MARCH 14, 2007

ATTENDANCE: Betsey Bain, Chairwoman; Geri Degnan, Marvin’s Children
Center; Rovita Paul, The Children’s Playhouse; Patricia Balaban, Dept. of Social Services; Lauriston Avery, Five Mile River Nursery; Marie-Ange Nicolas; Linda Wilock, Norwalk Youth Services; Mary Budrawich, Norwalk Public School System;
Marlene DeBellis, Side by Side; Curtis Law, Norwalk Housing Authority; Victoria Schilling, Norwalk Healthy Families; Patricia Kierecki, N.E.O.N. Head Start; Elaine Anderson, Human Service Council; Christine Dudek-Ratushnuk, Norwalk Health Department; Lynn Sadlon-Moritz, Fox Run Family Resource; Beatrice Krawiecki, Norwalk Public Schools; Jeanne Hard, parent; Mary Peniston, Norwalk Public Schools

STAFF: Barbara Smart, School Readiness Council

OTHERS: Dr. Sally Grose, Norwalk Child Foundation; George Hensinger,
Kids Start Smart; Joyce Abate, Carousel Preschool, Ada Frese,
Kids Start Smart

I. MEETING CALL TO ORDER

Chairwoman Bain called the meeting to order at 9:36 a.m. A quorum was not present, so the first item of consideration was III. A – School Readiness.

A. School Readiness Program

Ms. Wilock announced that the RFP for the School Readiness Grant has been received for the next two years. At this point, the program is still utilizing the same numbers as last year because the legislature is still in session and the new figures have not been announced for the budget. Ms. Wilock said that the School Readiness Program has in turn issued a new RFP for providers and are encouraging new providers to apply. The grant is due May 18th. Local grants are due March 22nd.

Ms. Avery and Ms. Nicolas arrived at 9:40 a.m.

Chairwoman Bain stated a quorum was now present and therefore the minutes would be considered.

II. APPROVAL OF THE JANUARY MINUTES
** MS. ANDERSEN MOVED TO APPROVE THE MINUTES OF THE JANUARY 10, 2007 MEETING.

The following corrections were noted:

Page 1, Header and Footer and throughout document: please change the date from
“January 10, 2006” to January 10, 2007.

Page 1, under ATTENDANCE: please change “Human Services Council of Mid
Fairfield” to “Human Services Council”

Page 1, in the corrections, line 3: please change “Julie Cokey” to “Julie Cokaley”

Page 5, paragraph 7, line 4: please omit “ Chairwoman Bain said that the Council was
looking for “best practices”.

** THE MOTION TO APPROVE THE JANAUARY MINUTES AS CORRECTED PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

Chairwoman Bain stated that Ms. Andersen will be retiring from the Human Service Council during the next few weeks. This was Ms. Andersen’s last meeting with the School Readiness Council and Chairwoman Bain took this opportunity to thank Ms. Anderson on behalf of the School Readiness Council for all her hard work on behalf of the Early Childhood Community.

Ms. Andersen commented the Human Services Council ran the Childcare Council for many years and because of that, many of the services were developed. The School Readiness Council started and has done marvelous things during the last ten years.

III. UPDATES
B. Quality Enhancement

Ms. Wilock said that the Quality Enhancement Grant will come up in the spring. The RFP for this has not been issued yet. Ms. Wilock said that she believed it was due the same time the School Readiness Grant is. She said that she thought there might be some changes to the guidelines, but that is not known at this point.

C. Board of Education Activities/Updates

Ms. Budrawich reported that the establishment of the Central Registration Officer position, one of the projects that the School Readiness Council has been working on has been eliminated by the budget cuts. The current kindergartner registration will be happening at the schools as planned.

The kindergartner screening, which was done the in fall by the teachers, has been moving forward as the data is entered. Ms. Budrawich said that she hoped to have a snapshot of the incoming kindergartner class in a few weeks. This will allow comparison of the children who attended the Brighter Futures program and those who did not.

D. Kids Start Smart: The Norwalk Discovery Initiative

Chairman Bain informed the group that the Graustein’s commitment to the Discovery Initiative was scheduled to end this year. They have decided to continue their support for at least two more years and are currently talking with their Discovery Community, which Norwalk is part of, about the direction the Group will move in. They will be heavily invested in statewide level with statewide strategies. District proposals will most likely be due in August or September. Over the last four years, the Graustein’s have invested over $160,000 in Norwalk and previously, over $50,000.

Ms. Pennston announced that the Norwalk Early Childhood Action Plan would be holding two meetings on “Help Shape the Strategies”, the first on March 28th and a second one on April 4th at the Norwalk Police Station Community Room. A copy of the flyer was distributed to everyone.

E. Healthy Families Collaborative

Ms. Schilling said that Goal 2 in the Early Childhood Action Plan, was to have behavioral health screening at Norwalk Community Health Center. Dr. O’Callahan provided some training on this and uses a family model in his practice in Middlesex, CT. Ms. Schilling said that it was a wonderful program and that the doctors are now screening young children up to age 8 for behavioral and developmental issues.

Ms. Schilling said that when parents come to the Health Center waiting room, they will be given an assessment screening, which is called the Pediatric Evaluation of Developmental Status (PEDS). It gives the parents an opportunity to express any concerns about their child’s developmental skills. A developmental chart can then be compiled. Eventually, the parents will be given an ASQ form to send in, which will go to “Help Me Grow” for evaluation. Following this, the parents can be referred to appropriate sources if needed. Many more children will receive help from this screening.

