Treasurer

Brenda Mallicoat
bmallicoat@cox.net

Recording Secretary

Connie Gelfuso

Corresponding Secretary

Governmental Affairs

Membership Chairperson

Private & Public School Chairperson
(see RISHA school commitee update below)

SLP Advisory Council
( ASHA Governance )
Scholarship Chairperson

Continuing Education Administrator

Audiology Liaison

Dear RISHA Members,

Happy Holidays to all of you and your families!
Thanks to all of you who attended the
Annual Meeting, which everyone seemed to enjoy.
Congratulations and “Thank You” to the newly elected and
re-elected Executive Board members: Mikyong Kim, Vice-President;
Brenda Mallicoat, Treasurer; Connie Gelfuso, Recording Secretary; and
Melanie Clark-Medyesy, Corresponding Secretary.
A special “Thank You” to Kathy Lake for volunteering her services as
Continuing Education Administrator.
“Thank You” to Hannah Gallo for attending the meeting and for all of her hard
work in the Senate and also to DeAnne Owre, Jim Potter and Rend Al-Mondhiry
from ASHA. It was wonderful to have ASHA's presence at the meeting.

It has been quite a year with the salary supplement issue and then with the
proposed changes in regulations. Thanks to all of you who attended the
Board of Regents Hearings and to those who offered testimony.
We will have to see what happens in the upcoming months.

Issues like these prove that we must all work together to advocate for the
profession and for those whom we serve. I would ask you to consider helping
out in some way.

Thanks so much for your continued support,

Alan Gravell
President

As many of you may know, our fellow SLP, Jacque Gorman volunteered to go to Africa to teach children. Unfortunately, she developed an infection which has jeopardized her life and she is in a serious health crisis. Her family is desperately trying to get her back to the United States and has incurred an enormous amount of debt to bring her home. Please consider making a donation to the fund to bring her home. Donations may be made to:

Get Jacque Gorman Home Fund
c/o Middletown School Department
26 Oliphant Lane
Middletown , RI 02842

Sincerely,
Alan Gravell

RISHA PUBLIC/PRIVATE SCHOOLS COMMITTEE
UPDATE March 2007

In January 2007 Pattie Bellini & Ellen Connery held a meeting with Ken Swanson, the Director of Special Populations at the RI Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Mr. Swanson had recently reviewed the Draft document regarding Entry/Exit for speech/language in the schools. Mr. Swanson noted that RIDE will have to work to make some changes to update the document according to IDEA 2004. Mr. Swanson noted that RIDE would appreciate RISHA's assistance in distributing the final document and it may be distributed under an umbrella with the revision of the RI regulations in the spring 2007.

A discussion was also held regarding the public comment period regarding the revision of the regulations regarding IDEA 2004. Ongoing issues include service to students placed in private schools by parents, 230 day programs, transition age, age for a DD label, short-term objectives, ESY and personnel. Mr. Swanson cited the work of a committee several years ago commissioned to study personnel. The study called the Sherlock Study was completed and the information was not utilized. Mr. Swanson would like to provide further study to the information collected. There are currently workgroups in place at RIDE to complete ongoing study of information regarding special education regulation. Pattie Bellini and Ellen Connery both offered to serve on committees to assist in meeting the goals.

As you are all aware, the legislation passed awarding a $1750 stipend to speech/language pathologists was removed from the budget by Governor Carcieri. Some districts had begun paying out the stipend monies and began recouping them from SLPs paychecks in recent weeks. RISHA continues to work with the legislature, NEA and AFT to assist members in resolving this frustrating issue. Please write and call your congressmen and the Governor directly. Please check this website frequently for updates.

The schools committee will meet on Monday March 19, 2007 at 6:30 PM. Upcoming agenda items include obtaining CEU's, using a caseload/workload model, revision of the RI Regulations, RTI and the ongoing issue of the salary supplement.

The committee will hold a forum for interested individuals on Monday March 26, 2007 from 6-8 PM at CCRI Warwick. An auditorium has been reserved. Please save the date.

We welcome your input and your assistance. Please join us on the 26th .

Ellen Connery, Chairperson RISHA Schools Committee

Updated:5/16/2008