NOVEMBER 8, 2006

ATTENDANCE: Betsy Bain, Chairwoman; Curtis Law, Norwalk Housing
Authority; Elaine Anderson, Human Services Council of
Mid Fairfield Director; Devon Rayment, Mid-Fairfield
Child Guidance; Linda Wilock, Norwalk Youth Services
Director; Mary Peniston, Norwalk Public Schools; Migdalia
Garcia, Norwalk Community Health Center; Patricia Balaban,
Department of Social Services; Paula Trujillo, Fox Run Parent;
Rovitta Paul, The Children’s Playhouse; Christine Dudek-
Ratushnuk, Norwalk Health Department; Victoria Schilling,
Norwalk Healthy Families – Norwalk Health Department;
Lynn Sadlon-Moritz, Fox Run Family Resource; Marlene
DeBellis, Side by Side Community School Family Resource
Center; Sherelle Harris, Norwalk Public Library, Mary Budrawich,
Norwalk Public Schools

STAFF: Barbara Smart, School Readiness Council

OTHER: Jill Longliti, N.E.O.N.; Mary Windt, Under One Roof; George
Hensingor, Norwalk Kids Start Smart; Dr. Sally Grose, N.E.O.N.
NFC Board; Adia Frese, Norwalk Kids Start Smart; Mary Windt,
Under One Roof

I. MEETING CALL TO ORDER

Chairwoman Bain called the meeting to order at 9:45 a.m. Chairwoman Bain announced that there was a quorum present.

One of the first things that Chairwoman Bain wished to do was display a pair of photographs that showed a handmade flag done by Under One Roof and sent to Iraq. The first photograph showed the children who participated in creating the flag. The second photo showed a group of U.S. Servicemen serving in Iraq with the flag in the background.

II. APPROVAL OF THE SEPTEMBER MINUTES

** MS. BALABAN MOVED TO APPROVE THE MINUTES.

The following corrections were noted:

Page 2, 1st paragraph, line 9: please change “a total of 225.” to “a total of 325.”

Page 3, paragraph 5, line 3: please change “the Ready by Five and Fine by Nine, which requires some homework” to “the Ready by Five, Fine by Nine Report from the State Early Childhood Education (ECE) Cabinet, which requires some homework”

Page 3, paragraph 5, line 4: please change “ Ms. Friese” to “Ms. Frese”

Page 4, paragraph 4, line 2: please change “applications for program” to “applications from programs”

Page 5, paragraph 6, line 1: please change “on the Summer Program” to “one the Brighter Futures Summer Program”

Page 5, paragraph 6, line 3: please add “The providers requested that there be better coordination between the students applying for the Brighter Futures program and the School Readiness Program in the future.”

** THE MOTION TO ACCEPT THE MINUTES WITH THE NOTED CHANGES PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

III. UPDATES

A. School Readiness Grant

1. RFP (Minor Capital Improvements & Wiring)

Ms. Wilock stated that there was no additional information on the School Readiness Grant. A letter was sent to Robert Genaurio, the Budget Director for the Bond Commission, requesting that this issue be put on the State Bond Issue Agenda as soon as possible. This may happen in January. Ms. Wilock stated that the funding was available through June 2007, so hopefully this grant will be approved. Unfortunately, with the long delay, the RFP bid numbers are now inaccurate.

2. Monitoring

Ms. Wilock stated that the monitoring is on going. Both Ms. Smart and Julie Copey from CEF are doing the quality monitoring. One issue that had come up is the 60/40 issue, that requires that 60% of the children be income eligible. When a program comes close to the balance that the change in the status of one student, such as household composition or income, could place the program in non-compliance. By changing the ratio to a 65/35 split, this prevents this from happening. This change has been discussed with the providers, who are favorable toward the adjustment. It will be important to have the information for the parents regarding the possibility of losing school readiness program eligibility, which would then go to another eligible family, in the enrollment packet.

B. Quality Enhancement

Chairman Bain asked if the award had arrived. Ms. Wilock informed the Council Members that while it was known that there would be an increase less than 1.5%, the actual paperwork has not yet arrived. The budget has been adjusted for this. Ms. Wilock went on to report how the money would be allocated. She stated that they were moving ahead with the informal care, but that the other parts of the program would have to wait.

