2009-10 Annual Report

1. Livingston Educational Service Agency www.livingstonesa.org 2009-10 Annual Report Livingston Educational Service Agency subscribes to equal opportunity in its employment as required by law and does not discriminate on the basis of religion, race, color, national origin, sex age, height, weight, familial or marital status, or disability in its programs and activities.

2. From the Superintendent The challenges of funding Michigan’s public schools were well documented during the 2009-2010 school year. Countless news articles highlighted the struggle for limited dollars, and school districts dug deeply to balance budgets while striving to deliver strong academic programming. The Livingston Educational Services Agency (LESA) worked side by side with its school districts to improve our level of service and guide efficiencies throughout the county. We recognize that as the Michigan and U.S. economies continue to see only minor improvement, school districts will, for the foreseeable future, be asked to do more with less. This year’s annual report highlights our achievements in multiple areas and points to new opportunities for additional shared services in order to improve efficiency. It is our goal every day to demonstrate a high level of service to our students, parents, school districts and community. In doing so, our work is measured against a set of guiding principles to which we aspire: Collaboration, Communication, Continuous Improvement, Diversity, Integrity, Relevance and Sustainability. At LESA, we are passionate about the work we do. We believe we are strong partners in assuring the success of every student in Livingston County from early childhood through high school. • Scott A. Menzel

3. Highlight: Early Childhood Programs LESA Early Childhood Programs (Head Start and Great Start Readiness Preschool) operated in five communities and seven sites county-wide. Two hundred twenty-nine (229) children between the ages of 3 and 5 years old have access to comprehensive child development programs during the school year. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (Head Start) and the Michigan Department of Education (Great Start Readiness) provided grant funds in the amount of $1,492,969 for these preschool programs. Additionally, the Agency received $90,700 in ARRA funds to improve playgrounds, provide staff development in literacy, work with families in poverty and provide additional funds for staff to complete their Child Development Associates Credential and add video cameras to buses. One-time funds were also granted to purchase two buses for transporting Head Start children.

4. Highlight: Early Childhood Programs The Livingston County Great Start Collaborative serves as the local infrastructure for governance, planning, investment, advocacy and innovation for the statewide Great Start system. The Collaborative membership includes representatives from multiple agencies, local businesses and parents. This group spent the year reviewing data, surveying agencies and meeting with local business organizations to produce a Community Report and lay the ground work for a Strategic Plan and Action Agenda for the next three years. The Great Start Website was designed and launched in the Fall, 2009. Local business leaders were invited to a presentation by Mr. Bill Millett of Scope View Advantage focusing on early childhood education, quality child care and health as crucial investments if youngsters are to arrive at the school steps ready and able to learn. An Ad Hoc Committee of this group, including kindergarten teachers, elementary principals, early childhood directors of centers and homes, as well as parents, developed a list of Kindergarten Readiness Indicators. This public private partnership between state government and foundations funded this initiative in the amount of $160,000.

5. Highlight: Early Childhood Programs Great Parents, Great Start – a legislatively funded, community based grant program is designed to serve the parents of children, birth to five years of age. The legislature authorized each intermediate school district to direct a portion of its state school funds for the provision of a variety of parent education services to interested families. The goals of the program are to improve school readiness, encourage literacy, reduce the need for special education services and foster the maintenance of stable families by encouraging positive parenting skills; enhancing parent-child interaction; providing learning opportunities to promote intellectual, physical and social growth; and promoting access to needed community services through a community-school-home partnership that provides parents with information on child development from birth to age five. Community initiatives funded through this initiative include: A Head Start Home Based Option for 24 children and their families; HealthyFamilies Home Visiting Program for 13 children and their families and (Women’s Resource Center) and Providers Together for the Success of Kids (intensive consultation) for ten children and their families, 3 newsletters focused on social-emotional development and 8 support group meetings for providers (Livingston 4-C Council). Funds in the amount of $66,585 are provided through the Michigan Department of Education. Additional funds are provided by LESA and United Way.

6. Highlight: General Education Services Supported through LESA and now in its seventh year of implementation, Instructional Consultation Teams (ICT) have been initiated in 25 schools with 5 more beginning the process this year across Livingston County. The Goals of ICT are to improve student and staff performance on emphasizing early detection of student failure and appropriate instructional interventions by teacher staff to ensure student success. Approximately 460 teachers have been trained and are currently implementing Reading Apprenticeship as a technique to improve reading comprehension among middle and high school students. The goal over the next year is to train an additional 160 teachers to a full level of implementation in the program Studying math learning is an initiative completing its second year which focuses on strengthening teachers mathematical knowledge and skills in teaching mathematics. To date, 44 Livingston County math teachers participated in this in-depth training Another 26 teachers are registered to attend training in the fall. LESA coordinated the acquisition of and training for Data Director, a computerized record storage and data management system that will provide statistical analysis of teaching and learning that results in improvement in student performance. A new statewide data system, Data for Student Success (Data4SS), was initiated this year and made available to Livingston County educators. Forty-nine people in nine teams participated in Data for Student Success training this year.

7. Highlight: Special Education Services LESA employs all special education ancillary staff (psychologists, social workers, speech and language therapists, occupational therapists, physical therapists) and special education administrators for the five local school districts in Livingston County. LESA has a variety of consultants on staff that provide services to students and staff in the areas of hearing and vision, autism, transition services and assistive technology. In addition to educational programs and services for students with moderate and severe disabilities in Livingston County, LESA provides county-wide programming for high school students with severe emotional impairments. Students attending this program work on acquiring the skills they need to find success in the general education setting upon returning to high school in their home districts. The Livingston Educational Service Agency also operates programs in each district for resident students with disabilities between the ages of 3-5, either in a classroom setting or on a drive-in basis.

