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Board of Directors
Katherine Kersenbrock-Ostmeyer (aka Kathy KO), is the Director of Special Education and Tiny-k Coordinator for the Northwest Kansas Education Service Center (NKESC). Kathy began work with NKESC in January of 1981 as an early childhood home-trainer/parent educator. Since that time she has served as a special education teacher in a self-contained classroom, provided consultation services in learning disabled and emotionally disturbed programs, spent a year coordinating drug-free prevention programs, coordinated staff development activities and in 1990 moved into special education administration.
Kathy received a BS from Kansas State University and a Master of Science degree from Fort Hays State University. She hold several licenses through the Kansas State Department of Education including general and special education as well as district administrative endorsements.
Over the past 28 years Kathy has served on many local, state and national committees and boards including appointments to the Kansas Special Education Advisory Council, participation on the Tiny-k advocacy committee, participation the Kansas Department of Heath and Education oral health focus group initiative, and many Kansas Sate Department of Education special education work groups and committees focusing on issues related to lass size and case loads, teacher shortages, alternative assessment, and program monitoring. Kathy has also held local, state and national positions with the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) including serving on the Council's Board of Directors and Yes I Can! Foundation Board. Kathy also serves on several community and civic boards and committees.
Karl Hockenbarger is Vice President of the Tiny-k Alliance Board of Directors. H
e has been involved in disability issues since 1985 when he took a position with the former Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services reporting for the HCBC waiver programs and writing Kansas HCBS waivers. Previously, he spent ten years managing Criminal Justice Grants as a Criminal Justice Trainer and as an Executive Director of the Inmate Assistance Organization. Karl is also a partner in Compliance Data Systems, a company dedicated to remote medication management, to prevent medication errors instead of just treating them.He facilitated the advocate and consumer work group and authored the grant which developed the first Real Choice System Change grant for Kansas. The purpose of Real Choice is to make community based services available as nursing home care. Karl has also been heavily involved in the development of the Working Healthy program, which allows individuals with disabilities to maintain Medicaid eligibility and be competitively employed in the community.Karl was the manager for the Medicaid school-based services program, which included Part C, Medicaid reimbursement in the late 1990s when family service coordination and other new Medicaid reimbursements were approved. Karl has a BA from Washburn University with a double major in Corrections and Criminal Justice as well as a Master of Public Administration from the University of Kansas.
Nancy Duffy is the Director of Service Coordination, Children and Youth Services for Developmental Services of Northwest Kansas (DSNWK). She began working for DSNWK in August 1988. This was during a time when the State of Kansas was expanding the community services and integrations for individuals with developmental disabilities through the closing of several state hospitals. What an exciting time for Kansas! Nancy and her husband were hired to operate residential group homes for adults with developmental disabilities for 6 years. At the same time, she completed her Master's in Special Education at Fort Hays State University and was a Manager of Residential services until 2005. In 2005, she was hired to lead the Service Coordination Department where she supervises case managers, a Social Worker and the Kid-Link Part C Program. Prior to working in the developmental disability field, she worked in the mental health field in eastern Kansas. She earned a BS in Psychology from Kansas State University in Psychology.
Debbie Mai is an active advocate for children with special needs and their families in the state. A longtime employee at Rainbows United, Inc. in Wichita, Kansas, Debbie has been involved in changing the lives of many. She began serving children with special needs as a speech-language pathologist and currently works as Vice President of Programs and Services.Debbie earned her bachelor's degree form Baylor University and her MA from Oklahoma State University. She is liaison for many partnerships across the state and has served on many early childhood committees including: Sedgwick County Interagency Coordinating Council, Butler County Child and Family Task Force, State Interagency Coordinating Council, Kansas Head Start Association Board, Head Start Region VII Board, Visioneering Wichita Birth-K Alliance, MSA Council, Kansas Division of Early Childhood.
Debbie's leadership is key as she lends her vast knowledge and dedication to improving the lives of children with disabilities and their families. The opportunity to serve with the Tiny-k Alliance Board of Directors is one she takes on with passion and insight. "I have seen the Tiny-k program grow from the beginning to changing the lives of thousands of infants, toddlers, and their families across the state. It's an honor to have this small part of helping it happen."