One comment was made by Mary Windt regarding the monitoring issue. She stated that the school system would like to have a clearer oversight of the audit of the programs. The auditor from the school system will be coming to address a provider network meeting and discuss what the issues are. It was stated that the school district auditor had been to Under One Roof and that he had requested almost as many materials as for the recently completed formal audit. This is required because of the School Readiness program. Chairwoman Bain stated that this very issue had been discussed at the Executive Committee level. One major concern was that the school system’s requests were not imposing a greater financial burden on the programs. Another concern was the additional time and effort involved. The Executive Committee felt that these two concerns warranted that the school auditor come and address the service providers network to discuss this. The State guidelines require an audit, but the school system audit is being done in addition to the State audit, Ms. Wilock said.

C. Board of Education Activites/Update

Chairman Bain announced that Ms. Budrawich was in another meeting and would be arriving soon.

D. Kids Start Smart: The Norwalk Discovery Initiative

Ms. Peniston presented her report to the Council and the development of an action plan. An update and email have been sent out to those who expressed interest. Ms. Peniston said that if anyone wished to be added to the email list, she would do so. In August, there was a meeting at which four people were appointed to take the lead in developing an action plan. An open meeting was held on October 25th, at which time, the outline of the areas where the proposed recommendations and action items were presented to the group. By evaluating the ten priorities, three areas were selected as primary focus. These are increasing capacity and quality of early childhood; evaluating health issues and developing effective strategies for communications with parents. Mr. Richard Costello, a former marketing vice president, has been assisting with the development of this plan. A report from Wexler and Farnum is expected. This report will include a summary of all the dollars that come into Norwalk from the Federal, State and major foundations sources which impact children ages 0 to 8. Chairwoman Bain stated that if the action plan was going to successful, then it had to be endorsed by the community. The next meeting will be on November 16th, in Room 330 at 6:30 p.m. Ms. Peniston commented that there was a significant amount of attention being shown to Norwalk on the State level. One indication of this is that Norwalk is now put into the same class as Hartford and Bridgeport in terms of having additional investments to produce positive outcomes in terms of the Early Childhood field.

C. Board of Education Activites/Update CONT’D

Ms. Budrawich had joined the meeting, so Chairwoman Bain requested her report. Ms. Budrawich stated that the Central Registration Officer has not yet been selected. Interviews have been conducted and the job has been reposted.

The kindergarten teachers screen all entering students and the information has been collected. This data will be entered into a computer and analyzed for future tracking. Eventually, the BOE will be able to look at the students who attended the Brighter Futures Program and compare them with the students who had been recommended for the program but did not attend, and also against the larger kindergarten enrollment. It will also be possible to ascertain the levels of readiness across the entire kindergarten enrollment. Chairwoman Bain wished to know if the screening was aligned with the assessment that is done within the school’s programs. Ms. Budrawich replied that there are currently no crossovers. She went on to explain that her department has been working on making the screenings uniform within the school system. When the State produces their screening requirements in 2009, the school system will adopt those. There was some discussion regarding the adjustments to the screening process and the evaluation process of those children who have been screened.

Ms. Budrawich informed the Council that the State has developed an on-line site for inputing screening data from all the communities in the State. The most of the kindergartner teachers have done this. The State said they will compile the information by community and Ms. Budrawich hopes to have access to that information for Norwalk.

Chairwoman Bain asked if the Executive Summary for Brighter Futures had been distributed. Ms. Budrawich stated that it had been given out, but that if anyone wished to have a copy, please contact her.

E. Regional/State Update

Ms. Budrawich reported that at the last State School Readiness meeting, Paul Flinter, the Bureau Chief for Early Childhood Career and Adult Education, presented the State Department’s Budget documents. She then reviewed the process of how this is done. The approved budget request will go to the Governor’s office. Ms. Budrawich distributed a summary sheet of the State’s budget request to the Council members. She cautioned the Council member that these cover all students from pre-school through high school. The items on the summary sheet are related to Early Childhood. Ms. Budrawich then reviewed the information on the summary with the Council members. She also explained that all of the items listed on the summary are what the State Department of Education would like to have happen, rather than programs that are already in place.

