August, 2006
Dear PAC
members,
Another school year is upon us! If
you are a new member, welcome to the Macomb Intermediate School District Parent
Advisory Committee. If you are
returning, welcome back!
As returning members know,
the leadership format for the PAC has changed last year.
One of our goals as a PAC was to have every district represented.
The leadership team is pleased that we have reached full membership.
We also have been successful in our other goal to involve more parents
and hope to continue that effort this year.
Your involvement in the PAC is crucial to our success and we thank you
for your time and commitment. Enclosed
you will find the agenda for September as well as topics to be presented
throughout the year at our monthly meetings.
We know many members know the leadership team, but we wanted to take this
opportunity to introduce ourselves to the newer members.
Shannon DeRey
is the representative for Anchor Bay
School District.
She is married and has two boys, Daniel, a 5th grader and
Brendan in 3rd grade. Daniel
has Asperger’s Syndrome and is the reason Shannon has been a member of the PAC
since 2004. She is currently
attending Wayne State
University in the elementary
education program and participates in the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s
Team in Training program. Shannon’s
main role on the leadership team is to facilitate the monthly meetings.
Sharlene Konior has been a PAC member since 1993 representing the Warren
Consolidated School
District. Originally she represented
Utica because the oral hearing impaired program was there.
Her daughter Casandra brings her to the PAC. Mainstreamed in Warren Con
in 1998, Casandra is now 17 years old and a senior at Warren
Mott High
School. Casandra is also on the
Varsity Dance Team at Mott. Casandra
has moderate
to profound bi-lateral hearing loss. She has done very well learning how to talk
and listen in the hearing world without knowing sign language. Sharlene also has
a 16 year old daughter, Jennifer, a junior at Warren Mott.
Sharlene is a single mom and Certified Public Accountant and started her
own business out of her home in 2003. Sharlene
will be assisting in facilitating meetings and preparing the agendas for
meetings.
Deborah Yoho has been married
to her husband Dean for 17 years and has two wonderful children.
Her eldest son Dean Jr. is a sophomore at Romeo High
School, and younger son Darren is a 7th grader at Powell Middle School.
Darren has autism and is the one who brought Deb to the Parent Advisory
Committee in 2001. Deb
Co-Chaired the PAC in the 2004-2005 year and hopes to help educate parents who
have special education children. She
is looking forward to continuing her work with the leadership team this year and
will be responsible for keeping minutes at each meeting.
Charisse
Cossu-Kowalski represents the Fraser
School
District.
She is married with 4 children; a son, age 12 going into 6th
grade who receives resource room and speech therapy, he has LD, RAD; another
son, age 12 going into 7th grade who attends Maple Lane and
transitioning to local CI program and receives speech therapy, he has FAS; a
third son, age 8 and a daughter, age 5. Charisse
joined the PAC in 2002 and is Chair of MCFARES (Macomb County Fetal Alcohol
Resource Education and Support) Coalition, as well as a member of LICC (Local
Interagency Coordinating Council). She
used to be a program supervisor working with mentally ill adults living in adult
foster care homes, but currently is a stay at home mom.
Charisse is going to be responsible for internet communications for the PAC.
Thanks for taking the time to be a part of this great group.
We all strive to make the educational experiences of our children the
best they can be, and as your leadership team we hope to make this year even
better than the last.
See you in September!
Sincerely,
Your PAC leadership team:
Shannon, Sharlene, Deb, Charisse
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