This reception provides an opportunity for first time attendees to meet NAPSEC Board Members and other new attendees in a smaller setting immediately before the Welcome Reception.

Catch up with colleagues and make new friends over light bites and drinks on the beautiful Banyan Court & Lawn.

An informal opportunity for New Jersey State Association members to join a facilitated discussion with other NJASEPS members.

Connect with colleagues from residential programs for a relaxed breakfast roundtable focused on timely issues and on-the-ground experiences.

Presenter: Phil Januszewski

Presenter: Marty Matheson

Presenter: Stephanie Summers, Rachel Tait, and Tracy Lee

This workshop highlights the collaborative leadership and advocacy efforts of the New Jersey CASA of NAPSEC through the work of the New Jersey Association of Special Education Partner Schools (NJASEPS). Participants will explore how statewide professional organizations can advance high-quality special education services through coordinated advocacy, strong governance structures, strategic planning, and meaningful stakeholder engagement. Designed for special education leaders, the session examines how organizations can influence policy, strengthen program quality, and remain responsive to the evolving needs of students with disabilities and their families.

Presenters will share how NJASEPS leverages Board leadership, standing committees, professional development and structured collaboration to establish strategic priorities, respond to regulatory changes, and support organizational sustainability. The workshop will also demonstrate how advocacy efforts are informed by direct input from member schools and affiliate organizations, ensuring that policy positions remain student-centered, practice-informed, and reflective of the real experiences of schools and families.

Through discussion and reflection, attendees will identify transferable practices they can apply within their own state or regional organizations to build effective boards and committees, cultivate leadership capacity, and sustain ethical, responsive, and student-focused advocacy efforts.

Presenter: Tanna Jackson

Special education leaders navigate one of the most demanding roles in education, balancing compliance requirements, staffing challenges, family concerns, behavioral needs, and the relentless pursuit of meaningful academic outcomes. In the midst of these competing pressures, it can become dangerously easy for systems to prioritize process over people.

This dynamic, research-informed session challenges leaders to move beyond the compliance mindset and rethink how schools engage families, educators, and multidisciplinary support teams. Through powerful real-world examples, leadership reflection, and actionable frameworks, participants will explore how cultivating genuinely collaborative cultures where every stakeholder has a meaningful voice can transform student outcomes, rebuild fractured trust, and reignite staff investment in the mission of special education.

The session also directly confronts the pervasive culture of deficit-based thinking in special education settings. When students with disabilities are consistently defined by their labels and behavioral challenges rather than their strengths and aspirations, we inadvertently lower the ceiling of what they can achieve. Strength-based leadership reframes this narrative, opening new pathways to possibility for students who have too often been written off.

Learn how NCASES provides national accreditation tailored for private special education
and adult service programs.

Presenter: Phil Januszewski

Presenter: Scott Pannone

In private special education, safety and workers’ compensation are not administrative functions - they are mission-critical leadership responsibilities. Every staff injury, every safety incident, and every compliance gap directly impacts student stability, instructional continuity, and organizational sustainability.

The environments in which leaders work in special education are inherently complex. Supporting students with intensive behavioral, medical, and physical needs places unique demands on staff, and with that comes elevated risk. How leadership acts in the areas of safety & risk management, incident response, and employee support doesn’t only influence compliance metrics, it shapes staff retention, program quality, and family trust.

The focus of this presentation is on enhancing workers’ compensation and risk management from reactive processes to strategic leadership priorities such as the ones that protect staff, strengthen programs, and ultimately improve outcomes for the students supported.

Join our conference exhibitors for a signature cocktail, a fun snack, and another
invaluable NAPSEC networking opportunity!

Support the NAPSEC Foundation while experiencing Mission Bay. This sunset cruise offers a relaxing escape on calm waters aboard a vessel designed for comfort and unobstructed views. Guests will enjoy curated bites and an open bar. Cost is $100 per ticket.

Join us after the Sunset Cruise for Happy Hour!

Join fellow adult service providers for an informal breakfast roundtable featuring a facilitated,
open discussion on shared challenges, emerging issues, and practical solutions in the field.

Presenter: Dr. Danielle Taylor

Step into a restorative 30-minute journey with multisensory strategies—gentle movement,
breathwork, meditation, and sound bathing.

Presenter: Rebecca Bultsma

Practical AI strategist Rebecca Bultsma brings cutting-edge intel on leading in the age of artificial intelligence. Learn a simple V.I.B.E. check decision-making framework.

Presenter:Danielle Taylor

Students with disabilities frequently experience heightened nervous system activation that directly impacts behavior, communication, emotional regulation, and access to learning. When activation is misunderstood, student responses are often labeled as behavioral problems rather than recognized as stress responses resulting in interventions that may unintentionally escalate rather than support.

This interactive session introduces special education leaders to the mind–body connection and the primary states of the nervous system sympathetic fight/flight, ventral vagal social engagement, and dorsal vagal freeze/shutdown and examines how these states manifest in students’ behavior and lived experience in school settings. Participants will develop a practical understanding of activation and regulation and why regulation must precede effective instruction and behavior support.

