Maine's Expanding Inclusive Opportunities Initiative
 for Children, Families and Communities

Core Team Meeting Minutes

January 14, 2009

1:oo to 4:30 pm

Present: Kathy Whaley, Ruth-Ann, Reeva, Linda Labas, Carolyn Drugge, Patti Williams, Kristen Slefinger, Ann O’Brien, Margaret Degon, Janine Blatt, Debra Hannigan, Cindy Brown

Kathy, Reeva & Ruth-Ann facilitated.

Agenda Item: Review/ debrief of Steering Committee meeting.

Discussion:

What did you hear / see this AM that was exciting to you?

• Parent involvement
• Web site
• Healthy turn out
• Wide range of perspectives

Things saw / heard that concerned you?

• Challenge of membership – transition of people coming in and out – continual flux and interrupts the flow of our info.
• Need all of us to remember that one of our agreements was that we would not have substitutes at meetings.. If member can not come we agreed they would just be absent and not have someone sit in for him/ her.
• Having parent members invited to Steering Committee and the confusion by some about their involvement at the Core Team meeting.
• Steering committee role and reminder about their purpose - Need our process rules up to be sure we stick with the roles of the groups (Steering and Core Teams)
• Better focus of purpose and what is our respectful roles/ outcomes.
• Some question about our intended process of orienting new parent members. Did were parents adequately prepared?
• Some frustration with the process and desire to get work done.

What was useful:

• Going over the web page
• Parent contributions and reminders that things need to be simple and family friendly.

Agenda Item: Glossary:

Discussion:

• Reviewed Kathy’s draft documents.
• Provider, quality, sector, systems, typically developing & framework – do we need these terms?
• Need working definition of quality.
• Early care and education needs a different definition.
• Typically developing – is this important or not?
• Discussed how much to include in the definitions.
• Kathy sometimes put in the legal definitions and wanted to be careful to not oversimplify.
• Could do simple definition and then a box with the more lengthy definitions.
• Use definitions in Chapter 101 (these have both federal and Maine definitions).
• Discussed other glossaries that need to be listed.

Decisions:

• Debra will send Kathy Chapter 101 & SMPA glossaries (links).
• Carolyn will send Kathy the link for the Collaborative Funding Guide.
• Ann & Kristen will draft a definition for quality (page 8).
• Kathy will use early care and education definition from the Collaborative Funding Guide(page 4).
• Cindy will draft a definition for typically developing (page 9).
• Reeva will draft definitions for systems & sector (page 8 & 9).
• Kathy will remove framework from the glossary.
• All those who are assigned to write the above definitions need to send them to Kathy.
• Kathy will compile and finalize and get out to Core Team.
• Once finalized this will be posted to the web page with hyper links if possible.

Next on the agenda for today:

1. Do we discuss more about the web page? (purpose, audience, PR to disseminate info)
2. Systems Outcomes continuation - Activities for the outcomes

Agenda Decisions:

• Facilitators will reformat the outcomes docs and get out to the core team for another Core Team meeting
• Web page discussion will be go to another Core Team meeting
• Focus of work for the rest of today is to work on next steps with the outcomes.

Activity:

Outcomes document: Each small group will review the systems level outcomes and strategies and all address the information below:

• Will these activities accomplish these outcomes?
• What will be easy? Hard?
• What needs to be reconsidered?
• Missing?
• Advice and cautions for core team.

Small groups:

State/ interagency: Deb, Carolyn, Linda

Regional/ Local: Janine, Patti, Ann

Professional Development: Kristen, Cindy, Margaret

Activity reporting out:

Long handing Fruit:
(easy to get to)

State / interagency

• Define inclusion across programs.
• Clarify data already being collected.
• Determine what other data would be informative to address the desired outcomes.

Regional/ Local

• Identify a program leader (cooperative, positive and want to or providing quality inclusive early care and education) to address the outcome: develop / create / identify “model” programs.

Professional Development:

• Identifying our current baseline data – what do we know across systems/ sectors and programs – what are the various requirements? What is being offered? By whom? How do these link or support the whole? Where are the gaps? Where are the opportunities? Where does it look like there is duplication? Where are there unintended discrepancies? (certification requirements etc).

Challenging but essential:

State / interagency

• Access to data to share data across DOE/DHHS.

Regional/ Local:

• Breaking the silos created by differing perspectives, regulations, institutional culture.
• Relationship building – letting got of “turf issues” – beyond just individuals.

Professional Development:

• Who are we targeting for PD (specialists need to be included who work with children – if and how to include – public and private sector).

Next Steps:

• Prioritizing – what do we have the time, money, other resources, to do?
• Clearly lay out all the ideas.
• Evaluate.
• Figure out the details – activities & “doers”

What’s the Plan? (Consider using Peggy Hayden rubric – square format to prioritize – Kathy has information.)

Next Steps:

• Feb 19 10:00 -12:00 at DHHS and teleconference – Linda will send email out about this changed date ASAP.
• March 4, March 19, April 1 9-4:00 – all day face-to-face Core Team Meeting – Ruth-Ann will send out and collect this info. (Ruth-Ann will send out the doodle).

Kathy shared the 2009 Conference Call series – she will post registration info to list serve but asked that this be limited to Core Team members only.

Return to Core Team Meeting Information