MISSSISSIPPI COUNCIL OF ADMINISTRATORS OF SPECIAL EDUCATION (MS-CASE)

The Council of Administrators of Special Education (CASE) is an international professional educational organization which is affiliated with the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) whose members are dedicated to the enhancement of the worth, dignity, potential, and uniqueness of each individual in society.

The mission of CEC is to provide leadership and support to members by shaping policies and practices which impact the quality of education. Through membership with the CEC organization, administrators can also join the special interest division of CASE. When joining CASE, membership is shared with your state chapter.

Presently, the officers serving the MSCASE membership are:

Stephanie Langston, the President of MSCASE, has served in this position since July 2003. During a recent interview, Langston reflected on her goals and accomplishments during her year as president. "This year we continued to build on the initiatives of the previous years. The first goal of MSCASE was to merge the two organizations for directors of special education programs, MOSES and MSCASE, Langston stated. "It has been a slow process. The MSCASE members have voted in the new constitution which addresses the issues of the merger."

The four major goals outlined by Langston included the following:

To improve communication among the members through a Newsletter. This goal has been accomplished with two (2) issues being sent to members and a third issue scheduled for release before the end of this school year.

To align MSCASE with the MASS and MASA organizations. Langston noted that this goal has been accomplished.

To identify the various meeting groups or consortiums across the state in order to facilitate the effective dissemination of information. Most of the groups or consortiums have been identified.

To increase the MSCASE membership. This final goal will continue to be a priority for the organization.

Langston has worked diligently as the President of MSCASE. She has built on the foundation established, as MOSES and MSCASE began the merger. She looks back over the year with a feeling of accomplishment and looks ahead with enthusiasm for the future of MSCASE.

Jeannie Pigg, the President Elect of MSCASE, outlined her vision and goals for MSCASE in a recent interview. "My vision is that every supervisor of special education programs in the state becomes a member of MSCASE," Pigg stated. She will continue the work to build a network for disseminating information to each member in an efficient and timely manner. Also, she would like to identify a key contact for each special education consortium to enable the sharing of information between consortiums and supervisors of special education programs.

Jeannie is looking forward to building on the foundations already established by MSCASE and moving ahead toward a shared vision.

"Hats Off" to the Officers and Members of MSCASE!

If you are interested in becoming a member of MSCASE:

1. Go to CEC's website at http://www.cec.sped.org. You can join online. Be sure and select CASE as your division. CEC will notify MSCASE that you are a member. For more information about CASE, click on http://www.casecec.org.

2. If you prefer not to join CEC, you can contact Rusty Dempsey at Bay St. Louis School District (228-467-1021 or rdempsey@bwsd.org) for an application. If you join MSCASE without joining CEC, you will not be a voting member of the organization; however, you will retain the affiliation with MASA and MASS and be a part of the network for information dissemination.

Honorary memberships are available for retired directors of special education programs.

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