8. Highlight: Career and Technical Education Career and Technical Education (CTE) in Livingston County is administered through LESA by the Livingston Applied Technology Education Consortium (LATEC), a formal affiliation of the five local school districts. Under the LATEC umbrella, students in any of the five local districts are able to attend a CTE in a high school other than their own. For example, a Howell student wishing to pursue a program in printing and graphic arts is able to enroll in that program in Brighton for part of his or her school day. Conversely, a Brighton student interested in Culinary Arts can take those classes at Howell. CTE is not the old vocational education of years ago. Rather, CTE offers a context through which rigorous and relevant core academics are delivered. CTE classes provide math, science, and English language arts content, but it adds the dimension of technical or hands-on skill development. A student in the construction trades programs learns math through estimating materials and labor cost or social studies by working through the permitting process for a construction project. A student in the robotics program is provided a large dose of science as she or he develops schemes for the process logic controllers that monitor material handling within the robotic work-cell. As recognition of the complexities of the core academics embedded in CTE technical curricula, all CTE students receive fourth-year math, visual, performing, and applied art, or on-line learning credit toward graduation through CTE. Often, multiple graduation requirements are met simultaneously.

9. Highlight: Career and Technical Education Enrollment figures for 2009-10 show that county-wide, approximately 45 percent of all high school juniors and seniors are enrolled in a CTE program for part of their school day. Programs are available in areas that include automotive service, business management, health care, culinary arts, machine trades and metal working, construction, marketing, computer hardware, early childhood education, accounting, robotics, printing and graphics communication, computerized drafting and design, cosmetology, and teacher preparation. For the 2010-11 school year, new programs in Cisco computer networks and alternative energy will be offered. In 2009-10 LATEC acquired federal grant funding in the amount of $269,000 and additional state aid of $472,000 specifically to address the added cost of providing CTE programs. In addition, the consortium received a grant of approximately $100,000 in equipment and training for the establishment of a new program in alternative energy that will be housed at Hartland High School.

10. Highlight: Human Resources LESA sent 691 fingerprint records to the Michigan State Police for processing during the 2009-2010 school year. Homebound/hospitalized services for 78 Livingston County students who were unable to attend school for at least part of the year were coordinated by LESA. LESA provided mentoring for 53 students enrolled in an on-line seat time waiver program during the school year. Human resources worked with the LESA finance department to facilitate the hiring of 173 employees for the Regional Transportation Collaborative.

11. Highlight: Finance • LESA developed and implemented for the start of the 2010-11 school year a Regional Transportation Collaborative, The partnership consists of four of the five constituent districts and will save in excess of $1 million per year. • LESA also implemented a new county-wide photocopier purchasing consortium for all five constituent districts that will result in improved service and print quality while reducing costs by as much as 30% annually. • The Agency served as the fiscal agent and acted on behalf of all five constituent districts to engage in a project that will provide fiber optic connections between districts. The funding for the project was secured through Federal Homeland Security grants received in coordination with Livingston County. • LESA expanded the technology staff consortium between Hartland Schools and the Agency to now include Brighton Area Schools. The consortium provides key technology staff to each participating district in place of expensive privately-contracted services. • The Agency developed and published a series of common financial indicators for the Agency and each of the five constituent districts to assist in the review and analysis of financial and policy comparisons. • Developed and published a five-year financial forecast for the Agency that was used to help prepare for the budget challenges confronting all Educational Service Agencies. • LESA provided the leadership and analysis necessary to help implement fully self-insured employee health, dental, vision, and prescription drug benefits throughout the Agency.

12. Highlight: Transportation The LESA buses operate 12 months of the year helping students who have specialized transportation needs. Sometimes the need is for a five-point harness because the child attends early childhood programs. Other times the need is for a wheelchair lift or a special climate controlled interior. Some buses are staffed with a nurse, medically-trained driver, and bus assistant who work as a team to support a ventilator-dependent student. No matter what the need is, our drivers provide a safe and efficient transportation service. LESA buses are driven nearly twice the average annual mileage for a typical school bus. With more than 50 buses in the fleet, LESA maintains the second largest transportation department in the county. We drive in excess of 900,000 miles per year on Livingston County roads, which is equivalent to driving one bus around the world nearly 30 times!

13. Highlight: Transportation The Transportation Department was awarded the highest distinction in the 2010 Howell Fantasy of Lights Parade with its parade entry that was made using only volunteer time and with materials donated by department employees. The transportation services provided by LESA also include the repair and service contract for Livingston County’s Essential Transportation Service (LETS) fleet of buses. LESA competed against many private companies and was awarded the service contract after demonstrating the highest level of service.

14. LESA Board of Education Julie Hill, President LuAnn Loy, Vice President Gary Kaiser, Treasurer Harold Fryer, Secretary Charles (Bill) Manuel, Trustee LESA Administration Scott Menzel, Superintendent Jean Garratt, Director, Early Childhood Janet Hale, Assistant Superintendent, Human Resources R. Michael Hubert, Assistant Superintendent, Administrative & Financial Services Timothy Jackson, Director, Career & Technical Education George MacLeod, Assistant Superintendent, Special Education Pamela Mish, Director, General Education Board of Education & Administration