Schedule and Materials for Attendees
2025 MASE Fall Leadership Conference
2025 MASE Fall Leadership Conference Schedule & Materials
Wednesday, October 22
CASE Update, Cherie Johnson and Melissa Schaller
Thursday, October 23
A1: Special Education Finance, Paul Ferrin – Pillsbury
A2: Turning Behavior into Data: Practical Tracking Tools from PBEC, Kate Hurd, Jeffery Lee, Amy Strother – Sibley
Description: Turn behavior data into insights, not paperwork. This session explores PBEC’s automated spreadsheets for internal rating scales, frequency/duration tracking, and point sheets. Learn how these tools simplify collection, create clear visuals, and help IEP teams understand and act on behavior data with confidence.
A3: Conflict Strategies that Work, Dr. Erin Lavery, Laura Tubbs Booth – Golf Villa AB
Description: Our session will focus first on an outline of the Alternative Dispute Resolution methods that are imbedded in IDEA. Next, we will work through some common issues using strategies gained in mediation training and from our experience.
A4: Staff Preservation and the Role of the Administrator, Dan Naidicz, Dr. Jaclyn Rehmke, Cara McGlynn – Golf Villa C — Handout
Description: Teacher burnout is widespread and often unavoidable. Rehmke, Naidicz, and Lavery will explore contributing factors and emphasize how supportive school culture and small acts of care can retain educators. Investing early in staff well-being may reduce costs tied to conflict, turnover, and burnout, while simultaneously improving satisfaction and preservation, thereby contributing to student achievement and engagement.
A5: Facilitating Effective Team Meetings, Nicole Woodward – Golf Villa D
Description: No one has time for a bad meeting! This session focuses on identifying key strategies that make your meetings more enjoyable, more meaningful, and more productive.
A6: 50 Years of IDEA in Minnetonka Public Schools: Celebrating Progress, Empowering the Future, Christine Breen, EdD, Kim Gibbons, PhD, Ellen Swanson, PhD – Pemmican
Description: This session will explore the historical context, current landscape, and forward-looking strategies of special education leadership through the lens of IDEA’s (and Minnetonka's) 50-year legacy. Participants will learn about actionable insights to advance access, inclusion, and outcomes for students with disabilities. Discussion will focus on IDEA progress, current leadership challenges, and innovative strategies for inclusive special education.
B1: Exploring the Minnesota Youth in Transition Framework, Sarah Robinson, Tom Delaney – Pillsbury
Description: Explore Minnesota’s Youth in Transition Framework and the practical tools that bring it to life. This session introduces the framework’s three key elements- guiding principles, learning expectations, and shared practices- tied to improved outcomes in best life, in(ter)dependent living, employment, and postsecondary education/training. Attendees will tour the MN Youth in Transition Framework and Toolkit, get acquainted with the resources available on the Disability Hub, and see how My Vault supports cross-agency, person-centered planning with ready-to-use resources for educators, interagency partners, students, and families.
B2: Recent Decisions and Trending Issues in Special Education, Marcus Jardine, Tom Delaney – Sibley
Description: This presentation will cover recent court and complaint decisions in the area of special education. It will also address other up and coming issues in special education that may be ripe for a lawsuit or complaint in the near future.
B3: From Awareness to Action: Bridging the CASEL Framework for SEL and Cultural Responsiveness, Dr. Judith Nagel, Dr. Sarah Rothstein – Golf Villa AB
Description: This session explores how teachers’ perceived cultural competence and SEL practices intersect to shape student outcomes across diverse learner groups. Participants will examine research findings and gain practical strategies to strengthen culturally responsive SEL that supports classrooms where students’ social-emotional needs are recognized and met.
B4: The 50-Year Evolution of Discipline Under the IDEA, Adam Frudden, Laura Tubbs Booth – Golf Villa C — Handout
Description: In this presentation we will examine the history of the discipline of scholars with special needs and its evolution to today's practice. We will outline the current law and discuss future implications. Exclusionary practices are dying a slow death - what else is available? What works? What is required and legal?
B5: Building a High-Performing Team, Nicole Woodward – Golf Villa D
Description: Learn how leadership took one team from struggling to thriving through an intentional process of identifying individual and collective strengths, learning about leadership voices, and implementing routines. The result is a team with enhanced clarity, increased productivity, a strong sense of purpose, and a positive supportive culture.
B6: Creating a Stronger Tier 1 Classroom to Support All Students, Curt Slater – Pemmican — Handout
Description: All teachers have a classroom management plan that works for some students; but what is happening day to day during the school year, do you see a pattern that the students are starting to struggle more with behavior and social skills? Time to Flip the Behavior before it impacts teaching and learning. Walk away with best practice strategies that you can use in your school tomorrow Participants will: Identify Tier 1 interventions that will support all students, understand how to use some tools and strategies to support students and staff with behaviors, identify some classroom best practices around supporting students with mental health issues, and develop a school-wide process to support families that might be struggling with social and emotional issues.