IV. SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS

A. Executive Committee

Chairwoman Bain stated that there had been some discussion about having an event that would be a platform for legislative advocacy. Ms. Peniston said she had followed up on doing a Legislative Breakfast, which Norwalk ACTS had originally mentioned. She also commented that Moira Lyons, the former Speaker of the House, currently works at Norwalk Community College. Ms. Lyons felt that doing a Legislative Breakfast on Early Childhood could be quite effective. Some important points Ms. Lyons mentioned were keeping the presentation simple, present a big picture and not only focus on asking money from the State. Ms. Peniston spoke with State Senator Duff about this. Senator Duff reiterated Ms. Lyons’ comments about the events always being focused on getting more State funds. Senator Duff recommended that an emphasis be on the results based accountability, with no cost and low cost programs addressing the various issues. Ms. Peniston said after she presented the action plan to Senator Duff, he offered to help organize the event. The middle of January appears to be a good time to schedule it.

Mr. Law and Ms. Anderson left the meeting at 10:30 a.m.

B. Informal Care

Ms. Sadlon-Moritz reported that her organization is moving forward with the expectation that the funds are forthcoming. She also said working with Ms. Harris a new story time has been scheduled on November 30th at the SONO library. Chairwoman Bain introduced Ms. Sherrell Harris as a new member of the Council. Ms. Sadlon-Moritz said it was wonderful to have a new space to hold the gatherings. She also said that the grandparents that are watching toddlers like to have activities to which they can bring the children. It is important to include a teachable moment for the adults during that time, also. This is done through hand-outs or verbally during the presentation. The School Readiness providers are often a resource for information on who is caring for the youngest members. A mailing list of almost 200 has been compiled and a newsletter goes out almost quarterly. Copies of the most recent edition of the newsletter were available for the members. Story Time will be done in English at 10:30 a.m. and in Spanish at 11:15 a.m. in the Stew Leonard III Children’s Activity Room.

There were some questions about the library’s hours and whether the branch could be opened on Saturday. Ms. Harris said the problem was that there just wasn’t enough staffing. The budget also has an impact. The Library is open on Tuesday evenings until 8:30 p.m.

Ms. Sadlon-Moritz stated for the record that her email address was foxrunFRC@hotmail.com for those who has a “Kith and Kin” provider to include those providers address on the list.

C. Provider Network

Ms. Paul reported that her organization was working on accreditation. Applications for renewal have been sent and Ms. Paul received a confirmation of delivery card back.
Ms. Budrawich asked what the response was for raising the percentages of income eligible children. Ms. Paul said that her organization was in support of the change. Ms. Budrawich said that at a meeting, she had understood that the providers did not wish to have this increase as a mandated policy, but that the Council could issue a statement recommending a 35/65% ratio.

Another issue that Chairwoman Bain mentioned was that the parents needed to be aware of the possibility that when their circumstances change, they may be subject to losing the school readiness funded slot. Ms. Paul said that her providers were already working with the parents on this issue, particularly in terms of the fact that the child’s participation in the program is not a guarantee from year to year.

D. Review and Selection

There was no report.

E. Program

Ms. Budrawich stated the program report went out in the mail. Extra copies were available in case anyone needed one. She indicated that there were three errors on the report. The one that needed attention was on the Quality Matters newsletter, the fact that Ms. Stacey Kolkon is not a Brookside kindergarten teacher, she is a teacher at Jefferson School.

F. Transitions

Chairwoman Bain said that since this was a Council, which operated by subcommittees, and all members are assigned to a subcommittee, she asked if there were any organizers of the subcommittees that were have difficult with support from the Council. Ms. Budrawich stated that she had just issued a request yesterday for the Transition Committee for representation from the pre-schools.

The meeting has been split into two parts; one dealing with the specific transition activities and the second part is a discussion of a relevant issue. This allows for information about broader issues related to children’s smooth transition into school.

Ms. Sadlon-Mortiz asked if there were any plans to discuss the health form. She said there were always children at Fox Run that were not able to start on the first day because of the blue health forms. She asked if it would be possible to get the preschools to work with the parents for making the appointments in advance of the start of the school year. Ms. Budrawich said that would be included in the entire Early Childhood Action Plan. When working with families for admission into the Brighter Futures programs, the students needed to have the kindergarten physicals done. Many of the parents were not aware of the amount of time needed for a physical or ensuring that the immunizations were up to date. There were many issues around this, including the physicians not knowing what the school required.