Ms. Schilling said that at the last collaborative meeting, Ms. Liz Brown was scheduled to come and address the group. However, this had to be cancelled due to a conflict in Ms. Brown’s schedule. Ms. Brown has offered to meet with interested parties in Hartford. Ms. Schilling said that she would be emailing everyone with a tentative date in the near future.

F. Regional Update

Chairman Bain said that Ms. Dietro keeps the Council informed on issues and that Mr. Hensinger from Kids Start Smart is also involved with the Early Childhood Alliance.

Mr. Hensinger then distributed copies of some of the current legislation at the Capitol to the members of the Council. Mr. Hensinger said that there are over 100 bills being worked on in Hartford right now. The three biggest pieces of legislation are: universal health care, ECS formula and Early Care and Education. Mr. Hensinger then gave a brief overview of the various bills to the Council and a discussion followed about these issues.

** MS. PENISTON MOVED THAT THE SCHOOL READINESS COUNCIL CONVEY TO OUR LOCAL LEGISLATORS OUR SUPPORT FOR UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE FOR CHILDREN.

There was a brief discussion about how to frame this support.

** MS. SADLON-MORITZ SECONDED.

Ms. Schilling will write a letter about this and Chairman Bain will co-sign it on behalf of the School Readiness Council.

A question regarding whether the universal health care would cover children of illegal aliens arose. A discussion about the details of this followed.

** THE MOTION PASSED WITH SIXTEEN IN FAVOR (DEGNAN, PAUL, BALABAN, NICHOLAS, WILOCK, BUDRAWICH, DEBELLIS, SCHILLING, KIERECKI, ANDERSEN, DUDEK-RATUSHNUK, SADLON-MORTIZ, KRAWIECKI, HARD, PENNISTON AND FRESE) AND TWO ABSENTIONS (LAW AND AVERY).
IV. SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS

A. Executive Committee

Chairwoman Bain said that the Executive Committee meets monthly and some members of the Council asked what the Committee does. One of the main responsibilities is reviewed the monitoring that takes place in the various programs. Minutes of the meetings are taken and are available by contacting Linda.

B. Informal Care

Ms. Sadlon-Moritz stated that a series of three programs targeting grandparents, babysitters and nannies were held at the Stepping Stones Museum. Upcoming Spring events include a class in CPR, a trip to the Earth Place in Westport and possibly a trip to the Beardsley Zoo. Ms. Sadlon-Moritz said that it is important to get the word out regarding the programs. Newsletter and emails will be sent and the newsletter is available in Spanish.

C. Provider Network

Ms. Degnan announced that the providers were getting ready for the RFP. She also stated that Ms. Paul’s program, Naramake and Marvin were waiting a visit from NEYC. Ms. Budrawich commented that there was a very large number of forms and paperwork before the a site visit is scheduled. She said this was a huge accomplishment for the three providers.

D. Review and Selection

The activities of the Review and Selection are coming up with the issuance of the RFPs later this month. Ms. Smart then informed the Council that the results were not ready at this time.

E. Program

Ms. Budrawich reminded everyone about the upcoming programs that had been in their packets. A second mailing about listing the various events and activities will be arriving soon. There was a brief discussion about the distribution of the flyers.

Ms. Budrawich then gave a brief overview of the Brighter Futures program enrollment process.

F. Transition

Ms. Budrawich said that the major focus is that the Transition Committee is working with preschool and kindergarten teachers to establish a consistent portfolio for children with information that will be shared from preschool to kindergarten. The portfolio will not meet the high quality that the School System receives from program like Carousel or Children’s Playhouse. This is an attempt to close that gap and be more consistent about what is asked by the preschools to submit to the kindergarten.

G. Nominating

Chairwoman Bain stated this task will be handled by volunteers. The group will be transition from School Readiness Council to Early Childhood Council and therefore the importance of this task has increase. She asked for volunteers. When none were forthcoming, Chairwoman Bain said that there would be phone calls made to various members about this.

VII. ANNOUNCEMENTS

Dr. Grose encouraged everyone to participate in the Norwalk Education Foundation “Dine Out for Education Program” on March 28, 2007. Select restaurants listed on the flyer will donate 15% of the lunch or dinner bill to support the Norwalk Education Foundation and the Norwalk AfterSchool Alliance.

Dr. Grose also announced that the Festival of Words would take place on March 31, 2007 from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. at Norwalk Community College. She highlighted two events, a keynote address by Charles Shields, the author of a biography of Harper Lee and some storytelling performed by Raoul Mama.

V. EARLY CHILDHOOD ACTION PLAN

Ms. Budrawich said that she and Mary Peniston had created a rough draft of Proposed Leadership and Management Plan for the Council for discussion. She then distributed copies of a Proposal for Transitioning from Current Early Childhood Groups to a New Entity to the members of the Council. The Council members then discussed the various aspects of the draft proposal.

Dr. Grose, Mr. Law and Ms. Anderson left the meeting at 11:03 a.m. Ms. Reilly, Ms. Degnan and Ms. Staples left the meeting at 11:07 a.m.

VI. OTHER

There were no additional items for the Council’s consideration.

VIII. ADJOURNMENT

Chairwoman Bain adjourned the meeting at 11:21 a.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Sharon L. Soltes
Telesco Secretarial Services

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