Past President Christy Chamber announced the election results at the CASE Annual Member/Board of Directors Meeting in Nashville, TN on April 21, 2010. With 907 CASE members voting (832-electronically; 75-postcards) we had an overall return rate of almost 20%--the highest return rate in over 10 years. Those CASE members who do not have their email on file with CEC were mailed a ballot and the supporting information. All other CASE members received their ballot via email. All CASE members had over 30 days to study the candidates and submit their vote. Dr. Chambers and the executive committee expressed their thanks to the CASE members who allowed their names to be placed on the ballot—what quality candidates the CASE members had to choose from during this election! Thank you to all who took this member responsibility to heart and voted! The new officers will take over their positions on July 1, 2010. Congratulations to Laurie VanderPloeg (MI) and Tom Adams (IN) on their newly elected positions of president-elect and treasurer!

Laurie VanderPloeg Laurie is Assistant Director of Special Education for Monitoring, Compliance and Parent Support at Kent Intermediate School District, Grand Rapids, Michigan that supports 36 LEAs/PSAs serving 15,400 students with disabilities. Laurie completed her undergraduate, graduate and post graduate studies at Grand Valley State University. She was a special education teacher for 14 years and a special education administrator for 16 years. She is an effective communicator who works very collaboratively with Superintendents, Administrators, Teachers and Parents. Laurie has five years experience as an adjunct professor preparing special education teachers at Aquinas College and four years as a contract Consultant/Training for the Michigan Department of Corrections. She is the parent of a young adult son with disabilities. Laurie served 10 years on the Michigan CEC Board of Directors, 4 years (Vice President- President Elect, President, Past President) organizing and presenting at MCEC state conferences and also attending the National CEC Representative Assembly as President Elect. She has been on the Michigan CEC Foundation Board the past 4 years. Laurie has been a very active member of the Michigan Association of Administrators of Special Education (MAASE) serving on the Professional Development and Legislative and Finance Committees. She has been a presenter, committee chair, representative of MAASE on state committees and served two years on the MAASE Board as CASE Representative. In 2005 Laurie received the Murray Batten Award for Leadership, Honesty, Integrity and Dedication. Laurie was on the CASE Unit Development Committee in 2006-07 followed by her current position on the Executive Board as CASE Professional Development Chair where she organizes three annual conferences, webinars and the selection of the CEC Administration/Supervision sessions for the National CEC Conventions. As Chair of the PD Committee Laurie also selects and recognizes the CASE Award recipients at the April CASE Board of Directors meetings. As PD Chair she participated on the CEC PAC Advisory for the past two years. While on the CASE Board Laurie has shown a high level of organization, communication and collaboration skills working with national and international administrators and organizations.

Tom Adams Tom Adams has been Director of the Logansport Area Joint Special Services Cooperative (LAJSSC) since 1992. The cooperative is comprised of ten school corporations spread over all or part of six counties serving approximately 2400 students with disabilities yearly. Prior to that Tom was Assistant Director of the cooperative for two years. Tom taught junior and senior high school students with mild mental disabilities and served as a special education Work Study Coordinator before moving to administration. Tom is very active in the Indiana Council of Administrators of Special Education (ICASE). He was President of that organization in 2006-07. For the past several years Tom has co-chaired the ICASE Governmental Affairs Committee. In that role he has been very involved in governmental affairs and has participated in passing two bills very important to special education in Indiana. Tom has been very active in Indiana Special Olympics programs for several years. He currently serves on the Indiana Special Olympics Area V Board and is chair of the 2010 Polar Plunge for his region. On the national level, Tom is currently in his second year of a 2 year term as the CASE Membership Chair and as a member of the CASE Executive Committee. Tom has also served as Indiana’s Unit Representative to the CASE Board of Directors. He has lobbied Indiana legislators regarding national education issues during the CASE summer Leadership Institute in Washington D.C. for several years.