|
||||
|
Minutes from the
Directors' Network Meetings |
||||
|
OCTOBER 12, 2006 Introductions were made. Kristin Becker from The Children’s Center has joined the group. She has been with the program for a few months and is excited to get involved. Review of the June minutes. They will be emailed out with these minutes in case they were missed. The topic was on Parent Involvement. Follow up from the DPH hearing at EASTCONN. The hearing was a formal hearing with testimony by participants. It was not opened up to general comment, although after a while people began to testify. Issues, questions, comments and concerns were all mentioned, although there was no response by DPH, as the hearing did not allow responses. Kim talked about not being shy at hearings, testify when appropriate, it is a great way to voice your concerns and advocate for your program. Leadership training- We have decided to move forward with the leadership training, the Circle of Influence, with EASTCONN and Deb Stipe. We have decided to hold it from 9-12pm, once in January, March and May- dates will be announced very soon. There will be a minor charge for participation. We will first open it up to our network, and then if seats are still available it will be opened up to outside of our group. There will be a discounted rate for members who have attended at least 3 meetings and for new members of the network. For those of you who have already been through this training, you may sign up again, or send someone else from your center that would benefit from the training. We also talked about the direction of our group and have decided to meet on December 7th to discuss our vision and where we want this group to go. We will meet from 1-3pm at New Heights Child Development Program, 10 Commerce Drive in Columbia. Please feel free to attend, this will be a brainstorming session to begin to take our network to the next level, and work for its continuation in the future. Please email me to let me know if you will be attending this meeting and if you need directions. JUNE 8, 2006 We talked about plans for next year; we decided to meet every other month, starting in August. Then October, January, March, May- for now. We are looking into Leadership training, more info to follow. Parent Meetings and Parent Involvement Angela Wiley Getting them there…..
The Meetings….
The Events:
Next Meeting to be announced. APRIL 13, 2006 Guest Speaker: Deb Stipe, EASTCONN, Accreditation Facilitation Project • Deb shared an accreditation flow chart with the steps and process to achieve accreditation under the new process. The steps are enrollment, applicant, candidacy, meeting standards and then accreditation. She talked about the time frames for these steps and the costs associated with each step. • Deb reviewed the program and classroom portfolios, with what needs to be in each portfolio. Check lists were distributed with specifics for each portfolio. Kim will bring her program portfolio to the next meeting in May for people to see how it is set up. • Deb answered specific questions that were brought up. These were:
• Reminders from Deb: Please check out the link for our meetings on www.eastconn.org under the early childhood link. A member mentioned that a child in their program who has a peanut allergy had a reaction to Barbisol shaving cream, just a heads up. There is nothing listed on the ingredients label, but there is peanut oil in it. Next Meeting Date: Thursday, May 11, 2006, 1-3pm at EASTCONN Windham Mills Guest Speaker- Susan Kristoff, DCF MARCH 16, 2006 Guest Speaker: Patti Hepp, Nutritionist from Windham Head Start • Gave an overview of the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), which reimburses eligible child care providers for a portion of meals and snacks provided to children. CACFP does require paperwork and that programs follow their meal requirements but the reimbursement money does help to cover food costs. • Peanut allergies: Is it necessary to have a peanut free zone when a child with a peanut allergy is in the program? Discuss the allergy with the parent and the doctor; obtain a statement from the doctor describing the severity of the allergy and steps to follow if child is exposed to peanut or other allergen. Children in infant/toddler or preschool programs are generally too young to make the determination between what they can and cannot eat – even if you control the food served at your program, you cannot always control what other children may bring in their backpacks, etc. In this case, you may want to designate a peanut free zone, depending on the severity of the allergy. Be aware of peanut residue on birdseed, or the peanut odor; these can cause reactions in some children. Encourage the child’s parents to be involved – educating other parents, teachers or children about the allergy, posting emergency procedures, etc. A good idea would be to post the child’s picture, his or her allergy and instructions around the building so that everyone is aware of whom the child is in case of emergency. Obtain parent permission first! • Gatorade: Many parents are giving their children Gatorade, thinking it is healthier for them than regular juice. Patti explained that children do not need Gatorade, as it is an electrolyte replacement and is intended to replace electrolytes lost due to heavy exercise or exertion. Gatorade has a high sugar content which can lead to dehydration and can be corrosive to teeth. Drinking Gatorade occasionally is OK but encourage parents and guardians to give their children milk. If parents or guardians feel Gatorade is necessary because of a medical concern, a doctor needs to be consulted to see if it is appropriate for that child. • Snack meal patterns: A snack must contain 2 different food groups. Is it necessary to serve milk if two other food groups are already present? (i.e. cheese and crackers) It is acceptable to serve water in this case because a dairy and a grain are being served for snack. Keep in mind that if juice is being served, it must be 100% fruit juice (not watered down) in order to count as a fruit. • Food brought in from home: Some members expressed concerns over meals and snacks brought in from home – the nutritional value as well as age-appropriateness of the foods. Some toddlers were being sent in with whole grapes, or whole apples. Patti suggested sending home a letter requesting that food be cut into child-sized pieces to avoid choking. Help to educate the parents about WHY you are making a request, and they are usually more willing to comply. Kim is going to look for information regarding processed foods for parents/guardians. • Patti distributed information regarding CACFP, meal and snack ideas, sample menus, infant foods, and nutrition activities. Children tend to eat what they have helped to prepare – get them involved in child-friendly, nutritional activities! Other Discussion: • Sharing subs – everyone is using their subs right now; will revisit
