October 2007

Welcome to the VAFEPA web site. As I took the oath of President for this organization last October I shared with the subscribers that one of my goals was to have a website in place by the time of our next institute. Due to the hard work of several VAFEPA Board members this has come to fruition. I am grateful to these members for their hard work and diligence in helping me meet this goal.

Our 2007 annual Institute will be held October 17-19 at The Hotel Roanoke in Roanoke, Virginia. The title of this year’s institute is Coordination + Collaboration + Content = A Plan for Student Success. The Hotel Roanoke has been a partner with us for several years. This is a beautiful hotel and we are provided with the beautiful autumn season around us as we participate in our staff development.

This year the conference committee has prepared an important staff development opportunity for administrators, teachers and consultants. The first plenary session, October 17, will feature Leigh Manasevit. He has attended our institute the last three years and has been very well received. This year he will provide participants with an update of the current status of the NCLB reauthorization with emphasis on major issues under consideration, including possible changes.

On Thursday, October 18, Dr. Chris Jones from Longwood University will spend the day with us. He will provide information on the three tiered approach to discipline and the four step process for conducting successful meetings. These two areas should certainly give us assistance as our responsibilities related to meeting the needs of all children increases.

We will have a number of concurrent sessions that participants may choose from during the day on Thursday. These include topics on testing and data collection, instructional practices and resources available to our divisions and an update on the Governor’s Early Childhood Initiative for the State of Virginia.

Friday, October 19, Houghton Mifflin has been very gracious in providing us with the opportunity to hear from a well known literacy consultant, Dr. J. David Cooper. He will provide us information on developing the Tiers of Intervention to help struggling readers avoid failure.

Ms. Roberta Schlicher, Director of Program Administration and Accountability, at the Virginia Department of Education will also be with us to close out our Institute. Our organization always appreciates the opportunity to work with and hear from our specialists in Richmond.

I look forward to a very successful institute and am anxious to meet and visit with educators across our state.

Betsy Mierzwa
President