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School
Readiness Council
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here for Minutes from meeting YEAR 2003
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Click here for Minutes from meeting YEAR 2004 |
JANUARY 12, 2005
ATTENDANCE: Betsy Bain, Chair; Curtis Law; Devon Rayment; Victoria Schilling;
Dona Ditrio; Chris Dudek-Ratushnuk; Gerri Degnan; Elaine Andersen; Lynn Sadlon;
Marie-Ange Nicolas; Pat Balaban; Lauriston Avery; Carlin Hill.
STAFF: Linda Wilock; Mary Budrawich.
OTHERS: Aida Frese & George Harrington, KSS; Sally Grose, NEON Board of Directors.
MEETING CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order at 9:40 a.m. by the Chair.
APPROVAL OF NOVEMBER MINUTES
** MS. ANDERSEN MOVED TO APPROVE THE NOVEMBER 10, 2004 MINUTES AS SUBMITTED.
** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.
UPDATES
SCHOOL READINESS GRANT, PROGRAMS AND ISSUES
Ms. Wilock said that the State asked for a report from each community on their plan for spending all of their funds. $600,000 will be spent statewide. $200,000 was set aside for professional development and the other $400,000 has been made available for additional slots. These are temporary; the children have to be in place by February 1st and they must be new children, four years old, or starting kindergarten in September. This is a problem for some of their programs. NEON is interested in applying for Head Start. They have identified 8 additional slots. That proposal will be submitted to the State by Friday. The Chair said modifications have to be made to the Ben Franklin facility.
The Chair asked Ms. Degnan to let other providers know that they should know if other providers can increase their capacity by adding space.
CHEFA
Mrs. Wilock said that Mr. Schmidt expects to hear by March or April regarding the CHEFA application.
QUALITY ENHANCEMENT
Mrs. Wilock said there is no new news.
FAIRFIELD COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION GRANT
Ms. Budrawich said they are proceeding. Ms. Degnan said it has been very successful for them in terms of two families. Long term, it is helpful for all of the teachers. Ms. Budrawich said that Carousel and Children’s Playhouse are also participating. NEON has a separate contract with Mid-Fairfield so they have not put forth a separate request. There are at lease five non-School Readiness providers who have made contact as well.
Mr. Sadlon asked if they could use their quality enhancement money next year. The Chair said that is a question – is this having a significant impact and worth pursuing on a broader impact? She asked if they could produce a generic proposal.
REGIONAL/STATE UPDATE
Ms. Budrawich said the Early Childhood Alliance is putting together an advocacy proposal for this legislative session. There was consensus about the support of care for kids and the promotion of additional allocations to DSS subsidies for low income child care and also for support for the promotion of additional allocations from the government to authorize the already existing school readiness system. This Alliance will circulate its advocacy statement.
Ms. Budrawich said that the “Ready, Set, Grow” is a terrific link to other active organizations and important reports and resources on early care and education.
The Chair said that she and three others attended a forum in Hartford on the status of early childhood issues yesterday. There was discussion about supporting School Readiness, going through priority school districts rather than ERG 1.
On December 10th, the ECP held a community forum at Stepping Stones to discuss what they are doing. Their strategic plan for the State mirrors what Norwalk is doing.
Re the School Readiness Network Group, Ms. Budrawich said they are discussing network advocacy. Much of this group is reported on the Early Childhood alliances.
Ms. Ditrio said that the Child Daycare Council wrote a letter to the State Board of Education and the Commissioner saying that they would like to see consistency in the approach to additional funding, and then all of the centers should require Department of Public Health licenses. There is another issue in that family daycare providers are being asked to pay a user tax. The Child Daycare Council is looking at this and at revising daycare regulations. They are also looking at new transportation regulations. Ms. Ditrio said they are also looking at State funded centers that have not received an increase in six years. They are lobbying to increase Care for Kids subsidies. At issue is that the State needs to add money to these components rather than moving it around.
