YCESA SUPPORT SERVICES DIVISION

ANNUAL REPORT
FY 2018 – 2019

NEEDS ASSESSMENT

The mission of the Yavapai County Education Service Agency (YCESA) is to provide quality leadership, services, and support in response to identified and anticipated needs that will ensure the highest quality education for students. We believe in being responsive to the needs of schools; in the benefits of partnership and collaboration; that organizational and personal excellence depends on continuous improvement; quality service to education requires the highest level of honesty and integrity; and education is the single most important aspect in which any society can engage. We are committed to provide quality services in all respects; to continuously pursue opportunities to create and sustain programs based on needs of schools; to foster the trust and confidence of schools; to maintain a positive and collaborative partnership with schools and their leadership; to seek and assist in procurement of educational funding through grants and other available resources; and to support schools and our agency team with whatever is needed to achieve success. We will continue to LISTEN to our schools; find ways to INNOVATE from initiatives brought to our attention; and SERVE our schools to enhance or ease the burden for our schools.

In order to achieve this, the YCESA works closely with all school districts, charter schools, and libraries both large and small. This is especially true in the area of special needs services, staff development, and in-service training. The needs from the previous years continue to remain and increase as determined by personal contacts and more formal needs assessment instruments such as information reported by school districts on student academic achievement, recent needs assessment information as reported by YCESA Grant Managers, and District monitoring findings. The Education Service Agency continues to provide psychological, speech therapy, counseling/social work,occupational therapy, physical therapy, nursing, college and career readiness advisement, and the consolidated substitute teacher program among 21 school districts. As Arizona’s largest E-Rate consulting services, we help eligible entities within Yavapai County and throughout the state, plus we operate the Juvenile Detention Education Program, Prescott Lakes Parkway School. The Education Service Agency is completing its thirty-fourth year of operation.

EXPANDED SERVICES

The Education Service Agency has been fortunate in receiving the following financial awards this fiscal year:

1. E-Rate, a Federal Reimbursement program, in the amount of $42,475,725 for the reimbursement of the costs of technology for schools and libraries state wide.
2. IDEA Basic Entitlement Grant in the amount of $355,298 on behalf of the county schools that contract with the YCESA office for special education services. These grants assist those schools in the implementation of Speech Therapy and Psychological services to meet their mandated obligations to that population.
3. IDEA Preschool Grant in the amount of $15,428 on behalf of the county schools that contract with the YCESA office for preschool special education services. These grants assist those schools in the implementation of Speech Therapy and Psychological services to meet their mandated obligations to that population.
4. College and Career Readiness, $73,500 funded by FFMA and ACF of Sedona, to provide supplemental college and career support to high schools in Yavapai County to help with post-secondary plans that may include: attainment to college, career exploration, military or vocational options.
5. Substitute Teacher Consolidation had an initial cost of $42,391 to fund the substitute teacher coordinator position in school year through the Forest Fee Management Association. This funding is now covered through the partnership with Education Services Incorporated (ESI) for the 21 public school districts serviced.
6. Title III, a federal grant for English Language Learners, YCESA is a lead agency in a consortium for districts and charters whose allocation is less than $10,000. YCESA coordinates this grant for nine local education agencies to be able to access the funding. $42,317 on behalf of the small county school districts which enables the consortium members to utilize Arizona Department of Education funding for English Language Learner instruction.
7. In-School Mental Health Grant, YCESA received a $30,000 grant award from Northern Arizona Healthcare Foundation to collaborate with community resources in Yavapai County to seek out viable delivery of in-school mental health services.
8. Arizona Reads Now, an early literacy initiative, funded by the Arizona Community Foundation of Yavapai, $450,000 was awarded for this three-year project to increase early literacy instruction in Prescott Unified School District and build community awareness. Prescott has become a Read on Prescott, a statewide literacy program and September has been declared literacy month by the city.
9. Youth Conservation Corp, approximately $80,000 in collaboration with the US Forest Service, this long standing partnership offers opportunities for youth, 6-18 years old to gain valuable skills working on forest service projects.

SERVICES PROVIDED TO DATE

The YCESA Executive Director continues working with school board members, administrators, and staff of the small schools, explaining new policies and mandates that must be in effect in their school districts. In addition to staff meetings held quarterly, psychologists, speech therapists, counselors/social workers, occupational therapists, nurses and budget managers have attended numerous state workshops to keep them current on best practices in their field and to help them better meet the needs of children in the districts which they serve.

Working with clients in all 15 counties in Arizona, our experienced E-rate team provides needed support for a very difficult to use, time demanding program of the Federal Communication Commission. Most schools and libraries do not have the time to devote this ever changing, yet clearly needed, funding opportunity. As a not-for-profit we provide this needed support at cost,allowing many small and rural libraries and school districts the opportunity to take advantage of this FCC program.

