Message from the Executive Director

October brings exciting times to Region 9 and our member schools. Fall is in the air, temperatures are dropping, parent conferences will be starting at our member schools, and there is a lot of customer service and support going on all across Region 9. You can see the impact Region 9 makes on our member districts just by looking at the services our Educational Services department provides. Here is a sampling to name a few: technical assistance and professional development for general education teachers and special education teachers. Professional mentorship for teachers. This year Region 9 is expanding its approved mentorship program across the state. Instructional coaching for all subject areas. This year a special emphasis from Jennifer Johnson as a math coach for Cloudcroft and Carrizozo. District Test Coordinator support. Support for MLSS, UDL, PBIS, SAT, and Section 504. Child Find activities across our districts this year by Toby Smith. Significant support to our member schools around special education including but not limited to technical assistance and professional development. Special education director’s meetings, legal consultation through a retainer. Support for the Special Education Handbook of Procedures, behavior. Powerschool IEP support. Student opportunities with career exploration, KUDER Navigator assessment tool, wind technician training support through dual credit. The Regional Educational Cooperatives Association (RECA) recently made their annual legislative funding request to the Legislative Finance Committee in September. This will be the third year our request is 3.1 million dollars, which is up from the amount the RECA receives annually of 1 million. The request is founded on providing equitable funding based on statutory requirements. This funding will assist each cooperative to have a reliable funding source for key positions, removing the uncertainty about a funding source.

Updates on Our Three Region 9 Organizational Goals

Goal #1 is to build our own Region 9 staff professional development training to satisfy the annual training requirements we have for topics like FERPA, reporting and abuse, bloodborne pathogens, etc. We have contracted with professional course developers to build content starting with FERPA which is at 90% complete. This is exciting and we will look forward to a new training platform hopefully to start next year. Goal #2 is around after school care for children of Region 9 staff. There has been an initial meeting with a second meeting being scheduled. If you have an interest in participating in this work group please contact the Region 9 office and let us know. For Goal #3, please see the deputy director's message in our R9 newsletter October 2021. 

Respectfully,

Bryan Dooley

Bryan Dooley
Executive Director
Region 9 Education Cooperative