Texas Continuous Improvement Process
Steering Committee Membership
Texas has appointed the following key stakeholders representing
diverse perspectives to a steering committee. This steering committee is assisting
the State through the ongoing Texas Continuous Improvement Process.
- Lyndal M. Bullock is a Regents Professor in Special Education
at the University of North Texas in Denton. He is the past president of the
following International Associations: The Council for Exceptional Children
(CEC) for 2 terms, Council for Children with Behavioral Disorders, and the
Teacher Education Division of the CEC. He is a past recipient of several professional
awards: the Midwest Leadership Award in Behavioral Disorders, J.J. Wallin
Award (the most prestigious award given by the Council for Exceptional Children),
and the teaching Excellence Award given by the Teacher Education Division
of CEC. He is currently on the editorial board of several journals (e.g.,
Behavioral Disorders, Teacher Education and Special Education) and has contributed
significantly to the literature in special education. He has been a strong
advocate for children and youth with disabilities and has been a leader in
teacher preparation in special education for many years.
- Deborah Burgess is a special education teacher who teaches
children with disabilities in an inclusion classroom at Pflugerville ISD.
She has 17 years of experience teaching within the Austin and Pflugerville
ISDs, including a number of years spent in resource classroom. Deborah serves
on the TCIP Access to the General Curriculum improvement committee. She has
also served on the validation panel for the Showcase
of Promising Practices.
- Eve Cugini is the mother of two sons with disabilities.
She is also the executive director of Family to Family Network in Houston.
Family to Family Network
empowers families of children with disabilities to successfully navigate the
complex educational, medical, and service delivery systems by providing information,
referral, training, and support. Family to Family Network administers a number
of programs, including Partners in Policymaking. She has served on a number
of TCIP improvement committees and is an active participant in her children's
schools.
- Fran Dayal is a program consultant in the Division
of Early Childhood Intervention (ECI)/Client Services in Austin. She represents
ECI on National Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center (NECTAC) Early
Transition State Planning Committee, Autism Council, and Infant Mental Health.
She provides training and technical assistance on early transition and family-centered,
routine-based early intervention.
- Phyllis Gandy is the director of School Improvement Support
Services at the Region XI Education Service Center (ESC) in Fort Worth. Prior
to working at the ESC, she was a director of special education and a special
education counselor. Phyllis has been working with students with disabilities
for over 25 years. She serves on several TCIP improvement committees, including
the Texas Steering Committee since 2000.
- Maria Garcia is the director of Uniting Parents, a parent
case management program funded by the Texas Department of Health which serves
32 counties in the Texas Panhandle. Maria lives in Amarillo with her family.
She is the mother of three children, one 10th grader who is fully included
and receives support for her learning disability, a 9th grader, and a 6th
grader who has Down syndrome. Maria has served on ECI’s Board of Directors
for 3 years. Previously, she has worked as a bilingual educator and school
counselor for 11 years with the Hereford ISD.
- Marjie Haynes is the division director for Instruction
at Windham School District, which provides adult correctional education for
offenders who are incarcerated in Texas Department of Criminal Justice facilities.
She has administrative responsibility for the development and implementation
of the district's academic programs, vocational programs, and the counseling
and testing components. Marjie has been employed by the district for 14 years,
serving in her current position for the past 9 years. Prior to assuming her
current duties, she served as an assessment specialist and the coordinator
of special populations for the district. In addition to her correctional education
experience, she has numerous years of experience in public school districts
as a special education teacher and educational diagnostician. Preceding her
employment by Windham School District, Marjie served as an educational specialist
for a regional education service center.
- Carol Hicks is a third grade general education teacher
at Bushland ISD. Currently Carol is working toward her master's degree as
a reading specialist. Growing up in the late sixties and seventies with a
brother with cerebral palsy, she has lived with the strengths and weaknesses
and successes and the frustrations of students with disabilities in the public
school setting. Carol feels privileged to work in a district that values and
promotes "coloring outside the lines" in order to meet the needs
of all the students in the district.
- Yvette Hinojosa is the director of Texas Fiesta Educativa,
a private non-profit organization in San Antonio. Texas Fiesta Educativa’s
mission is to provide bilingual training and support services to families
of children with disabilities and the professionals who work with them. Prior
to working with Texas Fiesta Educativa, she worked with an ECI program serving
rural families. She has worked with families with children with disabilities
for over 17 years.
- Connie L. Hughes lives with her family in Idalou. She is
the mother of two children, one is a college student, and the other is a junior
high student with cerebral palsy. Connie has taught special education children
ages 0-3 years, worked with Early Childhood Intervention for the past 13 years
and has served on the state ECI Board of Directors.
