San Joaquin County SELPA

Today was the last meeting of The Breakfast Club, a gathering for Program Specialists and Administrators in our SELPA to gather and learn from shared experiences. Congratulations to Kendee Gonsalves and Katrina Mendelson of Lincoln Unified School District who both attended every meeting this year! Your input and engagement is invaluable. Looking forward to next year and beyond!

On Wednesday, May 1, 2024, members from the SJC SELPA CAC along with Stockton City Unified SELPA CAC went to the state capital to advocate for students with disabilities. We met with two assembly members and one senator to use our "Voice" to advocate for the students with disabilities that are served within not only our SELPA, but all of the SELPAs in California. It was a great day for sharing information and advocating for a cause to help support the students that we serve.

🌟 Ever thought about making a positive impact as a Special Education Instructional Assistant (IA)? Attend one of our info sessions to learn about the role, chat with some current IAs, and we'll walk you through the application process. Secure your spot for one of the sessions at bit.ly/SPEDIASession.

Please share with anyone you think may be interested!! Thank you!

On behalf of all of our staff, we wish you Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year! We look forward to continuing to serve you in 2024!

Lincoln Unified School District is proud to provide a special education program that provides personalized accommodations and support for students with special needs at all of our schools. This would not be possible without Abby Canosa, our lead special education teacher!

Ms. Canosa attended college with the goal of becoming a general education teacher, but she began to consider a career in special education after some encouragement from her professor, Dr. Watkins, who served as the head of her university’s special education department. Dr. Watkins showed Ms. Canosa that all students are capable of learning, which convinced Ms. Canosa to help bridge educational gaps in her work.

Ms. Canosa started her career as a substitute paraprofessional, before helping special education teachers full-time as a permanent paraprofessional. She has spent nine years working for Lincoln Unified, overseeing the expansion of our special education program, which now includes a larger behavioral services department and multiple program specialists. As the district’s lead special education teacher, Ms. Canosa provides guidance for other special education instructors through meetings, classroom visits, and problem solving sessions. She also facilitates collaboration between general education and special education staff members so all our educators are on the same page with how to help students.

Ms. Canosa believes every special education teacher should provide specialized instruction that addresses a student’s assessed and observed needs while staying in line with their Individualized Education Program. On National Special Education Day, she believes it is especially important to highlight and support the work our special educators do. To Ms. Canosa, this day represents the start of the legal work to guarantee equal access to education for all students.

“It’s foundational in normalizing learning differently, [and] creating inclusive classrooms that maximize our students’ access to general education,” she says.

Ms. Canosa, thank you for all you do to make our special education curriculum helpful and all-encompassing for students, regardless of what their needs may be!

Shout out to Shannon Soriano, Special Education Programs October 2023 Educator of the Month! 🎉

Shannon has been with the SJCOE for 11 years, the last 8 of which have been with the Special Education department. She is currently a program manager and loves providing the teachers and staff support we need to help run a successful program.

Shannon shared that this year she put up the fight against breast cancer, and she won! 💗

Thank you, Shannon, for your service to the students of San Joaquin County!

Today our Workability team was honored to host the annual Work Experience Work Expo! Community partners came to engage with our students in our young adult programs throughout San Joaquin County, and introduce them to many different career paths in our area! Students were able to go through mock interviews, complete many hands on activities, and even mark off spots on a special bingo card as they completed tasks designed to help them expand their experience. A big thank you to everyone that made today a success!

Our wonderful team of program specialists presented “The AI Evolution - When Educators Become AI-Vengers” today at the CSC Live 2023 CodeStack conference in San Diego! It was well received and a great success. True super heroes of education, they continue to inspire and innovate. Great job team!

Congratulations to Nelarie Romo, Director of Student Services, Escalon Unified School District for winning this years SELPA Goody Two Shoes award for exemplary service in the 22-23 school year! Passing her the torch is NelLaine Kilgore, Special Education/Student Services Coordinator, Banta Unified School District, winner of the award for the 21-22 school year!

On September 8, 2023 the first meeting of “The Breakfast Club” was held at the San Joaquin County Office of Education. The Breakfast Club aims to bring together program specialists and administrators within the SELPA to share knowledge, discuss hot topics, and receive support. Meetings will rove throughout the SJC SELPA monthly as we grow the community!

WE'RE HIRING! Please join us at our job fair on September 13. We will be conducting on-the-spot interviews and hiring for positions in our Special Education programs.

Reminders‼️
➡️ No experience necessary
➡️ Bring your resume for an on-the-spot interview
➡️ Permanent special education teachers will receive up to $10,000 sign-on bonus, and permanent instructional assistants will receive up to $1,000 sign-on bonus
➡️ Job Fair attendees will receive free fingerprint vouchers and proficiency test vouchers

Pre-register using one of the following links to receive a priority interview:
✏️ Instructional Assistants, Bus Riders, Licensed Vocational Nurses register here: https://www.edjoin.org/Home/DistrictJobPosting/1832318
✏️ Teacher positions register here: https://www.edjoin.org/Home/DistrictJobPosting/1832341

We look forward to seeing YOU on September 13 from 3-7 p.m. at 1501 West Eleventh Street, Tracy, CA.

Assistant Superintendent of Special Education/SELPA Director Brandie Brunni visited Mcfall and Redwood schools to welcome back students and staff for the 23-24 school year. It is wonderful to see our students back in classrooms learning.

Site administrator of Redwood school Enrique Lopez posed for a special photo with Brandie, in the same spot she herself once stood on her first day as the site administrator of Redwood School!

We are proud to be SJC SELPA!

Yesterday, June 21, 2023 the SJCOE Human Resources and Special Education departments held a very successful job fair! They were able to extend 93 offers of employment in hopes to fully staff our classrooms and support Special Education students into the 23-24 school year and beyond! Thank you to everyone who made this event such a success, and we look forward to seeing all of the new members of the SJCOE family!

We hope to see you there!

WE'RE HIRING! Please join us at our job fair on June 21. We will be conducting on-the-spot interviews and hiring for positions in our Special Education programs.

Reminders:
- No experience necessary
- Bring your resume for an on-the-spot interview
- Permanent instructional assistants will receive up to $1000 sign-on bonus
- Job Fair attendees will receive free fingerprint vouchers and proficiency test vouchers

We look forward to seeing YOU on June 21 from 1:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. at 2707 Transworld Drive, Stockton, CA.

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!!!

Today was the last day for teachers to check out for Special Education programs. While teachers were offered ice cream as a treat right before the weekend, we decided to take the cart out to the other departments within the building and offer some ice cream. We utilized the WorkAbility ice cream cart for the occasion. If you haven't heard about it, the WorkAbility team has an awesome program in using the cart with students to sell ice cream and learn job skills such as greeting customers and asking them for their order, stocking the cart with different ice cream products, or handling money (accepting cash and providing change) when selling the ice cream at different locations. Thank you to our WorkAbility team for letting us borrow the cart, and thank you to the Special Education department for providing the ice cream. 😊

Check out the feature on the Special Education prom, in this issue of Outlook!

The May Issue of the Outlook is out of this world!🔭🚀 You can read about how the San Joaquin County Office of Education STEM Programs Star Lab is bringing an immersive educational experience to classrooms around the county. Plus, we feature the Special Education prom, the four San Joaquin County schools that were recognized in the state's 2023 Distinguished Schools Program, and more!🤩

Visit https://bit.ly/Outlook76-4 to read now!