When asked if most of the students had health coverage, Ms. Budrawich said that the applicants for Brighter Futures, that was true, but for the most needy families in the community, Ms. Budrawich believed that they did not have health coverage. Ms. Balaban offered to provide copies of the Husky application in Spanish and in English for those who did not have coverage. When Central Registration happens, that would be a key location for distributing Husky applications for the younger children in the family.

One issue that often happens is that the parent thinks once the Husky program is applied for, it is on going. It requires an annual renewal. Many of the Spanish speaking parents don’t understand this. Ms. Budrawich stated that in order to get the message across, it needed to be repeated endlessly. There was a lengthy discussion about communicating with the parents of children regarding the various requirements for the Husky and other programs. It is important to communicate in many ways about these issues, particularly through the pre-school teachers and staff. Ms. Paul said that the pre-schools are already reaching out to the parents in the spring with information about the kindergarten requirements. She suggested that the public schools be a bit more flexible in regards to the blue form. There are a number of children that are entering schools from the non funded programs and these are the children whose parents need to be aware of the required immunizations. It was reiterated that the parents are given the forms in April and instructed how to fill them out. Chairwoman Bain stated that this clearly was an issue that needs to be discussed and addressed in conjunction with Norwalk ACTS, the Health and Nutrition Task Force and Norwalk Healthy Families. It was also pointed out that this is but one example of the type of problems that occur and prevents the School Readiness program from having children as ready as possible to attend school. More strategies need to be developed for this and the other issues.

G. Nominating

There was no report at this time.
V. OTHER

A. Stone Soup Conference.

Chairwoman Bain stated that a number of people: Dr. Grose, Chairwoman Bain, Ms. Frese, Mr. Hensingor, Ms. Budd and others had been able to attend this conference at the end of October.

Chairwoman Bain reported that in her seminar, there was discussion about the role of School Readiness in developing community plans. Another participant stated that she had attended a seminar on Result Based Accountability in reference to Early Childhood Education. It was also commented that there was some talk at the conference that the School Readiness councils may be asked to expand their roles in the Early Childhood area. This should be discussed in the future, because this may eventually encompass ages 0-8 and also include health issues. Mr. Hensingor reported that he attended the Universal Health Care session, which tracked the amount of funds being spent on uninsured treatment at Emergency Rooms and how many children are currently without health care among other statistics. Another factor was the number of parents that were not filling the prescriptions because they could not afford them. Mr. Hensingor stated that there is an entire class of people who are just above the $30,000 income level that results in their having to spend half their income on health insurance premiums. The Speaker of the House had announced his decision to work for universal health care for children.

VI. Announcement

Ms. Schilling reported that she had several announcements. A workshop is scheduled for this evening at 7:30 p.m. on Understanding The Secret Language of Children will take place at the Five Mile River.

The Norwalk Community Health Center will be hosting a pediatric case manager, funded by the Norwalk Children’s Foundation. This will be held on sites. Also, three full time pediatricians have been hired at the Health Center. These physicians will accept the Husky program, as do two other physicians in Norwalk.

Norwalk Smiles will be opening sometime in the spring or summer. This will be a full service dental clinic in South Norwalk. There is a temporary, mobile site at the Heath Department Clinic for HIV both adult and pediatric patients for dental care.

No word has been received as of yet regarding whether the application for linking pediatric care and behavioral care with Mid Fairfield Child Guidance. This would have a mental health clinician on site to work with the pediatricians with developmental/behavioral assessments. A final decision is expected in December.

Norwalk’s Children Foundation has generously provided support to expand Family and Children Agency’s Mom’s Program. This connects women who have at risk pregnancies with prenatal care early during their pregnancies and additional parenting support. One of the goals of this program is to reach the teenage parents.

Ms. Frese stated that a three month calendar of events had been developed by her group and asked that if anyone wished to add their events to the schedule to contact her.

Ms. Sadlon-Moritz stated that the Family Resource Center is now reporting their monthly numbers in a new format. This will help in tracking referrals. In September, the most frequent question was about finding early care providers.

Ms. Peniston stated that the Norwalk Children’s Foundation is selling Christmas cards.

Chairwoman Bain stated that the joint collaborative December meeting would be held on the second Wednesday of the month from 9:30 – 11:30 a.m. Notices will be sent out.

VII. Adjournment

** CHAIRWOMAN BAIN MOVED TO ADJOURN.
** THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

The meeting adjourned at 11:10 a.m.

Respectfully submitted

Sharon L. Soltes
Telesco Secretarial Services

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