From: STATE
SUPERINTENDENT
Sent: Friday, August
30, 2002 1:38 PM
To: 'District
Superintendents, ROEs, Directors of Special Education'
Subject: Administrative
Update from State Superintendent Robert Schiller
Good
afternoon. On the eve of the three-day
weekend that, at least for you and I, marks the end of summer, I would like to
call several important administrative items to your attention.
I would also
like to share with you the administrative message I sent my managers and staff
this week. As you know, the State Board
has charged me to work with you and other partners in the state to find
solutions to our three biggest challenges – the Funding, Achievement and Teacher
Gaps. I have a fourth very important
charge as well – to make the state education agency a more efficient and
effective organization that supports the work of school districts and
communities to improve student achievement.
I firmly believe
this agency is staffed with outstanding and committed individuals who want to
do their very best for you. I also
believe that some systemic problems have sometimes made it difficult for staff
to perform to their highest potential.
That must change.
Earlier this
week I met with agency management to outline my expectations for our work here
at ISBE. I asked the managers to discuss
these expectations with their employees and begin to develop strategies to
ensure that those expectations are met.
I have attached that document for you to read as well. As our primary constituent, you and your
staff should know what I expect – and what you should expect – from the people
at ISBE. I hope it gives you a better
understanding of what we are doing to improve our service to you.
Following
that memo are those important administrative items for you.
· Corrections to
school, district reports of state test results
· High
Schools: grade 12 PSAE retake voucher
use
· IDPH: take
precautions against West Nile Virus at outdoor events
· IDPH update on
immunization, health examination rules
My
expectations for ISBE staff
The purpose of
this communication is to clarify the direction our agency is going and the
expectations for our work on behalf of the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE).
1. Mission
& Goals: Our work
advances ISBE’s
mission statement and goals. Please
have this mission statement and goals posted at your work site. The objectives and targets we have established
within our business plans must be aligned to ISBE’s mission statement and
goals.
2. Focus:
Our efforts must be field-centered.
How we approach our jobs must be in direct support of the schools’ and
districts’ work to improve teaching, learning and services to students, staff,
and community. Our agency has clearly
defined functions: policy, support,
transactions, and compliance. While
there may be some blending, the more we focus our work within these areas, the
greater clarity we will have as an agency and as individual employees.
3. Policy/Decision-Making
Roles: Decisions with policy implications reside at
the State Board and Superintendent level with input and recommendations from
the Core Team. Decision points you
encounter that have policy implications should move expeditiously to your
director’s attention. As managers,
division administrators, and supervisors, you are expected to analyze the
issues, review available options, and offer recommendations based on data and
provide reasonable explanations. Final
decisions will be made at the State Board and Superintendent level. Once the policy directions and decisions are
determined, then our professional role as management is to support, advocate
and implement the decisions.
4. Ethos
of the Agency: Our work must be conditioned upon being
supportive, timely, accurate, and data driven.
Since we do not teach students or administer the operations of school
districts, our value is in serving as facilitators of services, distributors of
funds, providers of information, technical assistance and advice, and assurors
of district/school/program compliance with legal/legislative/federal
requirements. We must maintain a mode of
thinking, planning, and staging our efforts to anticipate challenges that
require solutions that are attained in short-term, mid-term, and long-term
segments. Agencies have a tendency to
work in the present and plan prospectively with the advent of a task. We want our agency to be proactive and
anticipatory and not reactive. Within
the evolution of our organization, I see us focusing our efforts in planning
and implementing programs, services and regulatory functions in segments of
three, nine, and 15-month intervals. Our plans need to work backward from exact
rollout and due dates.
5. Value-Added
Services: Our future as an agency is dependent upon how
our clients and /partners perceive us.
To the extent they value our services, seek our advice, use our
information, and learn from our compliance/regulatory reviews, our work will be
positively received. That perception
will shape the decisions of lawmakers and how they support and fund our agency
and jobs. If our partners and clients
recognize value in our service, then our future is secure. Conversely, we cannot expect the General
Assembly to support our budgetary requests if the agency’s services are not
valued by the field.
6. Alignment
of Priorities & Personnel: As part of our implementation of the Deloitte
& Touche Report, we will continue to analyze our activities and personnel
to align staff with priorities. For
example, as individuals retire or leave ISBE employment, functional analysis
decisions will have to be made on whether we replace the position or allocate
the position and new hire to another area aligned with ISBE priorities and
needs.
7. Performance-Based
Evaluation System for Supervisors, Division Administrators, Managers, and
Directors: As part of our implementation of the Hewitt
Report (Goal #4), I see the annual evaluation system for the agency supervisors,
division administrators, managers and directors becoming much more outcome and
result centered. The job descriptions,
evaluative criteria, and performance targets will become more tightly linked
with ISBE’s mission and goals. As a
result, midyear reviews and annual evaluations will be closely tied to progress
made toward achieving specific, measurable targets in support of ISBE’s mission
and goals for the year.
8. Guiding
Questions to Ask Yourselves: As we plan our work, communicate and interface
with the field, and execute our work plans on a daily basis, think along the
following lines of an informal checklist.
