II. Election of the Chair
John Knisely made the motion that the board elect Doug Godfrey the chair of the board pro-tem due to no reappointments of board members yet. Annette Carey seconded. Motion approved.

III. Approval of Minutes
The minutes from the August 11, 2005 meeting were reviewed. Barbara King made the motion to approve the minutes. Pierre Sevigny seconded. Motion approved.

IV. Executive Director’s Report
Deanna Stone shared her visit with Rebecca Berger at WVU regarding the TypeWell Educational Transcription System. She is working on sponsoring a training class in early summer.

The Deaf Tech Fair is scheduled for May 20, 2006 at the Charleston Civic Center. Workshops/exhibiters that are already confirmed include: SSI/SSD, WVRID, Gadgets, and TypeWell.

WVCDHH has been approved to be an Educational Interpreter Performance Assessment (EIPA) test administrator. Test sites will be Romney, Fairmont State and Charleston. The Commission will not charge for travel or administration fees. RID will certify interpreters if they pass the EIPA testing.

WVCDHH has also been approved to sponsor CEUs for our own workshops. We can also be a sponsor for other institutions.

Old Business

V. Appointments to the Board

Emily Hopta reported that the administration is working on appointments.

New Business

VI. Deaf Awareness Week Activities

Roy Forman reported on the visits that he made during the last week of September. On Sept. 28 he visited Fairmont State and shared the latest in gadgets specifically for deaf and hard of hearing individuals to about 40 college students. On Sept. 29 he traveled to the School for the Deaf in Romney and did the same presentation for about 45-50 students at the school.

VII. What Now? Newsletter

Melinda Siler has created a newsletter designed for parents of deaf and hard of hearing children. The newsletter will be quarterly and will be mailed to Ski*Hi families, teachers and counselors who work with the deaf and the School for the Deaf. Molly Simonton made the motion that the Commission support this project to have it printed and mailed. Annette Carey seconded. Motion approved. Melinda abstained from voting.

VIII. Retreat 2006

Deanna has received information from five different locations as possibilities for the retreat. The board asked Deanna to choose either May 11-12 or June 15-16 as the date and to work with State Purchasing on choosing the site. Emily Hopta will also assist.

IX. Educational Interpreters

Annette Carey gave an update on the progress on setting standards for educational interpreters. Deanna reported that "Understanding the Educational Interpreter Performance Assessment System: Understand why interpreting for children is not the same as interpreting for adults" will be held on September 8 and 9, 2006 for educational interpreters. The presenter is Frances Beaurivage of Boys Town.

X. Next Meeting Location

Deanna reported that we need to move the location for the next board meeting due to the legislature being in session in February. The South Charleston Public Library is available. There were no objections.

Public Comments

Emily Hopta commended the WVCDHH staff. She said she has heard comments from DHHR staff and staff in other agencies on the 8th floor that our staff is wonderful to work with. She also said other agencies are looking to improve their websites and are looking at ours for ideas.

Doug Godfrey attended the "Stimulating Language and Learning in Infants, Toddlers and Preschoolers" conference in Morgantown. It was sponsored by the Public School Committee of the West Virginia Speech-Language-Hearing Association. DHHR, the Office of Maternal, Child and Family Health/WV Birth to Three and the Department of Education’s Office of Special Education were among the groups that provided funding for the conference. It as a very good conference and well attended.

Pierre Sevigny attended the Deaf Senior Citizens conference in San Francisco and had a great time.

A motion was made by Pierre Sevigny to adjourn the meeting and Molly Simonton seconded. Meeting adjourned at 3:20 p.m.

In August 1755, September 448, October 378 contacts were made with our office.

The Commission was represented by Pierre and Christy Sevigny, Roy and Delores Pyles, Doug and Michelle Godfrey, Roy Forman and me at the State Fair on August 20. We had 1482 visitors to our booth.

On September 15, I attended the West Virginia University’s Center for Excellence in Disabilities (CED) board meeting in Morgantown.

The Deaf Idiom workshop in Weston on September 17 was canceled due to low registration.

On September 28, Roy met with Jaimee Hayhurst at the CED in Morgantown to discuss assistive technology for people who are deaf or hard of hearing.

On September 28, as part of Deaf Awareness Week Activities, Roy presented information about the Commission at Fairmont State University.

On September 29, he visited West Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind and presented information about "gadgets" to the secondary deaf students.

I attended the Rehabilitants of the Year awards ceremony at the Rehabilitation Center in Institute on October 13.

The Commission added a series of job training videos to the Deaf Resource Collection at the Rehabilitation Center library.

On October 21, I attended a conference sponsored by Marshall University and the WVSHA at Marshall University on Cochlear Implants in Children. The Commission sponsored breaks on October 21 and 22. I talked at lunch about my experience with a CI and I attended the task force dinner. Kari also attended and staffed our exhibit.

Kari attended a purchasing conference in Chester October 24 to 28.

Roy and I are meeting each Thursday at noon with staff from the Governor’s office who are interested in learning sign language. The Governor has a deaf employee and the staff wants to communicate more effectively.

On October 29, Steven Hardy-Braz presented a workshop sponsored by the Commission on Interpreters and Mental Health Issues at the South Charleston Public Library. Roy and I attended.

Robyn Guzzi Evans presented a workshop on Deaf Idioms on November 4 in Institute.

  Molly Simonton and Ressie Brown will repeat their workshops on November 12 in Parkersburg.

On November 7, I met with Rebecca Berger at West Virginia University to learn more about Typewell, an accommodation that is being used in the classrooms for deaf and hard of hearing students.

Deaf Tech Fair will be May 20. We are currently recruiting presenters. If you have any suggestions, please let me know by December 1.

The WVCDHH is now a local test administrator (LTA) for the Educational Interpreter Performance Assessment (EIPA) tests. Please see www.wvdhhr.org/wvcdhh or the November 2005 newsletter for more information.

The WVCDHH is now a Certification Maintenance Program (CMP) sponsor with the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (RID). We can now provide continuing education credits (CEUs) to interpreters for our workshops and activities and other appropriate activities throughout the State.

My purchasing card reports for August, September, and October are included in the packet.