Here we go. We're recording. Okay, Hi, welcome everyone to Wilmington early care and education councils January meeting. Happy new year. Here we are on Zoom. Once again. We Kecks mission is largely implemented through the work that's done at the Resource Center. So I have no Patty has updates ready. So I'm going to quickly turn this over to Patty and she'll give everyone an update on what's happening in the resource center. I know we're going to talk a little bit today also about the provider appreciation event for 2023, correct? Yes. Yeah. And then, um, then we'll move on to some other things because there are some things to discuss today, so take it away, Patty. Okay. Thank you. Yeah. I'm actually going to share my screen. I did a little PowerPoint for today. I know that all of us are on Zoom a lot is already see that. Okay. Okay. Perfect. I know we're on Zoom a lot. I know it's a lot of a lot of meetings, a lot of meetings just this week. Deck at all the other partners that we have. But I wanted to welcome you to the week CAC. As she said, the January meeting. Sorry, I'm moving your pictures around so I can see my slides. So our booms in early care and education Council, Professional Development Resource Center. So we have I am the coordinator for the program. Lynn, who's there in her pretty pink is the administrative assistant and then fill us. Who's having trouble with your cameras? Today is our assistant for the program. And we have been very fortunate to continue to make amazing strides to connect and support the early childhood professionals in the City of Wilmington and abroad. I wanted to just share some slides with you, kind of like highlights. Of course, we can't have everything on our slides because, you know, everybody would be signing off and going do other things because they'd be like, That's too much. So I just did the highlights and all kind of expand upon them. So first of all, we have scholarships that we offer for TEC, TEC E2, as well as collaboration Children and Families First do forum online. So as you know, that provides the foundational professional development that people will need to go for their CDA. And then of course, once they get their CDN, we encouraged them to go further. So right now we have three child's development cohorts running. We collaborate just so you have a framework of what we do. We collaborate with DIE EC, so our programs are running concurrently and we are running through the same framework, the same model, um, and then we have partners at Office of Early Learning at the ECI see in DSU. So just so you know, you have that framework of we're not just working independently, we are part of a bigger community. I love being part of a bigger community so that we have make sure that we are serving those in need and having a really professional forum. Right now. We CAC has eight early childhood professionals who have completed their CBI. I have two professionals that are testing next week and I anticipate they will do Excellent. That being said, those those professionals that have finished, please remember that we have around 24 people that I'm working with in addition to who's, you know, who's in our current cohorts and adding people all the time. New cohorts will be commencing. One of the new strategies I'm really trying to work with is trying to form cohorts within cohorts. So I have my cohorts that I meet with. I also work with a lot of individuals working for their CDA. So I've been talking to the centers when I worked with often such as St. Michael's, a leap of faith, mystery of carrying kids kingdom, and so on to try to form cohorts within their settings to, to support. So I'm always trying to scaffold, scaffold, scaffold. Everyone's learning and everyone's ability to be successful. There's something in the chat. Oh, hi Julie. Sorry, I wasn't sure. It was something new. So our community partnerships, so obviously we have a partnership with all of you on screen today and many more. But I wanted to highlight some onsite programming that we have really set up annual meetings with which I think is really exciting. So when I first began this role, I was a pandemic. So as you can imagine, it was hard to connect. But we build every day right now. We have three major onsite programming agreement. So we have the family child care networks, so that is sponsored by DIE C. And the family child care networks. They are focusing on the City of Wilmington with the subs building with we kept being a partner. They need once a month, monthly, obviously. And it's a really great program. So if you're not familiar with the networks, people come together and have conversations about what they need and they work on decisions together. We have the family childcare community conversations, which is again, a really awesome opportunity. And these are these are both thriving. And then we have an ongoing relationship with parents as teachers. So we're meeting with parents as teachers sometimes weekly. It really depends on the interests. But those are some onsite programming developments that we have now, but we are always welcoming new opportunities. Again, this is just kind of like a glimpse of what we're doing. We do have are as Lia mentioned, are weak act provider appreciation event that will be occurring May 16, 202-35-3029, and a shout out to all of you for last year's event. It was spectacular. We had over 70 people attend with 42 professional staying for the entire night. So we have the early care and education community partner presentations, please. Then we opened with our professional