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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
Click here for Minutes from January 12, 2005 |
APRIL 13, 2005
ATTENDANCE: Betsy Bain, Chair; Mary Penigton; Victoria Schilling; Elaine Andersen; Lynn Sadlon; Pat Balaban; Devon Rayment; Lauriston Avery; Marie-Ange Nicolas; Rosemary Scullane; Beatrice Krawieoki; Paula Trujillo; Shari-Konn Andrade; Jeanne Taylor Hard.
STAFF: Linda Wilock; Mary Budrawich; Ed Schmidt, Assistant to Mayor
OTHERS: Aida Frese & George Hensingon, KSS; Sally Grose, NEON Board of Directors, Mary Helen Burke, Tumble Bugs Preschool; Barbara Smart; SRC.
CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order at 9:40 a.m. by the Chair. The focus for today’s meeting is the connection between Kids Start Smart and School Readiness Council.
Ms. Bain stated that this is a continuation of the discussion from February
at the School Readiness Council. The primary purpose was to update the Council
on various activities of the Kids Start Smart initiative, their work plan, the
exploration of the relationship between the two, and the definition of roles.
The consensus is that Norwalk needs a plan. There are discussions going on at
the local level and the state level. The need to create an understanding in
the community of the importance of preschool and the impact on the success of
the school system and the success of the economy is an argument that has been
made. It was decided that there is a need to work around a concrete topic. The
State is considering adding new $ to school readiness for expansion of capacity.
HYPOTHESIS: NORWALK NEEDS 100 (?) ADDITIONAL QUALITY, PRE-SCHOOL SLOTS FOR 3
AND 4 YEAR OLD CHILDREN
In the fall, the City was required to submit to the State Department their estimate of unmet needs. Based on this report, the unmet need was about 109 slots. The hypothesis is that we need capacity to address the issue of both 3 and 4 year olds, not just capacity for 4 year olds. The City Administration is very interested in expanding the capacity in Norwalk for pre-school opportunity, and has applied for a $3M grant from CHEFA to renovate and expand the Head Start program at Nathaniel Ely.
BRIEF UPDATE ON LATEST MEETING OF NPS AND NCC/COMMUNITY LEADERS RE: EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
There was a meeting a week ago to discuss the issue of early childhood education and the importance to the school system, and how does the school system need to be involved. The result of that meeting was that people started a charge, to reflect on a vision statement that was not just from the perspective of the school system but the community as well. Ms. Bain then handed out the vision statements from the following groups:
Kids Start Smart
Norwalk Healthy Family Collaboratives
Norwalk School Readiness Council
Initial Draft of Public School Meeting
A job description for the Early Childhood Education Specialist was going to be drafted. The initial focus should be on a targeted population or those most in need. All of the focuses have been on school success.
WHAT ARE THE ISSUES?
Issue Responsibility
1) Facilities KSS
2) Funding sources SRC
3) Teachers qualifications
4) Competitive salaries to recruit and retain
5) Quality = accreditation (licensing) SRC
6) Where is the need in Norwalk KSS
7) Are the slots for a targeted group?
8) Transportation KSS
9) Provision of dual language program SRC & NPS
10) Attract/identify families to those slots
11) Affordability SRC
12) Extending Hours/Flex Scheduling KSS
13) Curriculum
14) Evaluation of success (assessment) of process and results NPS, SRC
15) Who monitors quality? SRC
16) Capacity of current resources and support services NHFC
17) Need for new or expanded facilities SRC
18) Analysis of current availability barriers for unused openings. SRC
Family child care could be part of it.
19) Professional development and on-site coaching SRC
WHO SHOULD BE INVOLVED?
1) Parents
2) Teachers – preschool and kindergarten
3) Funders
4) NCC
5) Clergy
6) Program Directors
7) Board of Ed/NPS
8) Mental Health
9) Health Agencies
10) Transit District
11) Medical/Pediatricians
12) Chamber of Commerce/Business
WHAT CAN EACH GROUP/ENTITY/ORGANIZATION CONTRIBUTE?
A suggestion was made to create task forces and then come back to the table.
WHAT IS CURRENTLY MISSING FROM THE PICTURE THAT IS A BARRIER TO ACHIEVING THE GOAL?
1) There is a lack of a visionary leader. That person would be the coordinator
and bring the groups together.
2) The time constraints of an all-volunteer base is a barrier.
3) The temperament of Norwalk, sometimes entrepreneurial and disjointed, is
a barrier.
Mr. Schmidt stated that the barrier to the implementation of the plan could be agreeing on consensus based plan through SRC. The amount of funding each municipality gets from the Governor’s bill is unclear and it is not all equal. It is positioned to take advantage of those most in need. The governor’s budget is $8.8M for slots, and if it is competitive, we could get 0 or more than 40.
The meeting was adjourned at 11:00 a.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Carolyn Marr
Telesco Secretarial Services
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