Sponsored by NTACT, Nellie Aspel, NC, Jennifer Williams, Fran Ennis, and Crissie Parks, AR will provide information about implementation of CIRCLES (Communicating Interagency Relationships and Collaborative Linkages for Exceptional Students) in their own region/school district. You will learn about the program, how to get started, as well as sustainability.
LIVE EVENT: February 21, 2019 Recording available
ONLINE CHAT: February 21-March 7, 2019
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How would the CIRCLES program work in YOUR district?
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Hi all! I found this question from a participant and thought it was relevant as I added the Agency-Student Follow-up form that AR uses so you could all view and see how it might work as you connect with outside agencies.
‘How do you get already busy people to commit extra time to your cause of community collaboration?’
If any of our presenters have good experience with this, please jump in.
Discussion participants, If YOU have found anything that seems to work well for agencies in your area, please share!!
First, this is where it is important that the Community Level team members understand they are committing their own time or the time of an employee to attend the meetings. Also, at the CLT we basically polled the members as to the amount of time (dates and hours) they were willing to give us. For us it worked out that most wanted to set the dates months in advance, start the meetings as early as possible, and be finished by lunch. Larger districts use the whole day. The week prior to any meetings, we make sure we send out reminders by text, phone calls, or emails depending on the team member’s preference. (We also asked that as well at the initial meeting.) On the day of the meeting we stick to the agenda by beginning and ending on time. Some of our agencies see the SLT meetings as a time saver by connecting with multiple students in one place on the same day! Of course, after the first round of student presentations, the team members really start seeing it is well worth their time.
I think the key to motivating participation in the Community Level Team is to ensure that there are benefits to committing the time to meet. Initially, there will be several tasks to complete (Interagency Agreements, Community Mapping, etc.) and it is important to help folks realize that there are multiple agencies in a community with common goals for graduates with disabilities. People will learn that working together makes things easier. Through the interagency agreement, you can ensure that each agency Director designates the most appropriate person to serve on the School Level Team. With a designated member, the agency should work with the team member to help them have the time to attend the SLT meetings. It is much must less time to attend the monthly or bi-monthly SLTs than to try and attend dozens and dozens of individual student meetings scattered throughout the year. Jennifer is correct in saying that the team members buy into the process after they see the students present their life dreams and after they see the positive outcomes interagency collaboration can produce.
Check out the new resources posted today!
I just added some of the Career Portfolio resources that Nellie provided for us. How might these be useful in your work? Do you have anything similar you can share with others that has worked well for you or your team?