development, which was kindly sponsored by DEC. And then we followed by dinner or fellowship and fun with Raffles. So we're very excited about that event. As you know, people who are working hard and we need to keep them inspired and excited and feeling connected. So people are already asking me about the event. I have cleared this event with stubs, so it is set in stone. So I encourage you to all put that on your calendars. Of course, my next slide would be high. Would you like to be on my planning committee? So we will have a planning committee that we will need organizations and vendors to come that evening. And then of course, our donations that we need for our raffle baskets. We have some ideas about what our professional development might be. But I thought we could further clarify that today. And at the planning committee as to what you feel the needs are. A topic that has been discussed was helping teachers with guidance, with positive guidance. I know we've talked a lot about social and emotional health and how vital that is. All of us, including our children and families and teachers. So that's, that's one vein we're looking at. But if you have other ideas, we welcome that. And for those of you who have not participated in the provider appreciation event, it really is a blast. The energy is high from the moment the providers, professionals enter to the moment they leave. And it's really, really, really well attended. And again, celebratory event which we all need for celebration and food with good food. So I just wanted to thank you for your continued support and I want to open it to ideas for further development. So any ideas you have for the CDA associates, the bachelor's, any program that we do here at stubs and out in the community, the provider appreciation. So I'm always open to new ideas. That's how I feel like we can't continues to grow. Sorry, my allergies are off the hook. That's how we continue to grow in the community. So anybody have any questions? Thank you, Cindy, she said she'll help provider. I would just have a comment on Patty, if I may. Yes. I'm Julian Iran. Meeting those meeting buddies you end up having Julie and I are meeting buddies. We're at a meeting yesterday. And basically what we both said is that we check is doing this whole scholarship mentoring cohort. You all are doing it. Rather than reinventing the wheel, we encourage this. This was Julie helped me here that these are people that are going out and talking to focus groups for the ECI see? Oh, yes. And that's what the scholarship committee. But anyway, I just think that people don't know anyway, but we're doing what they're trying to figure out how to do on a state level. So I don't know what that means other than the fact the ready because what we both said is you all have to you-all have to go talk to the folks at the weak keck Resource Center. And like Julie said in the chat and one of the, you know, Tony from Sussex was like a wish we had weekend. So be prepared. People, they know what you're doing and I can't, I can't tell it enough patties, just wonderful. The thing that Dionne kind of set a lot of these things and inaction to two of our folks were originally with Dionne two years ago and dealing never gave up on them. Patty, pick them up. Again. I just feel like you all are doing what the state is saying. How are we going to figure this out? Well, we have figured it out. So be prepared. We outage you yesterday. Thank you. Yes, That's great conversation and shout out to King's what Community Center. I also work with that. So yes. So I have continued conversations with the state, so we meet once a month. So again, that framework of working with DIE see with the state of Delaware and now with DCIC. And I can see conclusion ask us on this call. So yes. So yes, we are working. It began as a pilot a year ago. It's crazy. And it is growing just as we had hoped, that it's growing in leaps and bounds. But yes, please, please, please share information about weak. And what's nice about we CAC is that we offer everything that all the other cohorts are offering in our charter and our mission. We can provide an extra layer if needed. So some examples of that might be we might have someone who doesn't have a printer at their house, right. So I can offer them to come to the Resource Center and to print from our school. We have people that need all kinds of office supplies. Or they might need resources that they really want the tangible thing in their hands that they can explore and learn from and develop their professionalism. I often share that too, so that again, they know it's, there is a continuity from DIE see it myself. But also that we can add that extra layer of support, whether it be technology or other resources. We also have the ability, as per my contract, that we are out in the community. So Phyllis and I are often at centers. So please remember it's not just our four walls, but we are out and centers all the time. So please, you know, all of those services and we should I'll ask Lynn if we can re-send our flyer again. I'm just so people know all the services that we have available. But thank you so much to say that for that, Patty, I do want to mention that we have a huge library of resource books, training resources for professionals to come in, get books that they can study, books that they can plan from their classrooms. I mean, the library has extensive. So the morphine we can get in there and to review the printed material that is available for their use would be awesome as well. I'd like to get a nice catalog together so that we