Through guided, multisensory experiences including gentle movement, breathwork, meditation, and sound-based practices, participants will build awareness of their own nervous systems. This self-awareness enhances leaders’ capacity to remain regulated under pressure, engage in collaborative problem-solving, and model calm, responsive leadership. The session highlights how administrator understanding of activation strengthens leadership effectiveness while reducing escalation, improving staff support, and increasing student engagement and safety.

Presenter: Ken Berger and Jyothish Daniel

The single greatest determinant of a nonprofit's long-term health is the quality of its board — yet most organizations spend far more energy managing board dysfunction than preventing it. For private special education leaders, whose programs navigate complex regulatory, fiscal, and advocacy environments, a poorly composed or underdeveloped board is not merely an inconvenience; it is an existential risk.

This session, co-presented by a CEO with over 40 years of nonprofit leadership experience and a board member with over 30 years of executive experience in both for-profit and nonprofit sectors, offers a candid, practical, and field-tested examination of what it takes to build a board that genuinely works. Drawing on real-world examples — including hard-won lessons from their own organization, Spectrum360 — presenters will move beyond generic governance theory to address the specific challenges faced by private special education programs: volunteer board members with limited time, the 80/20 engagement problem, board members whose professional backgrounds bias them toward operational rather than strategic thinking, and the difficulty of screening candidates for behavioral fit rather than credentials alone.

Attendees will leave with concrete tools they can implement immediately, including a board recruitment screening framework, a structured onboarding process, and a board development curriculum designed to be delivered in realistic time increments given the demands on board members' schedules.

Presenter: Colleen Katzenmoyer and Catherine Dry

Navigating conflict in specialized school programs is a complex but essential skill for every leader. This session provides a practical, action-oriented playbook for moving beyond reactive problem-solving to proactive, strategic leadership. Participants will gain a dual perspective from both a special education leader and legal counsel, learning how to identify the root causes of conflict, from IEP disagreements to legal challenges. Attendees will walk away with actionable strategies to build trust, foster collaborative communication, and implement defensible practices that not only resolve conflict effectively but also contribute to the long-term advancement of special education leadership.

Join NAPSEC as we celebrate the outstanding professionals making a difference in special education and adult services. During our Annual Awards Luncheon, we will proudly recognize this year’s Educator of the Year, Related Service Provider of the Year, and Direct Care Worker of the Year for their exceptional dedication, service, and impact within the communities they serve. 

Stop by our dedicated media room to share your organization's story on NAPSEC social media channels.

Help support our mission to promote excellence in special education.

Presenter: Rebecca Bultsma

Presenter: Scott Evans and Julie Hickey

Nonprofit special education programs and adult community service providers are facing an ever tightening fiscal environment. We need to think more strategically about developing community partners as well as how we work with our state and federal legislative representatives. These partnerships have the ability to allow organizations to grow the mission and to meet the operational and capital needs of the program. There are a large number of organizations that are faced with aging facilities that either do not meet the needs of the current population and/or are simply getting to the point where major investments need to be made to their physical plant. This session will walk you through Benedictine’s strategy to raise $10 million for a new student residential facility through public and private funds.

Stop by to relax and learn more about NCASES.

Join colleagues for an informal breakfast roundtable focused on workplace safety and
practical strategies for protecting staff.

Participate in a NAPSEC member listening session designed to hear directly from members
about priorities, challenges, and emerging needs.

Presenter: Elizabeth Oseguera, Adrienne Shilton, Lisette Burton, and Pati Ortiz

Across the country, community-based organizations providing prevention services, foster family services including kinship care, and a variety of other therapeutic and supportive services to children and youth are grappling with an escalating insurance crisis. These entities, already facing complex challenges, are now confronting skyrocketing premiums, reduced access to liability and property insurance, and limited carrier options—jeopardizing the sustainability of vital programs and threatening outcomes for children and families.

In this session, the California Alliance of Child and Family Services (CA Alliance) will present its multi-pronged strategy to support providers across California, focused on short- and long-term approaches to resolving the crisis and its advocacy strategies to getting this done.

We hope to be joined by The Association of Children's Residential & Community Services (ACRC) or the National Organization of State Associations for Children (NOSAC) who would share results from a national insurance survey that gathered data across states to better understand the size and scope of the insurance crisis nationwide and the disruption that this challenge presents to effective public-private partnerships that support child and family well-being. They would also provide an update on national engagement, including efforts by federal working groups focused on this issue and ongoing dialogue with Congress.

To round out the session, we would like to have Patti Ortiz, Executive Director of the California Association of Private Special Education Services speak to how the liability insurance crisis is impacting special ed providers within schools and viable solutions for Californians impacted.

Together, this panel will highlight both the urgency and the momentum behind coordinated, cross-sector strategies to address the insurance crisis head-on.

Presenter: Becca Colangelo, Stacey Beichler, and Hannah Wayne

Preparing neurodiverse learners for life after high school requires intentional, strength-based practices that build confidence, functional life skills, and self-advocacy. CORE Foundations at Kennedy Krieger provides effective programming that integrates individualized planning, real-world exposure, and supportive coaching to increase independence for all community members. This is best exemplified through our CORE Careers programming. These employment services offer job readiness and job development services to community members that are enhanced with practice through virtual reality (VR). Combining evidence-based transition strategies with VR-supported employment services creates a more inclusive pathway to sustainable employment.

Presenter: Rebecca Bultsma