 |
Torrington Early Childhood Collaborative (TECC) Education Workgroup Meeting Minutes
Meeting held on December 8, 2014. Called to Order at 12:02p.m. by Cheryl Kloczko, Workgroup Co-Chair. Minutes from our last meeting were not available.
In Attendance: Elaine Hanscom/TECC, Donna Labbe/TECC & Torrington Public Schools (TPS), Cheryl Kloczko/TPS, Paula Gajewski/Community Family Learning Center, Lucille Fines/Vogel Wetmore School, Eileen Smedick/Vogel Wetmore School, Carmella Galipault/Head Start, Paula Romanelli/Head Start, Deb Bristol/Family Resource Center, Judy Cantot/EDUCATION CONNECTION, Sue Fergusson/East School, Claudia Ocasio/Even Start, Jan Sosnicki/Hilltop Christian Early Learning Center, Cindy Guerreri/ Graustein Memorial Foundation, Patrice Nelson, CT Center for School Change, Dawn Markelon/Torringford School, Cindy Marchell/Forbes School, Katlin Marchand/Southwest School
Items Discussed: School Readiness (SR) Updates-
- Quality Enhancement funds (approximately $3600) are being used to offer scholarships to early childhood professionals who live in Torrington or who work in a Torrington early childhood education center to help pay for spring 2015 college classes toward a higher degree in the field of early childhood. Applications have gone out and are due back to TECC 12-19-14. A small group to review the applications will be recruited.
- Legislative educator requirements for infant, toddler and preschool teachers in state funded programs were distributed and reviewed. Current requirements state that by July 1, 2020 100% of School Readiness, Child Day Care, and State Head Start program site teachers will need to hold a Bachelor’s degree or higher in an early childhood education concentration.
TECC has the opportunity to apply for a state Smart Start grant for funds to support new Pre-K classrooms for 3 & 4 year olds, with funding up to 10 years. The small group that met to go over grant application requirements did not come to a consensus whether TECC should apply for these funds. Additional information was requested from the Office of Early Childhood and distributed to TECC members. Discussion today centered around staffing needs, salary requirements, timing of opening of classrooms, services for children with special needs, and shortage of classroom space in town. A motion was made to provide a letter of support for the grant application due 12-19-14, and this motion carried with 5 abstentions.
- The State is applying for a federal Preschool Expansion Grant for new slots for 4 year olds, with an award date of 12-10-14. For families in Torrington 200% below the poverty level. It was noted that legislation was passed that changes the Kindergarten entry cutoff date for children to October 1st, effective the 2016-2017 school year, so additional 4 year old slots will be needed.
Birth to 8 Implementation Plan-
- Kindergarten Readiness Fair is set for January 24, 2015. Press releases going out, Kindergarten registration is the two weeks right after the fair. Attendees will receive a packet of registration information. This packet will not be distributed to preschools ahead of time.
The goal of this fair is to reach the families with children not attending any Pre-K programs in the community, so that children are registered early & assessed early enough to provide additional learning opportunities as needed before Kindergarten entry.
- A new early childhood screening form was presented to address the needs of Kindergarten teachers to connect with preschool teachers about the developmental level of incoming students. More follow up will be needed to determine if this form is still needed and what should be included on it to make it effective.
- Summer learning loss follow up- The work group broke up into small groups to discuss the following questions: What are we already doing in relation to summer learning? What data do we need in order to determine the needs in our community related to summer learning loss? What data do we need to tell us how well we are doing with the existing efforts? Answers will be compiled and entered into our Results Scorecard software program.
+/ For Meeting- Could use a timekeeper to keep group on track, possibly putting time allotted for each subject on agenda, keep using small groups in the meeting to move work forward, and continue to be welcoming to newcomers and respectful of all present.
Meeting adjourned at 2:04p.m. Next Education Workgroup meeting scheduled for 1-12-15.
Respectfully submitted by Elaine Hanscom, TECC Secretary.
| |