can actually show all the books that are available to providers and families as well. So does anybody has any tips on how to launch our library? So we have it all ready. We've been looking at different tools to make it happen. So if you have any tips, that would be awesome. Another thing we do is donations. So shout out again to the IEC families and friends of yes. Online catalog. Thank you, Julie. I appreciate that. We have families and friends, partners who give us donations. So an example of that might be center in the area, may be getting new materials. So we'll take those materials, give them some love and attention, and then we get that back out to the other providers. It is unbelievably successful. So I often when I'm working with providers, I'll ask them, you know, is there a specific thing you're looking for you need. So I try to be intentional and individualize that donation. And it's been very, very successful. So again, know that all those donations that you can give or others are going to help directly to help. The children and families that we serve. Any other questions, comments, ideas? I see. Jolie, you said that that is a service that we could use an online catalog, you know, a specific one. No, I don't. I was just thinking that a lot of times as teachers are planning or doing things during that time that they might, if there's a way that they could see what's available, then they can sort of plan specifically for it. It would save them time and get them more excited to actually come down and use the resource center? Yes. Yes. So we're looking for tools to make that happen. So Filson, I have to do a lot of research. So if anybody has any idea how to launch it, we have it all. It's all catalog, That's all an Excel sheet. How to launch it? Yes, we need to launch it. Oh, I'm sorry. Can I just oh, sure. We actually we don't have much of a web presence and it's been, it's been challenging because we've been trying to get a web presence through the City of Wilmington, which which has not been fruitful thus far. I'm wondering if there are other avenues that we might be able to link onto. So yeah, yeah, let's, let's take that conversation offline and think about that a little more. If anyone can make it happen. It's you, Patty. Thank you. It takes a village, right? We're all working together. So yeah, so very exciting. And again, we're open to any and all ideas for how we can further connect with professionals. And it really is a, really a pleasure to work with all of you. Thank you. Hi. Okay. Camera back. Thank you, Patti. I think that should write into the agenda a part of every meeting where we just express our gratitude. The petty lunge gratitude. Society. Honestly, this work that takes all of us thanks. So I know, I know, I know, but just accept the complement and not to take away from any of the people that support you. But really, you have taken The Resource Center and really grown it and doing things that, you know, as a member of this executive committee for God forever. I never even thought about as possibilities. So yeah, it's really exciting work. That's really good. I'm really, really grateful for you, Patty. Oh, thank you. I'm grateful for all of you and having the confidence to move into these new directions. Thanks, Jim. Yeah, An example of this evening. We have Lynn and fellas and I will all be onsite. So we'll have our roller skates on. We're going to open with teachers coming over and getting some support with their CDA. We have staff at subs getting their CDI. So for the power that we have a school events and we also have a cohort running and a family event I mean, excuse me, a family childcare events. So yeah, it's it's very exciting and I wanna give a shout out to subs for being such an amazing partner. Basically, we can use whatever rooms we need. All those great things. So thank you. Yeah. Let me just so so Kim, I know that you have to jump off, but you put in the chat that you you would come back to share updates, but we could give you the last 6 min if you would like to share. Yeah. Well, I actually like both. Right. If that's okay. I mean, I'm sorry. I can certainly give some verbal updates here and then we can plan it another time where more of my team could be here. We can have some nice visuals for the committee to look at, but thank you. Yeah, I'd happy to piggyback off some things that people were saying. Hi everyone. Kim, Chris Nowinski, currently serving as the Executive Director for the ECI. See a Delaware State University, as Patty has said, and other people on the call. The concept supporting folks through CDA, supporting people through scholarships is not new to the state of Delaware. We're just trying to take lessons learned and refining things and adding different types of innovative supports. Because of some wonderful funding opportunities that we now have. The opportunity to look through and and to share the things that Patty continues to do. We will be duplicating across the state and our CDA cohort model. So we can, I'm sure, will continue to be a partner in that we hope. And we will need lots of other partners to deliver the type of model that Patty has been doing. Even more. So as we start to finalize. Design of this, we're really thinking about holistic supports for students around technology. Offering supports the fact of transportation if they needed bus passes or ride shares to get to a cohort meeting online is great, but it doesn't work for everyone. And we want to have an availability to have people doing hybrid model of that works for them. Patty is great on