Ask
yourselves, “If I were a field administrator...
· …would I
understand and respond positively to the timelines, complexities of an
RFP/application, paperwork requirements, information request, visitation,
telephone call?”
· …would I see
consistency and clarity in the correspondence and direction of the staff of
ISBE?”
· …would I see
redundancies of information requests or duplication of efforts?”
· …would I see
an agency that is lacking internal communication and, as a result, does not
give me the same answer to my questions or one division not consistent with
another division’s expectations/interactions?”
· …would I, if
asked by a legislator or a member of the public, be able to advocate for the
work of the staff of ISBE and be able to speak to the value of ISBE?”
· …when being
reviewed or audited for compliance, would I be treated fairly and according to
the regulations, consistent with how another district/school is being treated,
with the same expectations? Would I
understand the reason for the audit/visit/review and findings? Would I perceive ISBE staff as attempting to
assist and support?”
· …when seeking
a service, such as technical assistance, information, or certification
processing, would I experience a supportive and responsive ISBE agency and
staff focused on service and outcome or would I see a staff and bureaucratic
agency mired in process?”
Organizations
need to evolve continually in order to define and redefine their operations
while remaining viable. Our goal is to
have our agency model these outlined points as soon as possible. Our future depends upon our capacity to
change and meet future needs. We need to
develop a mutually dependent structure to facilitate teamwork.
Thank
you for your continued hard work and dedication to ISBE and Illinois’
children. At 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday,
August 27, we will meet as a management group to discuss this direction.
**********************************************
State
regulations allow corrections to state test reports during a 45-day review
period commencing with the receipt of state test reports. The deadline for reviewing and correcting
state test results is the close of business on Monday, September 16, 2002.
Revisions that
are not received by NCS Pearson, the state’s scoring contractor, by this
deadline will result in incorrect results being reported on the School Report
Card and used for federal NCLB accountability.
No revisions or
corrections will be made after this deadline.
If you have not
already done so, please check your state test reports for accuracy. The most common error is the
misclassification of students. For example, no students were coded as being
eligible for free or reduced lunch benefits, even though some students who took
state tests are receiving these benefits.
To detect these types of errors, check the Participation Summaries that
you received with your state test results.
These reports list the participation rate of all students who were
tested as well as the participation rate for the various disaggregated groups
reported, such as ethnicity and free or reduced lunch. Also, check the School Rosters to ensure that
all students listed as being in your schools are enrolled in your schools.
Changes for individual
students should be marked on the School Rosters. Make copies of these School Rosters for your
records and return the originals to:
NCS Pearson
Attention: ISAT
(or PSAE or IMAGE, as appropriate) Reporting
2510 North Dodge
Street
Iowa City, Iowa
52245
Please include a
cover memo that describes the changes needed and is signed by the person
authorizing the changes. Revised reports
will be sent when the changes are finalized.
Call NCS Pearson at 800-627-7990, state code 814, if you have questions.
*********************************
High
Schools: Grade 12 PSAE Retake Voucher
Use
Your Grade 12
students will have an opportunity in October to retake the Prairie State
Achievement Examination (PSAE). Students
who chose to do so will take day 1 (ACT Assessment) on Saturday, October 26,
2002, at a national ACT test center and day 2 on Tuesday, October 29, 2002
during an in school testing session. To
earn new PSAE scores, students must participate in BOTH day 1 and day 2 of the
retake.
Students’
registration fees for day 1 of the retake (ACT Assessment) will be paid by the
state through the use of a Day 1 PSAE Voucher.
A supply of vouchers was sent in July to the director of guidance at
each school that participated in PSAE testing in April/May 2002. Please remind your school staff that vouchers
may be given only to students who intend to take BOTH days of testing (day 1 and
day 2).
To register for
day 1, students must complete an ACT paper registration folder and mail it to
ACT with a completed PSAE Day 1 Voucher that has been signed by
authorized school staff. ACT’s
registration postmarked deadline for the October test date is September 20,
2002.
***************************
IDPH: take
precautions against West Nile Virus at outdoor events
Football season
has begun, and many games are held in the early evening, which is one of the
most active times for mosquitoes. West Nile virus has been detected in
mosquitoes or animals in most counties throughout the state, and the number of
human cases is expected to increase. Please advise your students and spectators
to follow these simple precautions to avoid mosquito bites while enjoying
football games or any other extracurricular activity held outdoors in the
evening:
1
Wear shoes and socks, long pants and a long-sleeved shirt.
Loose-fitting, light colored clothing is best.
2
Use mosquito repellent containing 25 percent to 35 percent diethyl
tolumide (DEET) when it is necessary to be outdoors, applied sparingly to
exposed skin or clothing, as indicated on the repellent label. Consult a
physician before using repellents on young children.
If any treatment for adult
mosquitoes is done before such events, it must be conducted by an individual
licensed by the Illinois Department of Agriculture.