d Associate Behavior Analyst for several years. Cathy has an endorsement in Infant Mental Health, in Policy as a Mentor, Level IV in KS where she is currently the Endorsement Coordinator for the KS Association of Infant Mental Health (KAIMH). Cathy also provides oversight as the Consultant Director for one of the Tiny-k networks, with Sunflower Early Education Center, providing early intervention for infants and toddlers, and Sunflower’s Incredible Years Preschool. She is delighted to say she is now a published author of children’s stories.Cathy has a diverse background, having lived in several states and graduating from high school in New Delhi, India. She and her husband have two grown children and two grandsons. She says her delight is being with toddlers and preschoolers. Cathy has a love for nature and art and considers herself an amateur collector, decorator and painter. In her spare time she also enjoys writing, reading, traveling and shopping…not necessarily in that order! --Cathy Estes, M.H.R., IMH-E® (IV), Infant Mental Health Mentor – Policy
Deanna Berry (Secretary/Treasurer) is a native of Northwest Kansas, growing up in Winona, graduating from High School in Brewster, and earning an Associate's degree in Music from Colby Community College. She then graduated from Fort Hays State University with a Bachelor's degree in Elementary Education and taught 5th grade in Brewster for ten years. Deanna returned to school full-time as a long-distance commuter in the early 90's, graduating from Fort Hays State University with Master's and Education Specialists degrees in School psychology. She later earned licensure in Elementary and Secondary Building Leadership (Principal), District Leadership (Superintendent), Special Education Supervisor/Coordinator, and Special Education Director.Deanna and her family moved to Leoti in 1993 where she served as a School Psychologist for the High Plains Educational Cooperative for six years and as Special Education Supervisor/Coordinator for two more years. Deanna was hired as the Early Intervention Coordinator at Russell Child Development Center in 2001 and later assumed the position of Executive Director in March of 2006.
KaAnn Graham (President of the Board) welcomes the opportunity to work with dedicated individuals throughout the state to support the growth of the Tiny-K Alliance. KaAnn has been the director of the Early Education Center in Hutchinson since 1995. The program provides Part B and Part C services to children in six school districts in Reno County. Prior to becoming director of the program, she worked two years as the assistant director and six years as a speech/language pathologist in the infant/toddler program.
KaAnn received her Master’s degree from Wichita State University in communication disorders and sciences and worked for 10 years in Garden City, KS as an SLP in the public schools and later at Russell Child Development Center. After her family moved to central Kansas in 1986, KaAnn worked at Rainbows United in Wichita and took classes at Wichita State and KU in educational administration, receiving her administrative credentials in 1990.
KaAnn has seen the Early Education Center’s programs grow substantially over the last ten to fifteen years as a result of collaborative efforts on a community wide basis to provide more early childhood opportunities and to expand service delivery options for children with special needs. This growth in community capacity has allowed children transitioning from Part C to Part B programs to enroll in programs in their home communities and in many cases attend preschool where they will later enroll for Kindergarten.
KaAnn has enjoyed being involved in the planning and implementation of initiatives that have provided these opportunities for children, including Smart Start of Reno and Rice County, the Reno County Universal Pre-K Program, Reno County Head Start Administrative Council, the USD 308 Kindergarten Readiness Committee and the Early Childhood Council. KaAnn says, “The support for early childhood programs in both the public and private sectors of Reno County and the willingness of individual programs and community members to work together to continue to improve our early childhood system is very exciting.”
Kathy Johnson is the Coordinator for Infant Toddler Services for Shawnee County at TARC, Inc. in Topeka. She began working at TARC twenty years ago in November, and one year later took the position as Coordinator for Infant Toddler Services for Shawnee County. Kathy remembers when she started serving as Coordinator they were serving approximately 50 children and the numbers have now grown to over 650 children, the third largest network in Kansas. Kathy has provided consultation Community Action Head Start and Early Head Start as their Disability and Mental Health Content Area Expert. In 2007, Kathy was honored to receive the State and Region VII Head Start Association, Margaret M. Coughlin Memorial Award for her service for children and families with disabilities.Prior to her work at TARC, Inc., she was one of the founding members of Families Together Inc. and worked providing parent information and training on parent’s rights and responsibilities for nine years.Kathy served on several State committees, as a parent member, in the implementation of Part C in the early 1980’s. Kathy has also taught Special Education in Topeka for seven years. Kathy grew up in Larned, Kansas, and received her BA and MS in Special Education from Kansas State University. Kathy continues to serve on several state committees and task forces, as well as advocating for Tiny-k services. She testifies at the Kansas Legislature most years and regularly contacts the Governor and Legislators in her advocacy efforts. Kathy hopes to continue her advocacy and is honored to be part of the Tiny-k Alliance.
Sharon Hixson Tiny-k and other early childhood programs have given Sharon the opportunity of shared work toward the common goal of improving the chances that young children with disabilities will exceed the expectations assigned to them. Equally gratifying for her is the recognition of family needs and the resulting improvements as a result of Tiny-k services. She spent over 30 years of educational work in Kansas, including work in direct instruction as well as administration. Early childhood education was a focus of her career and remains an important interest through current involvement on statewide boards, councils, and as coordinator of an early childhood mental health grant for Reno County. In 2006 Sharon became a VISTA volunteer for a couple of years for Tiny-k Alliance and followed that by part-time work funded by other grants. For several years she served as a governor's appointee to the Kansas Coordinating Council on Early Childhood Developmental Services, including two as its chairperson.Sharon’s college degrees are from Kansas State University and Fort Hays State University. Sharon and her husband, Warren, live in Hutchinson.Board of Directors Login
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