video, but Patty is phenomenal in-person. And sometimes you have to really get the sense of your cohort in that way. So we're also thinking through childcare as well, if that would be something people would need to attend a cohort meeting. So really thinking through not new ideas and not new supports, but packaging them up into a design that if people need it, great, if not, we'll keep moving, but really trying to break through some of those barriers that prevent people from working towards a CDA or an a or B day models. So in a nutshell, I'll give you the cliffs Notes version here. In a nutshell, we've been tasked with two main initiatives to begin, July 1. So we're fever slowly working on hiring folks and doing that and getting those things up and running. But the first one is a redesign of the statewide scholarship program for individuals to obtain a CDA and AAA or BA. So working through what a cohort model looks like for our CDA in particular. And then making sure people have what they need to either start or continue with transition on to their AAA MBA. And then the next task that we have is around that CDA cohort model. So we're hoping that we will have lots of partners and people who want to do this. We're finalizing what that looks like, what our partnership would look like and funding around that. So people can start to hopefully look for some more information in the upcoming months about what that would look like to be a partner. What the expectations are, what the funding is. Because the goal for us is to get as many people through a cohort and get them to actually obtain that CDA. Patty knows this, I've said it before, but the Council for professional recognition, the entity that gives out the CDA is they have a tagline that the CDA is the best first step. And I wholeheartedly believe that if we can get people encouraged, motivated to get that CDA, then we will work on articulation and transitional pathways to have them continue on with their associates, bachelors. So the ECI see is looking at all kinds of different things. But the two main focus in the upcoming year will be the scholarship implementation of the new program. And then really going very, very quickly on gathering up partners and supporting them in our model. So we have thousands of people that potentially need to get a CVA or some sort of scholarship towards higher ed. And what we're thinking is planning out just a pathway for them to come in. Feel supported the time they start in the middle, at the end, and to get people on a trajectory for their career, whatever that is. But the CVA holds a very big piece of the puzzle and we will need all hands on deck, all lots of partners up and down the state, City of Wilmington, new arc, Middletown, Dover, Georgetown. We will need cohorts that are bilingual, family, child care, infant toddler preschool, right? So really putting a lot of options out there for people that can pick the right cohort that fits their needs based on what they wanna do. Last thing I'll say is that another part of the ECI see, is a really robust career advisement model that we're building. So people will be able to access professionals and really talk through what's gonna be the best option for them. If it's a CDA and they want to, if that's what they want to do, then we're going to support them. But we also want them to know that they can continue on with the same or similar supports with funding to obtain that AAA or that BA if they so choose to really kinda digging in and figuring out, do you want to be an administrator? You want to be a classroom teacher. Do you want to work in pre-K state-funded Pre-K recap. Do you want to what do you want to do in the field and having people help get to next level. So it's very exciting opportunity. We have a lot of work that we're doing to get ready for that July start out, but happy to come back and like I said, have some more of my team here. Maybe in March if that would be okay because people will be coming in in February. Happy to introduce everyone and then start answering some questions and getting information out because the time is the time is getting is getting smaller and smaller for that July deadline. But we're excited to start the program and to pick up where people have left off. Like I said, it's not something new. We're just taking all the things that we've learned over the past ten or 20 years. And through feedback with people and past recipients and directors and providers, really making sure that we're designing a program that's going to meet the needs of people now. Thank you so much, Kim. Wow. So much happening. So much happening. Yeah. Yeah. Let's let's talk about March. I know we're gonna we're gonna talk offline. That should work fine. Okay. Yeah. I'll e-mail you and Whitney and we can decide, you know, what how much time you can give us and, you know what it looks like. But like I said, I'm happy I'll have my team in place. And we can share a little bit about what it is that they're going to be doing. Talk about the model a little bit more and answer any questions that people have. So this kind of thing, the best marketing is word of mouth and having groups like this and a deck and the Sussex directors can't, I mean, all of those things, we will be making stops along the way, but it's a small community, but a big community if you know what it means. So we want to make sure that we're hitting all of the groups and that the information will start flowing because we know that if Patty is working with the Center on a CDA cohort and they hear about things. She's a great way