- Kay Lambert has been an Education Policy Specialist for
Advocacy, Inc. for nearly 20 years. Within this capacity, she is responsible
for monitoring, proposing, and sometimes opposing policy initiatives that
impact students with disabilities and their families. In addition to serving
on numerous task forces, advisory committees, and stakeholder groups, she
also develops written materials on special education issues and provides parent
training. She has a M.Ed. in Special Education and was a special education
teacher for 11 years.
- Cindy Martin has 30 years of service in special education.
She is currently the director of Special Education in Eanes ISD. She holds
a Masters in Education. She has participated in the Texas School Improvement
Initiative (TSII) program and has served on the TCIP Early Transition Committee
and the Discipline Committee. Previously, Cindy worked as Deputy Executive
Director of Interagency Council for Early Childhood Intervention and Special
Education Coordinator at Region ESC XIII.
- Janice Meyer is the executive director of Partners
Resource Network, a non-profit agency headquartered in Beaumont, that
serves as the statewide, federally funded network of Parent
Training Information Centers for parents of students with disabilities.
She has taught mathematics in a junior high setting for several years. Janice
holds a Masters in Education with an endorsement in severe and profound disabilities
and certification as an educational diagnostician. As the mother of a son
with severe multiple disabilities (deceased at age 16), she was one of the
pioneers in the implementation of Public Law 94-142 (now IDEA) in Texas in
the late '70's and early '80's.
- Leticia Padilla is the Community Parent Resource Center
(CPRC) Parents Supporting Parents Network (PSPN) Coordinator in Weslaco. PSPN
focuses on training parents to become equal partners in their child's education.
She holds a Bachelor of Social Work from UT Austin. She is a member of the
Texas Parent to Parent board and is very active in her son's education.
- Jean Polichino is a manager in the Special Education Division
of Harris County Department of Education.
Her primary responsibilities are personnel and district contract management
for related services. Jean has 16 years of experience in special education
as an occupational therapist. She is currently the presiding officer of Texas'
Board of Occupational Therapy Examiners, and serves on the Executive Council
of Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy Examiners. Jean is chair of the
American Occupational Therapists Association's school system special interest
section, and is a member of OSEP'S National Resource Cadre on IDEA (formerly
the IDEA Partnerships Project).
- Phyllis Ramsey
is the Principal of West
High School in West ISD. Formerly she was the Assistant Principal for
Administration and Scheduling at Memorial High School in Victoria, Texas. In
that role, she performed master scheduling, personnel review, personnel
recruitment and hiring, personnel records management and to ensure that MHS is
NCLB compliant. She has worked as a former business and career technology
instructor at various levels. In addition, she has served in central office
as a district-wide curriculum and instruction specialist and has 5 years
experience as a high school assistant principal. In each of her roles, she
has been an advocate for serving special needs children in the regular
classroom and has helped teachers utilize technology for improving delivery of
instruction. She has actively served on ARD Committees, and has developed
good rapport with parents of high needs children. In addition to the Texas
Steering Committee, she is actively involved in Texas Association of Secondary
School Principals (TASSP) and Career and Technology Education (CATE)
organizations.
- Penny Seay is the executive director of the
Texas Center for Disability Studies at the University of Texas at Austin.
The Texas Center for Disability Studies is a federally funded program that
conducts pre-service, in-service, continuing education, applied research, and
policy analysis, and disseminates information on best practices in issues that
affect people with disabilities and their families. She is a special educator
with nearly 30 years of experience in a variety of disability related areas.
- Steve Shipley is the director of special education for
Lamb County SSA. He is a former general education and special education classroom
teacher as well as a high school vice principal. He holds a Masters in Special
Education and a Doctorate in Education Leadership from Texas Tech University.
Steve also collaborates with Wayland Baptist University, Department of Education,
in teacher preparation. He has membership affiliation with Texas Council of
Administrators of Special Educators (TCASE), Texas Association of School Boards
(TASB), Texas Association of Secondary School Principals (TASSP), and Association
for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD). In addition, he has also
participated in the Texas School Improvement Initiative.
- Cheryl Washington is the administrator for Radiance Academy
of Learning which serves students with diverse learning styles and needs.
Cheryl has served as a teacher (practitioner and administrator of students
with special needs for 18 years, for the most part in alternative settings).
She is a parent of a student with special needs and has developed many programs
of acceleration for at-risk students. Cheryl has served on the CAC, a state-wide
focus group with Region IV ESC, and several other local community and state-wide
initiative groups to improve special education services in the State. She
is certified in special education (PK-12) and mid-management (PK-12).
