Medicaid Kudos and What is the right wording?

Hello All!

It's a snowy day out there and I always appreciate the time to catch up on my "to do list"! Here are a couple interesting items that have come to my desk this past week:

1.) Medicaid reimbursement. Please pass on to all the designated adult associates, bus drivers, nurses and other staff the excellent work they have all done in completing medicaid forms this past year. We have received over 1.4 million dollars in medicaid reimbursement. You might think we are "rolling in the dough!" However, with only 40% of special education costs covered by Federal dollars, we are actually still in the red with a deficit around $400,00. Just think what we would be doing without the Medicaid reimbursement! Whew!

2.) In conversations concerning testing accommodations on IEPs and 504s, it has come to our attention that our wording for testing accommodations may not be consistent. Let's try to see if we can get more consistent across the district....please use the terms "extended time" rather than "untimed tests". The extended time guideline that ACT, SAT, and other testing centers use is 1 1/2 times the recommended time limit. This would be a good amount of time to try to follow for all testing accommodations at any grade level.

If you have any thoughts or comments concerning either of these items please feel free to share...

Stay safe and warm!
Julie