Torrington Early Childhood Collaborative (TECC) Education Workgroup Meeting Minutes
Meeting held on February 10, 2014.
Called to Order at 12:11pm by Cheryl Kloczko. Minutes from our last meeting were approved as printed.
In Attendance: Cheryl Kloczko/TPS, Elaine Hanscom/TECC, Paula Gajewski/TPS, Patrice Nelson/CT Center for School Change, Deb Thompson/Family Resource Center, Donna Labbe/TECC & TPS, Claudia Ocasio/Even Start, Charlene Lee/Brooker Memorial, Carmella Galipault/HeadStart, Paula Romanelli/HeadStart, Susan Fergusson/TPS, Debbie Collins/Future Foundations, Shawn Marie Dumond/SR Liaison, Teresa Allen/GS of CT, Elinor Carbone, Mayor, City of Torrington.
Items Discussed:
SCHOOL READINESS(SR) STATE GRANT- SR Liaison Shawn Marie Dumond- New general policies have been distributed by Office of Early Childhood that combines policies for Child Day Care, Priority School District, and Competitive School District slots. Funds for these slots have been blended and this is an attempt to simplify paperwork. Torrington is aligned with the way the new policies are written. Shawn Marie’s recommendation is to look at the definition of the SR Council Liaison with the intent to revise our new contract in July 2014. Her role has been more of a monitor and Donna Labbe has been performing many of the listed Liaison duties. A question was raised about the difference between a competitive district and an alliance district, and how they are funded. Shawn Marie will ask at state level and report back.
BIRTH TO 8 PRE-K/SCHOOL READINESS IMPLEMENTATION PLAN- Donna Labbe met with a small group of TECC members to work on reformatting the implementation plan, to lessen confusion around existing documents, and the new condensed plan document relevant to this work group was shared with the group today.
Today’s Analysis- Discussion around Strategy #2 in Preschool/School Readiness section of implementation plan- To create a continuum of Early Childhood Dual Generation Interactive Literacy Supports for Torrington families receiving free & reduced lunches &/or acquiring English as a second language (Early Literacy Action Plan). Strategy #2, Action B is to offer to Early Childhood Education & Home + Center based daycare providers development and interactive literacy workshops that support teachers who work with targeted families. Activities, tasks and timeline for this grant cycle were reviewed by group. This work is mainly being directed by Paula Gajewski, Early Childhood Literacy Specialist and Donna Labbe, Community Outreach
Coordinator. Recommendations were given about surveys used to collect data around performance measures, to increase the quantity and quality of data collected. Suggestion was given to add numeracy skills rubric to list of performance measures.
Consensus of group was that revised implementation document will be helpful with new agenda layout.
Meeting adjourned at 1:50pm.
Respectfully submitted by Elaine Hanscom, TECC Secretary.
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