Special Education Parent Newsletter

Dear Families,

Welcome to the Special Education Department’s triannual newsletter! We are so excited for the year ahead and grateful for the wonderful start we’ve already had together. Our team has enjoyed seeing students settle into their routines, build connections, and make progress right from the very beginning.

Through this newsletter, we’ll keep you connected, informed, and supported as we work together to meet the unique needs of every student. Each issue will include important updates from our department, resources and strategies for families, celebrations of student successes, and reminders about upcoming events and opportunities. We will publish this newsletter in the Fall, Winter, and Spring so keep a lookout in your Principal's newsletter or on our district's website on the Special Education page.

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.

-Kelly Manke

Assistant Superintendent of Special Education

kmanke@lvjusd.org

(925)606-3284

Last Spring, our district launched a strategic planning process to create a five-year plan that will guide our goals and priorities. With input from families, staff, students, and community members, we identified five key focus areas: student achievement; student wellness and safety; communications and engagement; leadership development and employee success; and fiscal and facility resources. Together, these areas provide a clear roadmap to support student growth, strengthen our schools, and ensure our district continues to thrive. We look forward to sharing progress and updates as this plan moves forward. Specifically in the Special Education Department we will focus on...

High-Quality Instruction & Curriculum Development

1.6 Design and implement a long-term, targeted professional development plan that aligns with district priorities, builds educator capacity, enhances student engagement, and ensures the sustainability of key programs and initiatives for each area related to special education programming.

1.7 Develop and implement a cohesive, district-wide approach to instruction for all special education programming by creating and implementing a 10-year curriculum adoption plan.

1.8 Implement district-wide assessment tools for all special education programs in order to monitor student progress to inform instruction and student goals.

Equitable Learning & Student Support

1.9 Establish a continuum of services for all levels of need for Special Education students, Preschool - Adult Transition.

1.10 Increase communication to families regarding student progress beyond the IEP meeting.

College, Career & Future Readiness

1.11 Expand opportunities for students on an alternate diploma or certificate of completion track to gain skills in self-advocacy, independent living, and career readiness.

The link below will take you to the full version of the strategic plan.

You may have noticed that our District Logo has changed and our website has a new look and feel. The webpage for the Special Education Department is currently being updated as well and we hope to make it more user friendly. As you navigate the website, you will find helpful information and access to our Program Specialists, our school sites, and the Tri-Valley SELPA. If it would be helpful to have more information of if you need help navigating, please let Amber Basas, abasas@lvjusd.org, the Executive Assistant in the Special Education Office know and we'll get you in touch with the right person.

Link to Tri-Valley SELPA 2025-2026 Resource Fair October 18, 2025

This past Spring, we surveyed interested parents in being a part of our newly formed Parent Advisory Group. We had over 50 parents who showed interest. We are still looking for a parent to represent Junction Tk-8, if you are interested please contact Amber Basas abasas@lvjusd.org. We plan to have monthly meetings where we discuss data, hot topics, and discuss current programs and systems.

We are interested to hear from you and would love for you to complete this survey so we can improve our systems and communication with our parent community. We ask that you can complete it during the month of October. While responses will be shared with the Parent Advisory Group, personal information will be kept confidential.

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.