Ellin Chariton

Richard Erhard
Richard Erhard is the Director of Special Education and Special Education Local Plan Area (SELPA) Administrator for the Santa Ana Unified School District; the largest school district in Orange County and the fifth largest district in the state of California.  In addition, he is an appointed member to the Review Committee of the Orange County Special Education Alliance, of which all school districts in Orange County are members.  One of the primary functions of the Alliance is to promote the use of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) of special education matters in Orange County. Richard’s background includes instruction, supervision of instruction and program development for students and adults with disabilities, combined with national conference presentations on legal issues in special education.  He has also had significant experience in dispute resolution through civil proceedings, administrative hearings, mediation and local level dispute resolution. In addition, Richard currently teaches a class in Special Education Dispute Resolution at the University of California Irvine Extension. The purpose of this class is to enhance the knowledge of the special education community, including parents and school districts, in the use of the ADR continuum to more effectively resolve special education disputes at the local level.

Tamara Fortney
Tamara Fortney is a speech language pathologist with Orange County Department of Education.  She currently works at Mission Viejo High School and Saddleback College serving students with moderate to sereve disabilities.  She is also assigned to the North Orange County Interagency Assessment Center (IAC)  serving children 24 to 36-months with a diagnosis of autism.  Areas of focus include parent training, video modeling, sibling play groups, and play based interventional strategies.  Tamara is a certified Hanen Instructor of parent training programs "It Takes Two to Talk" and "More Than Words".   Tamara has a MS in Rehabilitation Administration and Services from Southern Illinois University and a MA in Communication Disorders from California State University-Long Beach. 

Bill Gillaspie
Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team staff Former school psychologist, county special education administrator, county superintendent of schools

Hedy Hansen
Hedy formally worked in the field of parent-to-parent support for over eight years.  She is the parent of a young man diagnosed with autism over eleven years ago and has continued to learn and apply effective advocating strategies for her son since that time.  Hedy’s introduction to parent-to-parent support began in 1998 when she served as the Vice President of Orange County's local chapter of the Autism Society of America.  From there, she found her way to Comfort Connection Family Resource Center where she supported families and later became the Center’s Director before coming to For OC Kids.  During her parent-to-parent work, Hedy also participated in national policymaking as the U.S. Secretary of Education’s appointed Co-Chair to the Federal Interagency Coordinating Council.  After her three year federal term ended, she was appointed by Governor Gray Davis to the California State Interagency Coordinating Council where she served as Council Vice Chair and Co-Chair of the Public Awareness Committee until 2005.  Hedy also served as an appointee from the Orange County Board of Supervisors as a representative, and later, Vice Chair of Orange County’s Mental Heath Board.  She has been a national trainer for the Federal Head Start Bureau and their SpecialQuest Early Head Start Training Project through Sonoma State University as well as a presenter at numerous state and national early childhood conferences.

Cathy S. Holmes
Cathy Holmes is a Partner with Best Best & Krieger LLP's School's Group. She is currently a resident of the firm's Riverside and Sacramento offices. Ms. Holmes received her B.A. in Political Science from the University of California at Los Angeles, with a minor in Business and Administration. She received her Juris Doctorate, with distinction, from the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law, where she was a member of the Roger J. Traynor Honor Society and a recipient of the McGeorge Academic Achievement Award, the McGeorge Alumni Scholarship Award, and the Ahmanson Foundation Scholarship Award.
Ms. Holmes joined Best Best & Krieger in 2001 after working for Kronick Moskovitz Tiedemann and Girard, a Sacramento based law firm, where she advised school district administrative clients, governing boards, and county offices of education on multiple issues pertaining to school law.

Ms. Holmes regularly advises clients on state and federal laws governing students with disabilities. She has provided representation in mediations and due process hearings before the California Special Education Hearing Office as well as acted as lead counsel in both federal and state courts regarding services and accommodations required under the IDEA. Ms. Holmes has also negotiated multiple Voluntary Resolution Plans with the Office for Civil Rights addressing issues arising under Title VI and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.

Ms. Holmes also provides legal advice regarding general education matters including student records, intradistrict and interdistrict transfers, general student discipline, Internet access and use, facilities matters, planning and zoning laws, and public works contracts. Additionally, Ms. Holmes has experience in conducting internal investigations on claims of sexual harassment, unprofessional conduct, and racial discrimination.

