About the Presenters

Call 1: Developing and Sustaining Partnerships to Enhance Inclusive Practices

Kim Carlson is Ohio’s 619 Coordinator and an Assistant Director in the Office of Early Learning and School Readiness in the Ohio Department of Education (ODE). She has 35 years of educational experience with school districts as a teacher and supervisor. Ms Carlson has worked as a university instructor and a community child care/preschool director and teacher. Her current responsibilities include preschool special education policy, early childhood rule revisions, data and monitoring activities in coordination with the Office for Exceptional Children. She is a liaison for the state SpecialQuest Birth to Five project and provides oversight of preschool program licensing as ODE is one of the two state agencies responsible for licensing.

Abby J. Cohen currently works part-time as the Region IX State Technical Assistance Specialist for the National Child Care Information and Technical Assistance Center. In this capacity, she is responsible for assisting the state child care administrators of the federal Child Care and Development Fund in the states of California, Arizona, Hawaii and Nevada and the Territories of Guam, American Samoa and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). Ms Cohen received her A.B. from Brown University, magna cum laude, in 1978 and her J.D. from Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California at Berkeley in 1981. From 1983 through 1997, she developed her expertise in child care law and policy as the Executive Director and Managing Attorney of the Child Care Law Center, where she counseled thousands of child care providers and provided technical assistance and training to subsidy administrators, regulators, legislators, advocates, providers and parents.

Kim Galant, Ph.D is a Regional Facilitator for the Florida Training and Technical Assistance System at Florida State University (TATS-FSU). Dr. Galant has 28 years of experience working with young children with disabilities and their families. She has worked as a teacher and director of inclusive preschool programs, a public school speech-language therapist in a prekindergarten program, a coordinator of a program serving children under age three diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders, a college professor and an early interventionist. Most recently she has worked as a program consultant providing training and TA for programs serving children, birth to age five and their families.

Marilyn Hibbard is the 619 Coordinator for Florida. She has responsibility for the school district Prekindergarten Program for Children with Disabilities statewide. She is the contact for the Technical Assistance and Training System (TATS) project, the Children's Registry Information System (CHRIS) project, and Child Find through the Florida Diagnostic and Learning Resources System (FDLRS) project. Prior to joining the Florida Department of Education, Marilyn served as a teacher and administrator in Florida, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. She has worked in special education for over 30 years with children from birth to adults with all exceptionalities.

Susan Rohrbough has 30 years of experience working as an administrator, supervisor, teacher, trainer, and technical assistance specialist and consultant in the United States and internationally. She has expertise in child, family, and human development with a concentration in leadership, collaboration, policy/program development and implementation, and program management and administration at the Federal, National, State, and local levels.

Since 1998, Ms. Rohrbough has worked as a Technical Assistance Specialist at the National Child Care Information and Technical Assistance Center (NCCIC), a service of the Child Care Bureau. She previously served in the Ohio Office of the Governor as the Head Start State Collaboration Director from 1993–1998. She was also a former Executive/Head Start Director for 8 years in rural Ohio. In addition, Ms. Rohrbough worked as a planner/trainer for a nine-county Area Agency on Aging in Appalachian Ohio and was a VISTA Volunteer serving as a Community Organizer in Bronx, NY. Ms. Rohrbough continues as a coach with SpecialQuest, promoting inclusion and professional development, and works with the Ohio Association for the Education of Young Children as a Membership Consultant. She has worked internationally with Children’s Resources International, most recently in Muscat, Oman, and with central/eastern European countries in the mid-1990s as part of Ohio’s partnership with the Soros Foundation.

Call 3: Effective Strategies for Supporting Local/Regional Partnerships to Promote Inclusive Practices

With a background in preschool/kindergarten education, Marcia Flaherty has always had a strong interest in promoting quality early childhood experiences for our youngest learners. Ms. Flaherty has taught preschool and kindergarten before becoming an elementary school principal. For nine years, she served as principal of an early childhood center with 400+ children, and is currently in charge of preschool through 6th grade programming as a director of instruction in the Manitowoc Public School District.

Joan Izen, Director of the New Hampshire Preschool Technical Assistance Network (PTAN), conceived and designed the grant-funded statewide technical assistance network that promotes quality programs for young children with disabilities and their families in New Hampshire in 1992. Ms. Izen has served as the project director since it’s inception as well as facilitator/consultant in each of the different regions of the state. In addition, Ms Izen has developed and implemented numerous other early childhood projects and provided consultation to various preschool, early intervention and childcare programs in New Hampshire.

Ruth Littlefield has been the Preschool Special Education (619) Coordinator for the New Hampshire Department of Education since 1992. She has organized the work of the 619 office around the preschool priorities identified in the State Performance Plan: Preschool LRE, Parent Involvement, Preschool Outcomes and Early Transitions. Ruth, in conjunction with the project coordinator Joan Izen, has established a statewide network for technical assistance to promote quality programs for preschoolers with disabilities. The network includes a focus on strengthening collaboration and partnerships between families, schools and early childhood programs.

Mary L. Peters, currently the 619 coordinator with the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (WDPI), has 28 years experience in early education as a special educator, kindergarten teacher, adjunct faculty, and consultant, with experience at local school district, university, and state levels. Ms. Peters current work with the WDPI Special Education Team of the Division for Learning Support: Equity and Advocacy includes the provision of leadership, consultation, program approval, and technical assistance, grant management, as well as monitoring and compliance activities.

Susan Rohrbough has 30 years of experience working as an administrator, supervisor, teacher, trainer, and technical assistance specialist and consultant in the United States and internationally. She has expertise in child, family, and human development with a concentration in leadership, collaboration, policy/program development and implementation, and program management and administration at the Federal, National, State, and local levels.

Since 1998, Ms. Rohrbough has worked as a Technical Assistance Specialist at the National Child Care Information and Technical Assistance Center (NCCIC), a service of the Child Care Bureau. She previously served in the Ohio Office of the Governor as the Head Start State Collaboration Director from 1993–1998. She was also a former Executive/Head Start Director for 8 years in rural Ohio. In addition, Ms. Rohrbough worked as a planner/trainer for a nine-county Area Agency on Aging in Appalachian Ohio and was a VISTA Volunteer serving as a Community Organizer in Bronx, NY. Ms. Rohrbough continues as a coach with SpecialQuest, promoting inclusion and professional development, and works with the Ohio Association for the Education of Young Children as a Membership Consultant. She has worked internationally with Children’s Resources International, most recently in Muscat, Oman, and with central/eastern European countries in the mid-1990s as part of Ohio’s partnership with the Soros Foundation.

For information regarding these calls, contact Kathy Whaley at NECTAC at (919) 962-7317 or whaley@mail.fpg.unc.edu

Return to the list of calls in the series, 2009 Conference Calls for Administrators of Section 619 Programs Web Page.

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