Texas Continuous Improvement Process
Steering Committee Membership
Texas has appointed the following key stakeholders representing
diverse perspectives to a steering committee. This steering committee assists
the State with the annual self assessment of the State
Performance Plan / Annual Performance Report.
- Donna Allan is a parent from El Paso.
- 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 almost 20 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.
- Molly Cordeau is the director of Special Education Services
at the Region 4 Education Service Center (ESC)
in Houston. Region 4 ESC has statewide leadership for Discipline and Behavior
Management, which includes the Texas Behavior
Support Initiative, and Assistive Technology.
- Fran Dayall 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.
- Debbie DeLuna is a member of the ARC in the Rio Grande
Valley.
- Jill Dietrich is 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. Family
to Family operates the Texas Project
First website in coordinaton with the Texas Education Agency.
- 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, including two with disabilities. Maria
has served on ECI’s Board of Directors. Previously, she has worked as a bilingual
educator and school counselor for 11 years with the Hereford ISD.
- Scott Goen is the superintendent of Ballinger
ISD.
- Kathy Grant is a parent and member of the State's federally
required advisory panel, the Continuing Advisory
Commitee.
- 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 17 years, serving in her current
position for the past 12 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.
- Maryland Hendricks is the Executive Director of Special
Programs at Galena Park ISD.
- 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 works for the Camino
Real Early Childhood Intervention program, which serves Atascosa, Dimmit,
Frio, Gonzales, Guadalupe, La Salle, Maverick, McMullen, Wilson, and Zavala
counties.
- Connie L. Hughes lives with her family in Idalou, including
a child with a disability. 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 over 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.
- Donna Leifeste is a campus administrator at New
Braunfels High School.
- Marta Lopez is a secondary special education teacher in
Wall Independent School District.
- 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.
- Carolyn Moore is a general education teacher in Austin
Independent School District.
- 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 Assistant Principal for Administration
and Scheduling at the Memorial High School in Victoria, Texas. 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 her
long term plans, she expects to move to high school principal level where
she can have a greater impact on the future lives of the children she serves.
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. In her current role, she has been able to
perform master scheduling, personnel review, personnel recruitment and hiring,
personnel records management and to ensure that MHS is NCLB compliant.
- 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.
- Sheila Valley-McBrinn is a representative from the School
for Young Children at the University of St. Thomas in Houston.
- 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).
