R. Larry Taylor, Division Director: Larry is responsible for leading state efforts to assure students with special needs receive appropriate education and related services consistent with state and federal guidelines. Under his guidance and direction, necessary policies and procedures will continue to be established, revised and implemented. Collaboration with districts, outside agencies and other departments within the agency will take place, and communication with parents, local district staff and other groups will be ongoing. Larry will direct activities that will make certain that students with disabilities achieve academic success commensurate with their non-disabled peers. Larry's experience as a teacher, counselor, instructional supervisor, local district Director of Exceptional Children Services, and Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum/Instruction/Personnel provides him the background and skills required to carry out these endeavors.
Renee Scott, Administration and Accountability Branch Manager: Renee's responsibilities include supervising professional staff, assisting with IDEA Part-B management, and serving as the Comprehensive System of Personnel Development (CSPD) coordinator and co-principal investigator for the Kentucky State Improvement Grant. Renee also serves on the Kentucky Education Professional Standards Board (EPSB) Accreditation Audit Committee, which recommends initial and continuing accreditation of teacher preparation programs to the EPSB. She coordinates State Advisory Panel functions, serves as staff liaison to the Special Education Cooperative Network, and assists with the administration of the Special Education Traineeship Program for emergency and probationary teachers. She serves as state liaison to the National Center for Culturally Responsive Educational Systems (NCCRES) and the Monarch Project (a national initiative that assists Historically Black Colleges and Universities in developing and enhancing Special Education teacher preparation programs). Renee's publications include, Professional Development for Culturally Responsive Instruction: A Promising Practice for Addressing the Disproportionate Representation of Students of Color in Special Education (Teacher Education and Special Education, Volume 26, Number 1, Winter 2003).
Toyah Robey, Program Services Branch Manager: This branch emphasizes services to students with moderate to severe disabilities, including those with cognitive disability, emotional behavioral disability and those with special health care needs. Topical areas covered include transition, occupational and physical therapy, speech language services, home/hospital services for students with disabilities, interpreter services for students who are deaf or hard of hearing, para-educator assessment/training, assistive technology, on-line professional development for emergency and probationary teachers, digital accessible curriculum design and delivery. Toyah's teaching career has focused around working with and advocating for students with emotional and behavioral disabilities at all grade levels. Toyah works with districts, schools, and parents to use strategies that are positive, proactive, and instructional. Some examples are: developing positive relationships and making connections with students to avoid their dropping out emotionally or physically; using social skills/character education to promote social competence and increase time on task, classroom management strategies, and intervention planning for students at-risk, healthy school cultures/climate, leadership, change complexity, and sustainability for school improvement.
Linda Atwood, Consultant: Linda ensures that all children with disabilities are provided a free appropriate public education through the monitoring of local school district's special education programs and investigating formal complaints related to the identification, evaluation, and placement of students. Her knowledge of special education issues is also used to answer parent and other concerned citizen e-mail and phone calls daily.
Denise Bailey, Consultant: Denise has a wide range of knowledge in special education. She was a special education collaborative teacher for 11 years before her move into administration. Her areas of proficiency include collaboration, inclusion, general education documents (including the Program of Studies and Core Content), writing IEPs that are aligned with the general education curriculum, classroom behavior management, due process issues, the design of professional development opportunities, and the scholastic review process (including the Standards and Indicators for school improvement). These skills have allowed Denise to help teachers, parents, and administrators across the Commonwealth by answering questions, providing professional development, serving as team leader on Scholastic Reviews, and designing professional development opportunities for Kentucky Department of Education employees. Denise has expertise in numerous learning and modification strategies used to help students with disabilities be successful in their classrooms. She also has certification to teach general education in grades 1 through 8.
Gwen Buffington, Consultant: Prior to joining the staff in April, 1999, Gwen was one of three speech/language therapists at the Kentucky School for the Deaf with prior teaching in experience in Kentucky as well as experience in the Broward County School system in Florida. Since joining Kentucky Department of Education, Gwen has utilized her skills in the areas of understanding due process procedures, parental rights, screening, evaluation, interpretation of test data, placement of students with disabilities, development and implementation of Individual Education Programs, as well as answering parent and district calls. She has continued her involvement in her area of certification by participating in the revision of the Kentucky Eligibility Guidelines.