to, to navigate that conversation too. So we're just excited to let everyone know what we're doing, what's happening, and what's on the horizon. That is great. Thank you for being here. I know you have to jump off. I do. Yes, but thank you for the time. I appreciate it and move around with you. Okay. All right. Great. Thank you. Bye seeing everyone. Alright. Take care. Okay. Okay. Very interesting to see how this stuff almost forward. Alright, so moving on. We didn't have a huge agenda today outside of what Patty was sharing. But there is something that came up Just just earlier this week. And I imagine many of you have already received information about Christina School District plans to open an early childhood center at Cholesky. In fact, I believe it was repurposing. I have Whitney's email up in front of me. They're repurposing the school and, you know, and things and things that Whitney has has said in the past, I believe, to this group. I can't keep all the meeting straight guys. I'm sure you are in the same boat. That the model would be based on stuffs. So basically another stubs on the West side. There is a meeting on January 25th that is this coming Wednesday, nine to 11 in-person at stubs. If there is any way that you can be there. All of you as a voice for the community. And even other districts, Karen, even other districts to help them think through the impact. That's something like this is already having and will exacerbate. Can you say the date and the time again? I'm sorry. Absolutely. Thank you. Wednesday, January 25th. So this upcoming Wednesday, nine to 11 in-person meeting at stubs and there's no possibility of zooming that, Leah? I am not I am not aware of a possibility to Zoom. I'm just I only had I think Dr. Williams said if you've e-mailed her, let her know that she's going to try to make that happen. I'm not sure it could be at a worse time for folks who workforce shortage and it was kind of a late notice as well. So if it's possible, I will email Dr. Williams. Thank you. Thank you. Alright. Thanks. Thanks. Loosened. A good point. Yeah. I think I'm just wondering. Was there like, I know that we heard about it from Dr. Williams, but is there like a document or something hosted anywhere that would that kind of outlines the plan or is this like the first public meeting and they're just looking for general feedback? I don't know how to answer that. I don't I don't know. It sounds like from the way Everybody's talking that this is kind of like a done deal. But I'm wondering like what is the scope of this? Like have they thought through like, how many kids that would serve, how many teachers? I'm assuming they're going to have to go through the whole licensing process because they can't operate elsewhere. Is it going to function like colonials early education program? I'm just wondering if there's anything anywhere beyond, you know, just sort of verbal commitments that would give some sort of overview of what they want to plan that we could reference before coming to the meeting. For those of us who are actually able to attend and I'm not sure if I'll be able to. I just pulled up Christina's website and I can do some I can do some digging in there and see if I can find anything. But my only link to this has been through information that Whitney has has provided and she hasn't sent anything. But her wording did imply done deal. Christina School District. But I thought reconfiguring and repurposing Pulaski elementary schools. So yeah. Yeah. It it all feels a little loosened his comment about the timing and maybe I'm just being a little conspiracy theorists, but it feels convenient. Not that you're asking, but I'll give you my opinion. Please. If it's going to serve as kids were not being serviced, who really need it? I'm all for it. It should always be about the kid. Kids. And I don't I mean, I think it's a great great plan. My initial reaction after good, if we have getting kids into programs that need to be in programs is what in the world. How is it going to impact the staffing and the crisis that we're facing right now. So in the spirit of trying to solve problems and not just complain and moan, we're going to put my e-mail in the chat because Rena Hallam and I are part of the early council committee for the workforce. One of the things we heard at last meeting is, wouldn't it be good to get more people involved? Well, I think it'd be great to get more people involved in, especially in Wilmington. I was told by the state that Howard High School has a CD pathway. I get hold of Howard and they said, No, we don't. So there's one thing right there. We can start working on and coalescing and start being loud voice that I typically am in the back of the room. So I'm putting my email in now. I want to be collaborative, but I think we have to face the reality of the crisis that we face every day with staff. Yeah. That's a that's a big one is I I'm wondering even where they're thinking they're going to pull teachers from. Lia, I'm sorry. I know you have a little bit of information, but do we know are these are they going to then be looking for certified teachers? Like yes. Okay. And are they thinking that this is going to open next coming year or are they just starting to planning phase? The yes. 2023 school year 23, 24. So then my next question then is, if these are gonna be classrooms that are going to have preschoolers. Have they started to talk to licensing? I don't know. Because as of July, all programs are supposed to be licensed and this would be a brand new program. So I would like to I would like to think