C1: Setting Staff Up for Success: Using the Mental Health in Special Education Toolkit to Navigate Medicaid in Education, Jenny Whitcomb, MAM, OTR/L; Jennifer Butler, MS, MSW, LICSW – Pillsbury
Description: The Mental Health in Special Education (MH-SPED) benefit creates new opportunities for schools to expand access to mental health services through Medicaid reimbursement, while aligning with special education due process. As part of a broader collaborative initiative between the Minnesota Department of Human Services and the Minnesota Department of Education, this session introduces the MH-SPED Toolkit—a practical flowchart of resources and templates that simplify implementation for administrators and staff. Participants will leave with actionable strategies to ensure compliance, strengthen collaboration, and build sustainable systems that set staff up for success.
C2: 45 Day Placements: A Deep Dive, Adam Frudden, Laura Tubbs Booth – Sibley — Handout
Description: When a student engages in certain significant types of misconduct, the IDEA gives schools the options to temporarily place them in an interim alternative placement for up to 45 school days. In this session, experienced school attorneys will explore the cases that have set the boundaries of schools’ under the IDEA and answer questions on how to utilize this authority.
C3: Stressed and Struggling: How School Settings Shape Special Educator Burnout, Dr. Adriana Haugen, Dr. Judith Nagel – Golf Villa AB — Handout
Description: This session shares results from a study on burnout among Minnesota special education teachers. Findings reveal that burnout did not significantly differ by instructional setting or teaching experience. The research highlights the impact of systemic stressors, such as the quality of administrative support, on teacher well-being. Implications for improving staff retention and enhancing outcomes for students will be discussed.
C4: Unlocking Funding Potential: Maximizing Federal & State Reimbursements, Tonia Czech, Diane McCarron – Golf Villa C
Description: In an era of tightening school budgets, understanding and leveraging available funding streams is more critical than ever. This session offers an overview of Minnesota’s Medicaid billing program, focusing on how school districts can optimize federal and state reimbursements. Attendees will gain insights into the fundamentals of Medicaid billing using SpEd Forms and discover actionable strategies to increase funding outcomes.
C5: The Power of Collaboration: Building Bridges in Dual Identification for MLs, Ariel Chang – Golf Villa D
Description: This presentation will explore how collaborative practices between educators, specialists, and families are crucial for effectively identifying and supporting Multilingual Learners (MLs) with special educational needs. By fostering open communication, establishing clear roles, and leveraging diverse expertise, we can build strong bridges between language acquisition and special education frameworks, ensuring accurate identification and providing tailored support for every student.
C6: Leading Systemwide Change for Mathematics Improvement to Meet IDEA’s Promise, Nicole McKevett, Kathy Ryder – Pemmican
Description: Improving math outcomes requires more than isolated fixes—it takes a cohesive approach that empowers teachers and supports every learner. This session equips special education administrators with strategies to align mathematics instruction, assessment, and professional learning for stronger, more equitable mathematics outcomes. Grounded in IDEA’s call to provide access and progress for all students, leaders will leave ready with clear entry points to begin launching equitable mathematics improvement.
Friday, October 24
D1: Who Needs to Know? Data Privacy in Special Education, Adam Frudden, Christian Shafer – Pillsbury — Handout
Description: From e-mails to PWNs, all information created, collected, maintained, or disclosed by a school about a student with a disability is subject to a variety of laws. In this presentation, experienced school attorneys will discuss the applicable statutory schemes and provide practical, real-world solutions to some of the most common questions about access to, and protection of, special education records.
D3: Filling in the Gaps: Empowering Teachers Through Data – Connecting the Golden Thread of IDEA, Theresa Wallace – Golf Villa AB
Description: Celebrate 50 years of IDEA by empowering teachers with a free Chrome add-on that saves time and simplifies data. Streamline collection, create clear visual graphs, align goals, and equip teams to make smart, data-driven decisions that boost student outcomes—no data visualization skills required!
D4: MPS Foundations: De-escalation & Person Safety Training, Dr. Meghan Hickey, Andrew Meierding – Golf Villa C — Handout 1, Handout 2
Description: MPS Foundations is a verbal de-escalation and, as a last resort, physical intervention training for MPS staff that was developed internally within the district. MPS Foundations replaces previous “CPI,” “NCI,” and “iNCI” training. MPS uses this training to meet the Minnesota State statute requirements of “restrictive procedure” training for staff who work with students as well as to provide tools to prevent physical intervention whenever possible.
D5: Behavioral Supports in School Settings: Building from an Ethical and Empirical Base, Leslie Schwartz, Wendy Selnes – Golf Villa D
Description: This session will highlight the efforts in promoting, training and supporting Registered Behavior Technicians supervised by Board Certified Analysts, through a credentialed based program. These supports will be described, and initial data will be presented to show improved skill levels and understanding of supports by staff that received specialized training.
D6: Disability Discrimination and Accommodations Beyond the IDEA, Liz Vieira – Sibley — Handout
Description: This presentation will explain school districts’ obligations to students under Section 504 and the Americans with Disabilities Act, along with the expanding legal landscape for claims on behalf of students with disabilities under these laws rather than through due process hearings. Through real-life examples and court decisions, attendees will learn to identify and mitigate risks of successful disability discrimination claims.