Special Education Parent Newsletter

Dear Families,

As we begin the second half of the 2025–2026 school year, I want to take a moment to thank you for your continued partnership and to share some exciting opportunities ahead this spring.

We look forward to welcoming new students and families as we open registration for the upcoming school year and host our annual Transitional Kindergarten (TK) and Kindergarten Enrollment Fair. This event is a wonderful opportunity for families to learn more about our programs, meet staff, and prepare for a successful start to school.

This is our second edition of the Special Education Parent Newsletter and I hope it has been helpful in keeping you connected, informed, and supported as we work together to meet the unique needs of every student. Please continue to use our Special Education page as a resource for additional information regarding the Special Education Department.

We value our partnership with you and are committed to ensuring that every student has the tools, services, and supports they need to thrive. Thank you for being an essential part of our school community. We are always interested in your feedback and if there is any way that we can assist you we are happy to help.

Warm regards,

Kelly Manke

Assistant Superintendent of Special Education

kmanke@lvjusd.org

(925)606-3284

Our last newsletter shared the important steps our District has made to create and implement a five year strategic plan. The plan identifies five key focus areas: student achievement; student wellness and safety; communications and engagement; leadership development and employee success; and fiscal and facility resources.

Specifically in Special Education so far this year, we have implemented several key initiatives to strengthen our special education services and build collaboration across our school community. All certificated Special Education staff participated in training focused on legally defensible assessments and high-quality IEP development, while principals received targeted training on IEP oversight and effective behavior management. Paraeducators engage in ongoing professional learning through weekly Wednesday trainings on a variety of instructional and support topics. We also created a Special Education Parent Advisory Group and launched a dedicated newsletter to improve communication and partnership with families. In addition, we developed a comprehensive implementation plan for the new Woodcock-Johnson V Assessment, which will begin on February 1, 2026, ensuring a smooth and consistent transition across the district.

As we move forward, we remain committed to working in partnership with families and staff to ensure every student receives the support they need to thrive.

The mission of Special Olympics is to provide year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for children and adults with intellectual disabilities. This gives them continuing opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy and participate in a sharing of gifts, skills and friendship with their families, other Special Olympics athletes and the community. We were fortunate to partner with the Special Olympics of Northern California and this fall we participated in soccer and this winter we will be participating in Basketball.

Our Parent Advisory Group, with representatives from all of our schools, has met several times this year, and we are deeply grateful for the thoughtful perspectives and insights our parents have shared. Their feedback has given us a richer understanding of our programs and has been invaluable in guiding our work. We have shared these insights with the Special Education Staff Workgroup as we continue to grow and strengthen a continuum of programs and services that support all of our students, in alignment with our Strategic Plan.

We are always searching for high quality staff that can support all students. If you are interested in pursuing a job in education, please visit our Human Resources webpage for more information.