Ms. Holmes is a member of the State Bar of California, the Sacramento County Bar Association, the Riverside County Bar Association, the California Council of School Attorneys, the National Council of School Attorneys, and the Coalition for Adequate School Housing (C.A.S.H.). She is an honorary lifetime member of the UCLA Alumni Association and until recently, served as the Membership Director for the Northern California region

Mike Jones, PhD
During the past 34 years, Mike Jones has worked as a high school teacher, an assistant professor of education, a high school principal, and a district administrator.  He received his doctorate in curriculum and instruction from the University of Illinois in 1976.

For the past six years he has been responsible for directing school improvement efforts in Riverside County, California through the Riverside County Achievement Team (RCAT) program.  Results for RCAT schools (particularly high schools) have been remarkable in terms of Academic Performance Index (API) point gain.

Ken Kavale, PhD
Dr Kavale's research interests focus on learning disability, emotional and behavioral disorder, and special education policy. He has published over 200 books, chapters, and journal articles. Two books, The Science of Learning Disabilities and The Nature of Learning Disabilities, explore the scientific foundation of the specific learning disability category.  A number of quantitative research syntheses (meta-analyses) were summarized in the monograph Efficacy of Special Education and Related Services published by the American Association on Mental Retardation. A publication (with Mark P. Mostert), The Positive Side of Special Education: Minimizing Its Fads, Fancies, and Follies, critically analyzes almost 100 years of special education intervention practices. Kavale has presented over 75 papers at local, national, and international conferences. He was invited to present a white paper on "Discrepancy Models in the Identification of Learning Disability" at the LD Summit Conference sponsored by the U.S. Office of Special Education Programs, and was invited to deliver the Keynote Address, "How do we Know What a Learning Disability is?" at the Learning Disabilities Association of America International Conference.  Currently, his major focus is on resolving long-standing issues regarding the identification of specific learning disability in anticipation of changes in the reauthorization of IDEA.

Sarge Kennedy
Consultant to FCMAT Former special education teacher, county special education administrator, SELPA Director, consultant to Dept. of Defense Overseas Dependent Schools.

Analee E. Kredel, M.A
Analee E. Kredel, M.A, is currently the Program Specialist - Autism for the Orange County Department of Education which is a position she has held for 9 years. She has worked with both adults and children with physical and developmental disabilities for over 20 years. She has experience as an adapted physical education specialist and special day classroom teacher. She has lectured on a number of topics relating to the education of students with disabilities including those individuals on the Autism Spectrum. She is an independent trainer for Division TEACCH and frequently lectures on topic relating to classroom environments and structure.

Jeff McNair, PhD
Jeff is currently in his third year as professor at Cal Baptist University (Riverside) after spending fifteen years at Cal State San Bernardino.  Jeff received his Ph.D. at the University of Illinois in 1989. His responsibilities at Cal Baptist include running the moderate/severe credential program, teaching and supervising in that area.  Jeff recently established the National Association of Christians in Special Education and through this organization has facilitated two national conferences and a third one planned for March 2007 at Azusa Pacific University.

Kathi McNair, MA
Kathi is currently a lecturer at Cal Poly Pomona, having also taught at Cal State San Bernardino and The University of California, Riverside.  She will have completed her Ph.D. by December 2006.

Judy Montgomery, PhD
Professor of Special Education and Literacy in the School of Education at Chapman University, Judy has over two decades of experience as a speech language pathologist, school principal, and director of special education in public schools in California. She was the president of ASHA in 1995, and the president of the CEC Division of Communication Disorders and Deafness in 2004- 2005. Her current work and publications focus on assessment and practical intervention in reading and language.

Alice Parker, PhD, Former Assistant Superintendent, Director, Special Education, CDE
Dr. Alice Parker has devoted over 36 years of her life to the education of students with disabilities. She was a speech and language specialist, classroom teacher, principal, and local director of special education prior to assuming a position as Assistant Superintendent of Public Instruction and the California State Director of Special Education in 1997. As Assistant Superintendent she oversaw the provision of services for more than 650,000 children with disabilities throughout the state with an annual cost of over $4 billion.

Dr. Parker is, and has been, a devoted advocate for parents and children. Her range of experiences at the local, regional, and state level, have provided her with a broad perspective regarding the procedural and programmatic challenges of achieving better results for students with disabilities and their families. As the past President of the National Association of State Directors of Special Education, Dr. Parker also has a keen national sense of practices and challenges in other states relative to the education of students with disabilities.

Dr. Parker helped with the restructuring of our large state bureaucracy to better serve the needs of students with disabilities with a strong focus on improved behavior and reading achievement. Her vision included continuously improving the educational outcomes for children and youth with disabilities, promoting a unified system of education in California, and making sure that parents are embraced as partners in the education of their child.

Dr. Parker retired from her position at the end of 2005 and currently works as a consultant to the Cambium Learning Company.