this idea again in the future. Future topics of interest: Mandated reporting and how to interpret “neglect”. Specific questions around when to report and when not to report neglect issue. Susan Kristoff, DCF will attend our May 11th meeting, at EASTCONN Mills, 1-3pm Parent involvement and Parent Meetings: How to get parents/guardians involved in the center and how to organize effective parent meetings Angela Wiley, Windham Heights Day Care will present at Windham Heights Day Care on June 8th, 1-3pm Next Meeting Date: Thursday, April 13th 9 – 11am at EASTCONN Windham Mill FEBRUARY 9, 2006 The Northeast Connecticut Directors’ Network Minutes February 9, 2006 In Attendance: Christine Barrows, Susan Daley, Courtney Hirt, Kim Lewendon, Sara Mainhart, Virginia Malek, Karen McFarlin, Christina Midgley, Cindy Shirshac, Lisa Young, Angela Wiley, Michalene Bedard, and Marilyn Piech Housekeeping: Email/contact list was distributed and everyone was asked to make any necessary corrections. Kim asked if the group would like to have any other information included on the membership roster, such as ages served, hours of operation, funding sources, etc. Let Kim know if you have any input. It was suggested to possibly include other organizations or councils that members of the group attend, or have people report back to the group about their outside meetings. Kim spoke with Laurie Audette and Carol Majewski at Child Care Licensing, Department of Public Health, to make them aware of the Directors’ Network; they will pass the information on to programs in the area. Both offered to come and talk to the group at any time. The Northeast Connecticut Directors’ Network is now listed as a resource on InfoLine (2-1-1). Representatives from InfoLine also offered to provide trainings to the group. InfoLine has training opportunities listed on their website (www.childcareinfoline.org), so check it out! Kim has sent meeting notices and minutes to Neil Newman at DSS and Mary DeMarco for Windham School Readiness. If there are any other funding sources that you would like to include, please let Kim know or feel free to forward the info. Discussion: CDA: many directors questioned when the classes would start. Flyers are scheduled to go out ASAP, so we will discuss at the next meeting. (Classes start on February 28th) Staff Social Event: Susan brought up her desire to plan a social event for all of the staff as a collective for a later date; the group will discuss this in future meetings. Could be a catered dinner, or at a restaurant or a potluck at a state park. Snack ideas: Directors are looking for different snack ideas, CACFP requirements and benefits of the food program. If anyone has any other snack ideas, please feel free to email Kim and she will forward to the rest of the group. Some suggestions included: veggies & dip, tortilla chips & salsa, salad, couscous, muffins, celery & cream cheese, English muffin pizzas, cheese sticks, yogurt, quesadillas, Chex mix, trail mix, fruit, bagels, French toast sticks, silver dollar pancakes. Directors who are interested in getting reimbursed by CACFP can check the Dept. of Education website www.state.ct.us/sde/deps/Nutrition/CACFP. Acronyms: the group would like to come up with a “dictionary” of some common acronyms in early care and education (i.e. DSS, SR, SDOE, CACFP, etc.) NAEYC: several directors mentioned they would like more information on the new criteria. Kim is going to ask Debra Stipe, AFP Coordinator from EASTCONN, if she can set up a training for the group. Allergies: several centers have children with severe allergies, and many questions came up regarding meal planning, health & safety. Kim will contact Patti Hepp, Windham Head Start Nutritionist, to see if she would be willing to speak to the group. If you have any specific questions regarding nutrition or allergies, please email Kim. Sub pool: the group discussed the possibility of sharing subs among programs. The substitute teachers would give permission for their name and number to be shared with the group and directors will be responsible for contacting these individuals on their own if they are interested in using these teachers are their center. Pay rate would vary center by center. If you wish to participate, please ask your subs if they are interested. Legal Issues: discussed legal issues, contracts, annual staff evaluations. Kim will look into having Deb Flis conduct a training on legal issues for the group in our area; Deb is willing to come up in the fall when the new sessions will be scheduled. This year is already scheduled, but she heard us loud and clear. Meeting Structure: decided to define purpose and goals at a later date, and will continue to work to develop a final meeting structure. The round robin worked well, the group can continue this. It was suggested to have a “parking lot” for any items that we want to discuss further, as well as to use Robert’s rules to structure the meetings. For now will continue to hold informal meetings to work through some of the ideas. Next meeting: We will be sharing any evaluation forms (including disciplinary action forms), and health & illness policies with the group. If you would like to share your forms, please email them to Kim and/or bring to the next meeting. Patti Hepp, Nutritionist will be joining us. Next meeting date: Thursday, March 16th 1-3pm at EASTCONN Mills Guest Speaker Patti Hepp, Nutritionist JANUARY 12, 2006 The Northeast Connecticut Directors’ Network Minutes Meeting Date: January 12, 2006 1-3pm Kim Lewendon welcomed guests to the meeting and expressed her interest in becoming part of “A Strong Voice for the Northeast”. Introductions were made. Group decided the best way to communicate information is via email. One more mailing will occur for the 2nd meeting and then primary means of information will be email. Thanks to EASTCONN and the AFP for helping to get the group started and providing the space for us to meet and refreshments. Kim Maine & Mary Anne Allmark from Rhode Island Director’s Network were present to talk about how their group works, how it began, and the lessons they have learned. Their group started in the 1970’s and has grown to 80 centers. The group originally began for networking purposes and all of the centers found they were facing similar challenges with licensing, funding, and regulations. They were able to form subcommittees to address specific issues and then report back to the group. As the group became stronger, they were able to influence legislation around early care and education and made great progress for child care centers. They also do a lot of professional development at the director level, linked to the directors interests and needed credits. Some advice from Kim & Mary Anne: Group discussed ideas CT Director’s Network meetings: Next meeting: Thursday, February 9th, 2006 1-3pm at EASTCONN, Windham Mills Potluck – bring a snack to share!
|
||||
