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School
Readiness Council
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MAY 10, 2006
ATTENDANCE: Betsy Bain, Chairwoman; Victoria Schilling; Dona Ditrio;
Mary Peniston; Donna Rogers-Jones; Lauriston Avery; Paula Trujillo;
Jeanne Hard; Pat Balaban; Linda Wilock; Curtis Law; Marlene Reilly;
Lynn Sadlon; Marie Ange-Nicolas; Patricia Kieriecki; Gerri Degnan;
Beatrice Krawecki
STAFF: Mary Budrawich; Barbara Smart
OTHER: George Hensinger; Sally Grose; Aida Frese; Mary Campagna;
Jill Lamberti; Ellen Kraft
CALL TO ORDER
Chairwoman Bain called the meeting to order at 9:30 a.m.
APPROVAL OF THE MARCH MINUTES
** MS. SCHILLING MOVED TO APPROVE THE MINUTES OF MARCH 8, 2006.
** MS. DITRIO SECONDED.
** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.
UPDATES
A. School Readiness Grant, Programs and Issues
1. RFP (Minor Capital Improvements & Wiring)
Ms. Wilock said the Council a few months ago approved applications for the Minor Renovation Grant. The Marvin was awarded funding. The City has agreed to be the fiscal agent. She received word that they may be receiving a substantial increase in funding for slots. The State has roughly $4.5M in addition to support slots at the 17 priority districts. She expects to know the amount of the increase in a few weeks. The reimbursement rate for child care for full day, full year, has gone up to $8,025 per child. The cost of school readiness slots has increased every year for the last two years.
2. Monitoring
Ms. Budrawich said that in February, March and April, Ms. Coakley of CES visited all the school readiness classrooms. The school readiness executive committees received a report on each of the funded agencies and classrooms. The committee reviewed accommodations, concerns, and patterns of issues to address on a community wide basis. Each school readiness provider received a letter with a statement of commendations, and each program did receive commendations for various points on their program. Every program had comments about needing to improve science instruction. All the programs are still working hard at linking the Connecticut performance standards to their lesson plans to their assessment process. The adult/child interaction is another piece of the report, and it is the backbone of early childhood education. The accreditation standards is another piece that is still in its infancy. The information gathered will be used in planning for professional development and initiatives. She said that the workshops are open to everyone, and the best way to receive workshop information is via the e-mail list. The Kids Start Smart mailing list is the best way for the parents to get information. The Kids Start Smart website should be operational soon as well.
B. Quality Enhancement
Ms. Wilock said that they had to submit a 2nd year budget for the 2nd year of the plan. They will still have money for the spring conference and for building bridges, for accreditation support, and tuition assistance. They will continue with ECKERS. They will also accommodate 4 new classrooms.
Ms. Budrawich said that 10 classrooms have volunteered. The evaluations will
be concluded by the first week of June. The programs will receive a $450/classroom
stipend and technical assistance in order to address program improvement plans.
They then aggregate the data from the 10 classrooms to look for patterns to
identify weaknesses, etc. The classrooms include Room to Grow, Marvin, NEON,
which has 3 classrooms, and NCC, which has 2 classrooms.
C. Board of Education Activities/Updates
Ms. Budrawich explained that the concept of a central registration process is still being discussed. It would be held at another location other than City Hall, and it would include registration for K-12. As of now, there are 470-480 children registered for Kindergarten, and that is about half the number expected. Registration is an on-going process throughout the Fall, but she encouraged everyone to get the word out to register as soon as possible.
She explained the age range for the Summer program is children entering Kindergarten in Norwalk. Parents who are interested in having their child attend the Summer program can mention that when they register their child at the school. There will be two classes held at NCC, 4 classes at Marvin Elementary, and 4 classes at Rowayton Elementary School. Jefferson School has decided to have it’s own Summer program, which is slightly different than the District program outlined above.
The Kindergarten screening process that has been in place for several years will be modified.
The pre-school information form was revised slightly and went out in this
year’s information packet. It was suggested that the pre-school screening tool
be consistent with the Kindergarten screening tool so that there is some continuity.
D. Kids Start Smart: The Norwalk Discovery Initiative
Ms. Peniston said there is money left in the Graustein Funding, as well as the United Way. She said there are two major things they are focusing on, one of which are the activities for parents of preschoolers, to aid in the transition. The second is the multiple strategies to get the information to the community. She said Ms. Janice Gruendell was clear in stating that Norwalk is a ready community.
Chairwoman Bain said the process that has been adopted for Norwalk Kids Start Smart is the review of the work plans during the summer months for the coming school year. They will be conducting the self-assessments in June. The planning will take place in July or early August.