Under the concern for improving the amount of substitute teachers available to fill certified staff positions for various daily absences, the public school administrators requested the assistance of the YCESA to develop a common substitute teacher pool. From this initiative the Yavapai County Consolidated Substitute Teacher program was formed. This has been going strong for the past two years with twenty-one public school districts within Yavapai County participating. The average fill rate for teacher absences has gone from an eighty-one percent fill rate from before the program was developed to an unprecedented ninety-six average annual fill rate. This has been largely due to the partnership with Education Services Incorporated (ESI) through their business, human resources department, marketing staff, as well as implementing discovered best practices, constant communication and training between the Yavapai County Substitute Teacher Coordinator and the school staff, and an overall collaboration and commitment from the schools within the program. This program remains the only successful, consolidated substitute teacher program throughout the state.

The YCESA added the college and career readiness specialist in response to a need and request by school district Superintendents within Yavapai County.

The Education Service Agency is making a concerted effort to co-sponsor and/or share as many training opportunities as possible for in-service and staff development with all districts countywide to make the maximum use of limited resources as evidenced by our participation in the Youth Mental Health First Aide training, substitute teacher training, early literacy, and the IDEA grant awards.

Under the IDEA Basic Entitlement and Preschool grants, our psychologists are continuing to provide psychological evaluations to students in the small schools in Yavapai County. The psychologists at the present time are serving numerous disabled students in the districts that utilize these services through the Education Service Agency. Psychological re-evaluations must be completed at least every three years, or sooner if necessary, to determine continued placement in special education. The psychologists serve fourteen (14) schools at this time. The school psychologists also assess home-schooled students as recommended by the County School Superintendent. In addition to school-aged children, personnel must evaluate all three- and four-year-old children referred by a school district.

The three speech therapists are continuing to serve fifteen (12) schools. Each therapist drives approximately 15,000 miles per school year between rural schools providing therapy in the home school of the students with disabilities. The speech therapists also have to evaluate all three- and four-year-old students who are referred and serve all who are eligible. This mandate has increased the speech therapists’ caseloads in all of the school districts.

The speech therapists work with the school nurse at the beginning of the school year conducting hearing screening at the school districts, which requires that all children K-1-2-6 and 9 or 10 be evaluated once each school year for hearing problems. The Arizona Department of Health Services also requires that all children who are attending special education programs in public and private schools be evaluated once each year. In 1987 the Yavapai County School Superintendent employed a full-time school nurse. We have now increased this to three positions to service the increase in requests for assistance. These dedicated professionals service thirty-one (39) district and charter schools.

The school nurse is a critical position in the YCESA office. For many parents and children, the school nurse is the only contact they have with the health care system. Home visitations are made on child abuse and/or neglect, communicable disease, chronic illness, hearing loss, and ear/nose/throat problems. The school nurse schedules and conducts vision, hearing, immunization, dental, and scoliosis screenings; and re-screening in all suspected areas of failure. She also provides health instruction in the following areas: CPR training, communicable diseases, lice, measles, puberty and menstruation, and weight control. The nurse also assists with Child Find screening of three- to five-year-old children for possible developmental delays as required by the Arizona State Statute.

At the request of the small rural school administrators, the YCESA in 1991 employed a full-time counselor/social worker. Since then, we have added three counselors to meet the growing demand for counseling services. The counselor/social workers work with eight (18) schools across the county. Counseling encourages the students to better understand their actions and make decisions about what positive changes they might be able to implement in their lives. They are also dispatched as part of a seven-member crisis reaction team in the event of a tragedy occurring at any school at any time, for as long as they are needed. This cost is covered through a grant funding that costs nothing for the school should the crisis team be needed.

Since 1993, the Education Service Agency has provided educational services to children incarcerated in the County Juvenile Detention Facility. The Juvenile Detention Education Program operates 260 days per year and serves numerous students, some of which are classified as either Learning Disabled or Emotionally Disabled. The project is well received by the school districts, charter schools and libraries and is staffed by two certificated teachers, an instructional assistant, a registrar, and a transition coordinator. The program just received the first increase in funding since 1994.

The Juvenile Detention Education Program is effective in reducing the number of dropouts because the child’s education is continued in the Juvenile Detention Center and they are able to successfully transition back into their home school district. Statistics indicate that nearly half of these children return to the public school because of the successful intervention which they have received in the Juvenile Detention Center. Additionally, disabled prisoners adjudicated as adults who are under eighteen years of age, or prisoners with disabilities who are twenty-two years of age or younger confined in the County Adult Detention facility. A fully certified special education teacher is available to provide educational services should the need arise, as well as ancillary services.

SYSTEMS ACCREDITATION

The YCESA remains the only county education service agency in the state of Arizona to be fully accredited by AdvancEd. We are focused on ensuring we are making great strides in the continuous improvement plan. Statistics illustrating our effectiveness and reaching out to our schools for feedback on our various initiatives, remain a constant. This will continue for each program throughout the year and will be presented when it comes time for the YCESA to go through the next evaluation for accreditation.

YAVAPAI COUNTY SERVICES AGENCY PROJECTED EXPENDITURES

PROJECTED TOTAL EXPENDITURES FOR 2018-2019

TOTALS (expended and encumbered) for 2018-2019: $1,472,699.44