Torrington Early Childhood Collaborative
Executive Committee Meeting Minutes
4/3/09
In Attendance: Cheryl Kloczko, Sue Vivian, Heather Kosmulski, Cindy Guerreri, Paula Romanelli, Carmella Gailpault, Cheryl Petersen, Donna Labbe, Lucille Fines, Brandy Grant, Kathleen Wilmes, Elaine Hanscom, Debbie Mullbaier, Michelle Gray, Jim Moore
Called to Order by Heather Kosmulski at 12:10pm
Minutes from last meeting were approved as printed.
Grants:
People Empowering People & Asprira Parents for Excellence (PEP/APEX) TECC has applied for a $10K grant from the CT NW Community Foundation to run 2 PEP classes in the spring/summer 09 and is waiting for a response.
Regional Grant - NW CT Community College Spring 09 Course ending soon – Taking registration for Fall 09. There is room for 10 Torrington residents as well as 10 Winsted residents.
Committee Updates:
School Readiness - Program improvements: policies being put into SR program handbooks, staying with 15 slots, now added planning time into staff time requirements.
Kindergarten Transition - K Readiness Fair a success – Committee will look into Torringford Elementary for location next year or possibly Vogel. 78 children found their school – last year 86 –Vogel – 17, Forbes – 7, Torringford – 22, SW – 11, East – 21 More than half of the incoming Kindergarten children have been identified. 28 educators from Torrington Public Schools were present. Hope to open discussion with Board of Ed to allow registration packets to be handed out for next fair.
Professional Development
Annual spring training for providers – looking into a topic – maybe May 09.
Power point presentation in the works.
Parent Committee August 8th – 10-2 p.m. Clothing Drive at the Amory. Flyers distributed. Collection boxes have been placed around town.
Heather will bring the Community Resource Guide to the May meeting.
Birth through 8 Planning Committee – Approximately 40 people actively working on the plan. Draft plan to be presented to the public in April.
Budget: Mini grants have been applied for (Conscious Discipline classes, PEP classes, PR) as noted in TECC’s 09 plan – funds are available for basic convening costs only.
Executive:
Assessment Tool presented by Cindy Guerreri. # Scale is 1-4
Collaboration- Concerns brought up: Inadequate communication among collaborative members about group activities and involvement of Latino, Faith based and Elderly community members. Scored #3
Group feels our message is clearly presented to the community. #4
Community- Issues: We are collecting and analyzing data, need more feedback given to community and tightening of data collection process. #3
Governance structure evolving and clearly defined. We should consider creating operating policies and procedures. #3
Parent Leadership & Engagement- Process of involvement could be more systemic and not dependent on grant funding. #3
Local Leadership- The group feels we have great support from mayor. #3
Support of Superintendent- #4
Strong Collaborative Leadership- #4
Engaged Collaborative Agent- TECC Executive Committee and Education Connection share responsibility to supervise staff. #4
Community Champion/Spokesperson- We have legislator support. Who are our unusual community members who champion our cause? #3
Strong and Skilled Facilitator- Need to check when & how our paid staff receives performance appraisal. #4
Meaningful Local Match- Up to 20% local match of cash & in-kind donations. #3
We received $5K from the city in July 08. Need to consider a fund development plan. Discovery budget ends Dec 09. Could pursue private grants.
Meeting adjourned at 1:54 p.m.
Respectfully submitted by Elaine Hanscom
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