Ms. Schilling said that Ms. Budrawich will talk about transition to kindergarten at Stepping Stones Museum on Thursday, May 25. Dinner will be provided, and there will be a tour of the museum. She thanked Ms. Ange-Nicolas for her efforts. They can accommodate up to 35 families at the museum for this event.
Ms. Schilling said that on June 5 at 11:30 a.m., they will be having their 2nd Annual Networking Meeting in the Community Room for outreach workers, case managers, and social workers. Last year’s event was terrific, with 65 people in attendance.
Chairwoman Bain said the next Joint Collaborative Meeting of the School Readiness
Council, the Norwalk Healthy Families Collaborative, and Norwalk Kids Start
Smart will be on June 14 at 9:30 a.m. in the Community Room. Ms. Liz Brown of
the Children’s Commission will speak on the latest happenings at the State level,
as well as the outcome of the past Legislative session.
E. Regional/State Update
Ms. Budrawich distributed the information on the early childhood partners website. She said that the Connecticut School Readiness Network has met with Ms. Darlene Raggazine, the Executive Director of Connecticut Charts-A-Course, which is the professional development system and registry, and it was agreed that the most critical issues to be dealt with are work-force and salary issues.
She explained that Mr. George Coleman, the Associate Commissioner of Education, and Mr. Paul Flinter, the Bureau Chief of Early Childhood Education at the State level, have identified about 9,000 certified elementary education teachers who are not currently employed in the public school system. Some discussion followed regarding credentials and compensation.
Ms. Ditrio explained that Commissioner Pat Wilson-Coker from the Department
of Social Services has taken on a role, through the Early Childhood Cabinet,
to examine what is happening with some of the low-income families and to develop
a Family Resource Center. This resource center would be different than the one
that is funded and housed at elementary schools. The goal would be to have services
become more accessible to low-income families, especially in the medical and
dental area. Certain contract items could be reviewed when the contract comes
up for renewal. Mr. Hensinger said that the Senate has recently passed the Parent
Engagement Bill, and the Governor is expected to sign it soon. The Bill would
require all public schools to post a policy on their profile about Parent Engagement
in the school system.
SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS
A. Executive Committee
Chairwoman Bain said the Executive Committee has been dealing with the monitoring report and the development of the budgets and RFP’s required by the State.
B. Informal Care
Ms. Sadlon said there are 134 English speaking informal care providers. There
are 40 providers that speak other languages. She would like to conduct some
outreach for the providers, and this is done in the form of community events.
She had fliers available. She said that Ms. Trujillo is conducting a Spanish
language storytime session next Tuesday at Norwalk Reads in South Norwalk. She
mentioned a CPR class being offered for friends & family in June.
C. Provider Network
Ms. Degnan said they are busy getting ready for accreditation on May 31. Ms. Avery mentioned that the Lost Child policy was not included in the pilot study.
D. Review & Selection
Chairwoman Bain said the committee had not met this season. They are starting the second year of the two year grant. She said there is a possibility they will be meeting soon.
E. Program
Ms. Budrawich said that Building Bridges is having a meeting tomorrow evening, with 90 people scheduled to attend. Mr. Michael Rafferty will be doing the presentation on Shared Reading. It starts at 5:00 p.m. with cocktails and hors d’oeuvres. The meeting will start at 5:30 p.m., and a buffet dinner will follow at 7:30 p.m. There will be open seating.
She said Ms. Charlotte Stetson will conduct Study Starters on May 20 at NCC as part of the Creative Curriculum. They are looking for more attendees.
F. Transition
Ms. Budrawich said that the committee has shifted focus and is spending time on discussing issues that are relevant to transition. Kindergarten readiness and kindergarten retention are two of the issues being discussed. She said that there could be policy changes regarding kindergarten retention and past practices.
G. Nominating
Chairwoman Bain said the committee met last Monday and discussed the issue of the makeup of the Council. In the past, the practice had been that they divided the Council in half by makeup, thereby having one half of the Council being reappointed by the Mayor and the Superintendent every year. The Nominating Committee has prepared their recommendations to be presented to the Mayor. The current by-laws say that membership is up to 30. There are about 6 members that have representation required by State statute. There is a requirement for attendance, so excessive absences will be questioned. She said Ms. Sherelle Harris is being recommended to replace Ms. Ann Tomlinson. Ms. Patricia Kieriecki is being recommended to replace Ms. Carlin Hill as the NEON representative. Ms. Rovitta Paul will be one of the provider network representatives.
Chairwoman Bain thanked Ms. Hard and Ms. Balaban for their efforts. She also urged everyone to be involved in one or more
OTHER
ANNOUNCEMENTS
ADJOURNMENT
** MS. AVERY MOVED TO ADJOURN.
** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:55 a.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Carolyn Marr
Telesco Secretarial Services
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