in line with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which was reauthorized in December 2004.

She said keeping teachers and related services personnel in the field of special education are among the major issues WRRC is focusing at the moment.

“We are trying to take that issue apart so we can find the resources and leverage those resources to address them,” said Moore.

Moore said WRRC will work in the region to identify what the priority needs are and to bring the resources to the region to address issues that are affecting education of schoolchildren with disabilities.

She also said that WRRC will keep its focus on personnel development as they move through other priorities and come up with specific activities to improve personnel issues.

PSS special education coordinators Joanne Nichols and Tony Gomez are assisting WRRC. National Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center director Pat Trohanis, and WRRC education consultants Brad Lenhardt and Steve Spencer are also lending their expertise for the meeting.

WRRC is a network of technical assistance agencies funded by the U.S. Department of Education under the Office of Special Education Programs.

It offers consultation, technical assistance, training, product development and information services, which provide states access to current special education policy, technology and best practices research with regard to the education of schoolchildren with disabilities.

Last Feb. 10, PSS conducted professional development seminars for SPED teachers and aides, reminding them of their roles and responsibilities.