Nicole Hume, Consultant: Nicole, a former Exceptional Child Instructor for Anderson County, serves as a Consultant within the Division of Exceptional Children Services. As an Exceptional Child Instructor, she managed the caseloads of individuals with exceptional needs through consistent collaboration, data gathering and analysis, high quality instruction, and professional development. While in the classroom, her focus was on the achievement and participation of individuals in Kentucky’s Program of Studies within the Individual Education Programs. Nicole has also taught primary school for fourth grade and kindergarten. As a consultant with the Division of Exceptional Children, she has been assigned Indicator 8 of the State Performance Plan that provides her with opportunities to provide technical assistance to districts efforts to continue the facilitation of parent involvement. She serves on the Kentucky Council for Developmental Disabilities as a member of the Education Committee, the Autism Committee, the Employment Committee and the Membership Committee. She also works with the Division of Assessment as a member of the Alternate Assessment Team. Nicole received her Bachelor of Science degree from Eastern Kentucky University in 1993 and completed the Master’s Degree Program at the University of Kentucky in 1997. She currently holds a teaching certificate in both Elementary Education and Teaching Exceptional Children—Learning and behavior Disorders, Grades K-12.
Roger Lacy, Consultant: Roger serves as the lead consultant for Kentucky's Continuous Monitoring Process (KCMP) and is a staff liaison for the State Advisory Panel for Exceptional Children (SAPEC). He is also available to answer any general due process questions or inquiries.
Corlia High Logsdon, Consultant: Corlia is a School Psychologist and former District Director of Special Education who graduated from the University of Kentucky with a BA in Communications and English and MS and Education Specialist Degrees in School Psychology. She has a broad range of experience ranging from working with students with all disabilities from preschool through postsecondary transition and adult mental health students involved in the justice system. As a district administrator, she managed a KERA Preschool Program, Section 504, Title I, IDEA, ADA. She has been a KDE consultant for the Division of Equity and Federal Programs working with Title IX, NCLB, and Instructional Equity. For the Division of Exceptional Children, she is a member of the IDEA formal complaint investigation team. She provides guidance and assistance to districts, government, public agencies and parents. She serves as liaison to the Kentucky Association for Psychology in Schools, and has been known to update web pages and fix occasional computer problems for the division.
Mike Miller, Consultant: Mike is responsible for the process of Special Education Waivers, Occupational/Physical Therapy Scholarships, is liaison for the Kentucky Council for Administrators of Special Education(CASE) and the Kentucky Very Special Arts Board, assists districts with the Continuous Improvement Monitoring Process and serves as the National Association of State Directors of Special Education- Conference Coordinator. He also possesses in-depth knowledge of special education policies and procedures.
Laura McCullough, Consultant: Laura is a behavior specialist / consultant whose focus is the intervention and prevention of student behavior problems in schools. Her expertise includes developing proactive school-wide instructional discipline programs and professional development for teachers and administrators regarding violence and dropout prevention, improving school climate, reducing behavioral barriers to learning, teaching responsible behavior, positive classroom management strategies, social skill curriculum and instruction, motivating students at risk, data-based problem solving processes, developing teacher assistance, intervention planning teams, functional behavior assessment, behavior intervention plans for individual students, and effective programming for students with intensive needs or emotional-behavioral disorders. She also directs the Kentucky Instructional Discipline and Support (KIDS) Project, which is currently developing effective prevention-oriented discipline and behavior support demonstrations programs in 50 Kentucky schools.
Chris Thacker, Systems Consultant IT: Chris compiles the December and End of Year Data Files local districts submit for their special education programs. He also provides reports of this data to staff, districts, researchers, parents and others as requested. He assists staff with office technology and posts data on the Division's web page. Presently, Chris is on assignment with the Data Policy Management and Research Division and the Office of Assessment and Accountability, representing special education data and assessment needs, Non-Academic data and other data related concerns such as the Max data warehouse.
Artye Walters-Dulaney, Program Consultant: Artye utilizes her technical writing skills to review and/or compose correspondence related to initiatives, agencies or institutions seeking the division's support relating to program or grant proposal activities. She helps with the coordination and oversight of professional development efforts through assisting with the organization and implementation of design and delivery (e.g, conference planning and collaborative partnerships). She collects and analyzes data for marketing that will promote ideas for improving student self-advocacy to increase student active participation in the transition process, and identifies research-based practices regarding dropouts for special populations. Artye serves on and participates in various interagency committees and workgroups representing the educational needs of children with disabilities, as well being an active member on scholastic review teams.