Bill Puddy
Consultant to FCMAT
Former special education teacher, county special education administrator.

Chris Romanosky
Chris Romanosky, M.S., is a Principal with the Orange County Department of Education serving students with moderate to severe disabilities. Her program serves students from the ages of 2 to 13 years old. She has worked with students with autism for 20 years and started her career as a Paraeductor in the classroom. She has a B.A. in Psychology and a M.S. in Special Education. She also earned a School Psychologist Credential and worked as a School Psychologist for OCDE before going into Administration. She has also worked as a Behavioral Consultant working with families to help decrease problem behaviors. She frequently lectures on topics related to autism, behavior, and classroom structure.

Judy Sylva, PhD
Judy Sylva is an Assistant Professor / Coordinator of Early Childhood Special Education at CSU Fullerton.  She earned her PhD in Education from UC Riverside in 1999 and a BA in Psychology from UC Irvine in 1992. She is a credentialed School Psychologist and her research interests include Applied Behavior Analytic (ABA) with regard to literacy, functional analysis, program/treatment evaluation, play-based interventions, and parent education. She is a member of the California Association of Behavior Analysts (CalABA) and the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP).

Cheryl Sturzengger
Cheryl has worked for the Orange County Department of Education for seven years as an Adaptive Physical Education teacher. She has sixty students with severe autism and forty who are medically fragile. She has been given the opportunity to raise and train two service dogs for Canine Companions for Independence (CCI). CCI is a non-profit organization that donates highly trained service dogs to special needs individuals. Raising the dogs was a great opportunity for Cheryl to integrate their training into her teachings with special needs students. She enjoys taking the dogs to the school and encouraging their interaction with the students every day. For the past three years, Cheryl has worked with a facility dog named Cajun. He is a five year old male, golden retriever who brightens everybody's day.

Barbara Thomas
Consultant to FCMAT
Former school psychologist, SELPA director

Bill Thompson
Bill Thompson is a school psychologist with the Orange County Department of Education, servicing students with moderate to severe disabilities.  Some areas of his focus are social skills incorporating video modeling to teach specific skills to students with autism.  Within the area of video modeling, Mr. Thompson is presently developing software incorporating a multitude of skills within the cognitive and behavior domains using video modeling in both small group and one-to-one instruction.  In addition to his work with O.C.D.E., he has served as an adjunct instructor at National University in the area of assessment.  Mr. Thompson has a B.A. in Psychology from Cleveland State University and an M.A. in Clinical Psychology from Pepperdine University.

Dawn Walsh
Dawn Walsh worked in public education for 32 years as an elementary teacher, a special education teacher, district coordinator of special education and Special Education Local Plan Area (SELPA) Regional Administrator for a consortium of 6 school districts.

Her background includes working in multi-lingual, low/high socio-economic level districts; elementary, middle schools and high schools.  She has served as chairperson of the State SELPA organization and as a member of the state reading task force for students with disabilities and the state autism task force.  Dawn’s current calendar includes statewide workshops in the areas of special education proactive practices and cultural changes in special education.  She provides in-depth studies related to special education programs and services.  She has published articles in the areas of special education accountability and content standards in special education.

Diane Youtsey
DKY Consulting is a professional development company specializing in the area of interventions, special education and providing researched based consulting services to school districts, County Offices and SELPAs throughout California. 

Diane Youtsey has a long and distinguished career in special education. She is recognized for her dedication in the field of special education as a teacher, administrator, and consultant. Her 27 years of experience in education have spanned several key positions, including positions with California State University of Sacramento as a professor, Chief consultant with WestEd, Educational Therapist, Diagnostician, Teacher, and Administrator.

Diane received her bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in special education, general education and administration from California State University of Sacramento.

Advocating for students with disabilities and accessing the general education curriculum for special educators are two of the many passions of Diane K. Youtsey. Currently serving as the Association of California School Administrators (ACSA) Council Past-President for Pupil Services and Special Education, and working to develop the Handbook on Goals and Objectives aligned to State Standards, Diane has garnered the reputation of being a passionate presenter and knowledgeable educator on Standards, Assessments and Accountability for Special Education.   She also represents the committee on the ACSA statewide No Child Left Behind task force and California Department of Education’s IEP Task force.

In her current role with DKY Consulting, Diane has developed an online assessment for students with disabilities that are aligned with state standards. The SteDell Assessment encompasses the state standards and the ACSA goals and objectives. Diane is currently involved with integrating IDEIA 04 into her presentations.  Ms. Youtsey’s vision is to make access to the general education curriculum a reality, by assisting educational professionals to focus and maximize academic growth for all students.