APPROVAL OF SCHOOL READINESS POLICIES
VOTE FOR APPROVAL: SUPPORT OF PROGRAMS IN GOOD STANDING
** MS. ANDERSEN MOVED TO APPROVE THE POLICY.
** MS. BALABAN MOVED TO AMEND THE POLICY TO ADD “THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE WILL
NOTIFY THE REVIEW AND SELECTION COMMITTEE OF RELEVANT INFORMATION.” AS THE LAST
SENTENCE IN THE THIRD PARAGRAPH.
** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.
** MAIN MOTION, AS AMENDED, PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.
SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
The Chair said as a result of State monitoring, it became apparent that they should meet. They met in December to discuss provider issues, advocacy and expansion. Last week’s meeting was rescheduled to this afternoon because of weather.
Ms. Budrawich said they have three additional interested providers who will provide this afternoon’s meeting. The Chair said that the issue is being ready to act quickly if the situation changes.
INFORMAL CARE
Ms. Sadlon said they have 16y providers on their data base. In December, she attended a Statewide meeting where people working in informal care share ideas. They want to work with State Legislators to correct the problems. The Chair said it is important to make the Council aware of the issues. This should be put into writing. Ms. Sadlon said as part of their quality enhancement money, they have decided to take four field trips a year.
PROVIDER NETWORK
Ms. Degnan said they are working on the changes for accreditation. All School Readiness Programs except NEON are required to be accredited.
Discussion took place on the fact that 75% of staff members are required to have an Associates Degree. Ms. Hill said they are looking at adding four classes at NEON.
Ms. Schilling asked if quality enhancement money could be used for the fee; Ms. Budrawich said that question could be discussed.
At 10:30 a.m., Ms. Andersen left the meeting.
Ms. Ditrio said that the Council and the State should be advocating to take the $600,000 to pay for obtaining the credentials. Ms. Budrawich said both groups have discussed this but the State Department will not allow it.
REVIEW & SELECTION
No report.
PROGRAM
This committee is continuing to play their spring conference.
TRANSITION
No report.
NOMINATING
No report.
UPDATES (CONT’D)
KIDS START SMART: THE NORWALK DISCOVERY INITIATIVE: KSS WORK PLAN
The Chair said that the draft work plan had been passed out last December. They need to discuss where their role is in this initiative. Following review of the three goals: 1) create an integrated system; 2) increase parental knowledge and involvement; build community will – extensive discussion took place. The Chair said trying to move this body from being reactive is to encourage it to be more proactive in directing where this committee is going in support for early childhood. Ms. Carlin suggested that everyone be sent a survey. Ms. Schiller said that the resource directory could be used for this purpose. Mrs. Avery said they are going in spirals. They need to talk to the teachers. Ms. Balaban said she was confused; they are already doing everything stated in the goals. The Chair said she is trying to broaden the field of discussion and the scope of discussion. The question is whether they should expand their reach or act as a collaborative partnership. Ms. Schilling said there is a danger of duplication of effort.
At the Chair’s suggestion, it was agreed to hold a special meeting on February 9th from 9:30 to 11:30 to discuss this in depth.
Ms. Ditrio asked if they were going in a direction that the City wants them to go into. The Chair said everything done under the School Readiness Council has been approved by the Mayor and the Superintendent of Schools.
OTHER
The Chair distributed a flyer on “Norwalk Reads.”
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Mr. Law said that the Housing Authority has selected an architect and is working through the contract to build housing on property in Colonial Village. They will build a community building. Mr. Law asked if any providers would be interested in this space, noting that he would like to work with them early on in the process.
Ms. Schilling spoke of a meeting held on Monday on the topic of childhood obesity.
In 2003-04, 15.20% of kindergarten children were obese, which is an increase
of 10.99% from 1997-98. Ms. Dudek-Ratushnuk said that Tim Callahan has asked
her to contact providers to see if there is any information she can gather as
to obesity and nutrition requirements of children.
Ms. Nicholas said that she has received a $25,000 grant for the accelerated
CDA.
ADJOURNMENT
** MR. LAW MOVED TO ADJOURN.
** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.
The meeting was adjourned at 11:15 a.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Cheryl Telesco
Telesco Secretarial Services
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