Narrative: d. 2. D.

For outreach and identification of students who are blind or severely visually impaired, DSB continues to coordinate with Local Education Area (LEA) Supervisors and Regional Certified Vision Consultants of Educational Services for the Visually Impaired (ESVI). A collaborative data base of lists of transition students is maintained.

DSB Counselors will continue to make face to face visits to LEA Supervisors in their territories and will contact them at least twice a year by sending information by mail and emails. Counselors and their assistants serve as agency contacts. DSB Staff will continue to make presentations at school assemblies, parent—teacher organization meetings, and open houses to provide information on pre-employment transition services and how to access these services. DSB will continue outreach efforts to private, home, and accredited virtual schools. DSB’s Pre-ETS team hosts a parent summit annually in August before school starts to inform students and parents of available resources.  DSB brings in speakers to discuss assistive technology, college, workplace readiness, etc.  DSB Pre-ETS team also hosts and attend transition fairs and parent summits around the state for students and parents to gather available resources from vendors participating in the events such as colleges, disability rights, community rehabilitation facilities.  ARS, Arkansas Transition Services, etc.  DSB has hosted transition fairs/parent summits in the cities of El Dorado, Dumas, Little Rock, Pine Bluff and Magnolia.  DSB has attended transition fairs in the cities of Dumas, Dewitt, Lake Village, Greenwood, North Little Rock, Little Rock, Pine Bluff, Dermott, Cedar Ridge, Monticello and the counties of Crawford and Washington.  DSB Pre-ETS staff will continue to host and attend these events around the state.

DSB will continue its system of mailouts and emails twice a year to area ESVI Consultants. In addition to the local outreach efforts, the Pre-ETS Area Manager will reach out to ESVI at a state level to discover any transition students that need services and should be referred to DSB. DSB will refer participants under age 14 to ESVI and solicit referrals from ages 14 and older from ESVI to DSB.

As a charter member in the Arkansas Interagency Transition Partnership (AITP), DSB is able to coordinate transition services and discuss related issues with AITP representatives from agencies and organizations, including, but not limited to Arkansas Transition Services (ATS), Arkansas Rehabilitation Services (ARS), Arkansas Transition Program (ATP), Department of Human Services (DHS), DHS Division of Developmental Disabilities Services (DDS), DSB, parent centers, the private sector, and public and private schools. AITP involves transition agencies and organizations at a state level through quarterly meetings and shares information through its website. AITP holds a Summer Agency Connections conference annually, and sponsors bi-annual Transition Summits.  DSB sends representatives to these conferences.

As a part of AITP at the local level, DSB reaches out to Local Education Area Supervisors in the school districts across the State to strengthen the relationship between the Department of Education and DSB. Each DSB regional office maintains a contact list for all secondary schools in its service area and regularly sends information by mail and email to contacts on the list. As part of AITP and the initiative to reach as many participants as possible.  DSB reaches out to each Local Education Area Supervisor in the school districts across the State and each high school across the State to give presentations/information on services available under Pre-ETS. DSB has seven designated Pre-ETS counselors and one Area Manager that do outreach to participants throughout the state.

Each DSB regional office maintains a contact list for all secondary schools in its service area and sends letters, emails and information to contacts on the list semi-annually. This process gives schools a pathway for increased communications with DSB. Outreach for the Pre-ETS and WIOA required activities that include: Job exploration counseling. Work-based learning experiences, which may include in-school or after school opportunities or experience outside the traditional school setting (including internships) that is provided in an integrated environment to the maximum extent possible.  Counseling and guidance on opportunities for enrollment in comprehensive transition or postsecondary educational programs at institutions of higher education. Workplace readiness training to develop social skills and independent living.  Instruction in self-advocacy, which may include peer mentoring.

The procedures for outreach and identifying students who would benefit from these services are as follows: 1. All transition counselors engage with the LEA staff on a monthly basis to provide literature in large print and digitally by electronic means to be then provided to special education teachers throughout the state on the referral process, the core services provided under Pre-ETS, and how to access DSB services to engage in exploration of competitive integrated employment settings. 2. All DSB transition counselor staff make face-to-face visits with the nursing staff, school counselor staff, and special and regular education staff within each high school on at least a monthly basis to offer this information and to provide further clarification and to answer questions on the process, what the core services are under Pre-ETS and how to access those services. Referrals are taken both digitally and by paper referral process. 3. All DSB transition counselor staff along with the Statewide Field Administrator attend monthly meetings with ESVI and Teacher for the Blind meetings to discuss upcoming events and to identify students currently in sub-minimum wage situations that need information and counseling on how to access DSB services to work towards competitive integrated employment.

The Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) reported that there are approximately 40 students in secondary education who are blind, visually impaired, or Deafblind between the ages of 16 through 21 to include 2 Deafblind students.  DSB has identified 70 post-secondary students on the caseloads and 78 secondary students to include 2 secondary Deafblind students which is a total of the 148 students that DSB Pre-ETS counselors are currently serving. There are 92 VR eligible students and 56 potentially eligible students. Currently being served by DSB.

For the FFY 2019 grant DSB set aside $989,572.65. Of this DSB has committed $342, 657.03 to paying for staff time and associated expenses as allowed. DSB expects to spend $620,000 on providing the 5 required Pre-ETS activities. This will allow DSB to spend $26,915.62 on authorized services.