The attached fact sheet should answer
health-related questions about West Nile virus. For further information, visit
http://www.idph.state.il.us/envhealth/wnv.htm ;
http://www.idph.state.il.us/envhealth/pcmosquitoes.htm or the IDPH home
page at www.idph.state.il.us.
*************************************
IDPH
update on immunization, health examination rules
The Illinois Department of Public Health
(IDPH) has made changes to the immunization rules and regulations as stated in
the Child Health Examination Code (Part 665), effective July 1, 2002. The most significant revision involves
requiring children entering a school operated program below the kindergarten
level or kindergarten for the first time on or after July 1, 2002, to provide
proof of having received one dose of varicella (chickenpox) vaccine on or after
the first birthday or proof of prior varicella disease. As stated in the immunization rules, proof of
prior varicella disease must be verified by one of the following: 1) date of
illness signed by a physician, 2) a health care provider’s interpretation that
a parent’s or legal guardian’s description of varicella disease history is
indicative of past infection, or 3) laboratory evidence of varicella
immunity. The following is a summary of
the other July 2002 revisions:
3
Add
abbreviations associated with vaccines containing diphtheria, tetanus,
pertussis, and polio antigens to reflect current terminology used in reference
to the various vaccines available.
4
Modify
the minimum interval between doses of polio vaccine (IPV and OPV) to be consistent
with current recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization
Practices (ACIP).
5
Require
that any physician diagnosis of measles disease made on or after July 1, 2002,
must be confirmed by laboratory evidence.
6
Require
a four month minimum interval between the first and third dose of the hepatitis
B vaccine series for children entering a pre-kindergarten program operated by a
school or the 5th grade for the first time on or after July 1, 2002.
7
Clarify
that the one month interval between dose 1 and dose 2 of measles vaccine be
defined as equal to or greater than 28 days.
8
Revise
the format of the Hib Vaccination Schedule (Appendix B) to make it easier to
understand.
9
Add
hepatitis B to the vaccine-preventable disease susceptibility list maintained
by schools (necessary to be consistent with the requirement as set forth in the
Immunization Code/Part 695).
1)
1
Delete the reference that laboratory evidence
of mumps immunity is only acceptable if a specific diagnostic test is utilized
to assess immunity.
2
Clarify
that references to 12 months of age or later in various sections in the rules
be defined as on or after the first birthday.
These
changes were necessary to ensure that the immunization rules are consistent
with the current recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization
Practices (ACIP). A complete copy of
the Child Health Examination Code (Part 665) is enclosed. Please review these rules for complete
details regarding the rule changes.
Vaccine Shortages: While there has been significant
improvement in the availability and supply of most vaccines, there still may be
spot shortages of Tetanus-diphtheria (Td) and varicella vaccines that could
present a problem for some students entering school in fall 2002, in complying
with the immunization requirements. As
in past years, if a student is unable to receive the required vaccine(s) from
their health care provider because of a vaccine shortage, schools will need to
observe the following procedures.
1. Inform parents of students unable to comply with the vaccine
requirement because of a vaccine shortage to obtain a statement from the
student’s health care provider indicating that the immunization(s) will be
deferred until supplies become readily available. Place a copy of this statement in the
student’s health record file.
2. Make up a “susceptibility list” of all unvaccinated students
who are required to present evidence of compliance with the immunization
requirements once vaccine supplies become generally available. The deadline for providing the school with
the deferral statement is October 15th or an earlier exclusion date
established by the district.
3. When preparing your 2002-2003 Immunization School Survey
(ISBE form 70-11), report all the students on the susceptibility list as
“Unprotected but In Compliance” (use category B.3, “Approved Schedule”). Do not exclude students who are unable to
receive immunizations due to vaccine shortages.
4. Once you are notified by the State Board of Education that
the vaccine supply (i.e. Td, varicella) has been restored, notify parents of
students on the susceptibility list to schedule the required vaccinations.
Legislation
(Senate Bill 929) : Effective
July 19, 2002, Public Act 92-0703 amended The School Code by allowing
advanced practice nurses (APNs) and physician assistants (PAs) to:
1. Sign the student’s Certificate of Child Health Examination
form if they performed the health
examination as authorized by their supervising physician.
2. Issue a medical objection statement if the physical condition
of a child is such that one or more of the required immunizations should not be
administered . The APN or PA writing
this statement must have been the individual responsible for performance of the
student’s health examination.
The
Illinois Department of Public Health will be amending the Child Health
Examination Code (Part 665) to incorporate the provisions of P.A. 92-0703.
Certificate
of Child Health Examination: The Certificate of Child Health
Examination form is being revised to accommodate the recent changes in the
immunization rules and regulations. The
State Board of Education will notify schools when the revised form has been
finalized and copies are available.
Please
contact the regional immunization program representative in your area (see
enclosed map), the Illinois Department of Public Health’s Immunization Section
at 800/526-4372, or staff of the Illinois State Board of Education (Sharon
Neely, at 217/782-3950 or sneely@isbe.net), if you should
have any questions.
Robert Schiller
State Superintendent
of Education
statesup@isbe.net