MINUTES
Wednesday, February 6,
2008
6:30PM-8:00 PM
PRESENT: K. Grunwald
(staff), S. Baxter (staff), J. Stoughton (staff), N. Hovorka, K. Russo (United
Way), S. Daley, J. Goldman, A. Bladen (Chair), L. Dahn, B. Lehmann, J. Buck, J.
Higham, D. McLaughlin, C. Guerreri, R. Leclerc, MJ Newman
REGRETS: A. Bloom, K. Paulhus, L.
Oransoff, J. Soroka
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Time |
Item |
Discussion |
Outcome |
6:30-6:35
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Call to order and
Announcements
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S. Baxter announced that the SR
Task Force met and determined allocation of spaces for the next program year
(4 Centers). L. Dahn announced that CCC has
completed their NAYEC accreditation visit and will rejoin the School
Readiness program, pending NAEYC accreditation which will be determined
within 3 months. S. Baxter announced
that the state legislative session opened today: one issue being reviewed is
that of parity of space payment between priority districts and special need
schools in the School Readiness program. |
Chair A. Bladen
called the meeting to order at 6:30 PM. Members were
encouraged to contact their legislators and support parity between these
districts for equal pay for each space at all of the State’s centers. |
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6:35-6:40 |
Approve Minutes of 1/09/08 |
J. Goldman pointed out that the discussion about
small group reports needs to be clarified |
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6:40-7:25 |
DISCOVERY:
Report on TA money Report on Consultant assignment |
S.Baxter reported that we have been awarded a
planning grant for $10,000 to hire a consultant for technical assistance in
order to resubmit the |
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Discovery Action Plan Updated |
-We have not received the carry-over funds from our
Graustein 2007 Incentive grant nor our regular Graustein 2008 grant from
EASTCONN. S.Baxter has requested
follow-up with Carmen Siberon and will report on the process as soon as they
have contact. -S.Baxter reviewed our 2008 Discovery Action
Plan. Discussion about whether or not
sub-committees have completed a list of goals and actions to achieve
goals. This was seen as a duty of each
of the small groups and would take too much time if done in the large group
setting. B.Lehmann suggested that the
small groups address these action items and report on status at our next
meeting. -K.Grunwald pointed out that not all of the action
steps are currently covered by small groups.
C.Guerreri pointed out that the Executive Committee needs to be
meeting monthly to provide direction to the subcommittees. There was some
lack of clarity about who comprises the Executive Committee. This should include chairs of the
sub-committees, but not all have designated Chairs. C.Guerreri pointed out the importance of
each sub-committee having a voice at the Executive Committee. -Strengthening local and state level
relationships: some attendance at the
LWV Candidate’s Night, no other work.
B.Lehmann suggested that each sub-committee look at this relative to
the issue that they are focusing on.
Parity funding is an example of that for the School Readiness Task
Force. |
K.Grunwald and R.Leclerc are the designated
co-chairs of the SR Task Force, A.Bladen and S.Daley are co-chairs of the
Infant/Toddler Group. The Membership
Committee and the Parents Committee have not yet designated chairs or
co-chairs. Sub-committees/small groups will all look at action
items that are not specifically assignable to one of the sub-committees to
decide where they may fit into the action steps. C.Guerreri offered to attend at least one
meeting to help groups organize around the objectives. |
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SMALL GROUP UPDATES |
-J. Higham reported that the Parent Committee had
to cancel the CT Parent Power 1-on-1 training due to weather. They will be meeting with Ann Pratt on
2/29/08 for this training. -Infant/Toddler Group met and gave a synopsis of
the enrollment status for children under age 3 at each of the four accredited
centers. Data from the Centers also
shows how many children are on the waiting list. They discussed ‘need vs. want’ for
care. A.Bladen pointed out that much
of the need for care is related to UConn employees, which is consistent with
the Provost’s Report. J.Goldman
pointed out that of the spaces in town, 73% of the children are connected in
some way to UConn. The survey for enrollment in home-based centers was
also presented, and indicates that there is a scarcity of care prior to
7:00AM and after 6:00PM. There are
currently no full-time openings for children under the age of 2. No information was obtained about the
number of children receiving care through kith and kin or in unlicensed
homes. J.Higham suggested that this question could be
answered in the 1-on-1 parent interviews. The picture of the enrollment status for
home-based care is very different than it is for the Centers. Home-based providers do not maintain a
waiting list. J.Goldman raised a question about the -Membership committee: no report |
It was suggested that a column should be added to
the Infant/Toddler report to indicate the number of children enrolled vs.
capacity of the Center. The point was also made that we would need to
determine what we want to accomplish through the use of this data before
bringing in the TA data consultant. Another suggestion was made that in the future,
when Centers and Homecare Providers receive childcare requests that they
cannot fill because of full enrollment, the parents should be directed to
call S.Baxter. This way an ongoing waiting list can be maintained which would
more accurately show a picture of the unmet childcare need. Data TA
consultant questions: Is there a need
t do a community needs assessment? Can
these questions be incorporated into the 1-on-1 parent interviews? Schedule meeting. |
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7:30-8:00 |
United Way- Kim Russo Update on the Infant/Toddler
Listening Campaign Month of the Young Child -review last year’s offerings -form small committee, -begin planning for April events |
K.Russo has provided a report about the Listening
Campaign done by A.Bladen suggested that MAC form a small committee
to work on this, to move the item out of the large group. S.Baxter suggested that this year we make
this the Week of the Young Child (not Month), and make it consistent with
NAEYC’s national initiative. All agreed that this event will be the week of April
13-19th. |
Consider incorporating some of the questions into
the 1-on-1 parent interviews, but we need to consider the purpose of the
1-on-1 interviews. Volunteers needed for this sub-committee. N.Hovorka will work on the brochure. Additional volunteers from each of the
Centers were offered. Budget must be
developed for the events. B.Lehmann
will also be part of the committee, as well as J.Stoughton who will represent
the Library. |
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Respectfully submitted,
Kevin Grunwald
Transposed to new format,
Sandy Baxter