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2005 Victor J. Contrucci  Outstanding Service Award Winner

From the start, Vic always was a passionate advocate for fair, equitable, and effective services for children and their families. It is in this tradition that the Wisconsin Council on Developmental Disabilities is proud to present the twelfth annual Victor J. Contrucci Outstanding Service Award for 2005 to:

Jan Serak

Everything about Jan Serak’s work on behalf of children with disabilities shouts collaboration and consensus building. She could write the manual (and has!) on how to come to mutual agreement and understanding on diverse issues. As we all know, there are many diverse issues when it comes to educating children.

Her experience and perspective is vast. Jan is the parent of a 26 year old young man with autism. For ten years she has been the Co-Executive Director of FACETS, serving parents of children with disabilities across the state. She was the past Co-Director of the Parent Education Project, former President of the Autism Society of Wisconsin, a founding member of the Quality Education Coalition, is a national consultant on autism, a mediator for the Marquette University Neighborhood

Mediation Center, and a mediator for the Milwaukee County Adult Guardianship mediation project.
In 1997 Jan spearheaded a consensus building process with DPI and numerous stakeholders that resulted in the passage of Wisconsin’s current special education law.

Her work has made available across the state a highly acclaimed Special Education Mediation option for parents and schools; a new IEP Facilitation option for parents and schools; Early Conflict Resolution training for blended audiences of parents and school staff; and a genuine Wisconsin Special Education Stakeholders forum to exchange ideas and share perspectives on improving special education services.

Perhaps more than any other educational venue, special education generates passionately held and widely different viewpoints. Jan’s contributions are marked consistently by her careful consideration of issues on all sides of the fence.
Congratulations Jan - you deserve great recognition for the work you have done to build coalitions and create decision making strategies that work for parents and educators.