that they they know that. I would like to think they know that and that they're planning for that. I don't know. I would say if these are all great conversations and I do think that you said it's worded as though it's happening. But I know that Dr. Williams and her colleagues really want all of the things that you're talking about, all that great information site. So if you can't make the meeting, could you please e-mail Dr. Williams and share all of your thoughts? Because I think that'd be great if you know. If you can't be there. Because again, everybody super busy. But I would love all these great ideas to be shared with Dr. Williams. Thank you. Yeah. This is this is where recording this conversation so we can definitely will get pulled through the information to Dr. Williams. My my concerns stem from, I mean, yes, the workforce issues, but from what I'm seeing, this is just anecdotal. My experience being in and around the field. Certified teachers are already in school districts. Largely certified early childhood teachers. Like bachelor degree, Associate's Degree, and teachers are not working in our community programs anymore except in like, I mean, obviously nothing is completely across the board, but it's very few. I know. I think, yes, Cindy is here. Cindy and I were talking about the issues with Wilmington headstart, trying to get certified teachers in their programs don't have that. And it makes sense, right? They're going to be paid better and get probably better benefits from a school district. So it makes sense. Then there's this other piece, right? So we were losing our teachers, we're losing our kids. And as we send it with saying if this is serving the needs of the community, I'm also all for it, but I don t think it does serve the needs of the community, particularly because only a partial day program. What about before? What about after? Okay. Well, then the centers can do before and after care. Yeah. But because you took all of our kids, our resources are depleted. We can barely keep our doors open, right? I don't have the solution, but I see the issues. I don't like all the way am I complaining either? Like Lucinda said. But I am concerned about what happens to the community because I know the intention of the school is to serve the families of the community. But then the families, the families are stressed. What do I do with my kid first thing in the morning after school? And the bureaucracy of schools is not always friendly to families were in the community programs there. They're making relationships with teachers, directors, and getting access to resources. So anyway, I'm going to stop babbling now, but that's where I'm coming from. I like to just add to the fact that I'm hearing from students that are out at placements in the pre-k kindergarten first grade levels. In particular, that they're taking K to six elementary certified teachers and they're pushing them down into early ed pre-K. K. And I I understand that they're k2x certified, so they meet that licensing certification requirements. But we all know early childhood education. And the severe understanding of child development from birth to eight is a different scope of knowledge. And I just went leah, when you said they're opening in August, my head started to spin. And I think this is another thing that's happening is we're we're being very quick and rushed to do things because we see a need. And I agree with you, Leah, unless this is a full day program, looking at the full scope of needs of children and families where the school sets. What is the true purpose of this? And ended on everything Lucinda said about staffing because you're soon going to have this public school takeover. We're going to have infant-toddler centers. I just don't see where the balance is going to happen, the funding, etc. So I'll get off my soapbox now and I will be at any part of that meeting that I can possibly be at next week because I think the number one thing, if I were making suggestions to the school district is hold your breath, do this right. And started for the following school year. We just rushed to create a program here at Caltech. And very quickly we're finding cracks in that mid my opinion, if we had taken another year, may or may not have been so severe. Completely agree with that. Public schools were not created to do early care and education. Public schools are public for kindergarten and above. So my question and concern is, is the creation of this a way to just bring in children that have special needs. And if we're just bringing in a special needs into the programs, these are no longer inclusive programs. That was that was my thought is that this is probably to remediate overcrowding issues. I'm the special needs schools. And we've struggled in red clay. We've struggled with this same scene problem. We have classrooms that are just busting at the seams with children with significant special needs that sometimes cannot be serviced at their early childhood center. So we are seeing such an increase in autism identification. It is, it is unbelievable. So I would say. This is I'm not sure because I'm not I'm not in Christina and I wasn't aware that they were doing this ciphered buzz that they may be, but we weren't. Of course we right-click, we were told, so we are behind the eight ball with that. But I would say this is probably based on the fact that classification, more significant classifications and more significant behaviors in more significant, significantly challenged students are not being able to be served in the community settings and they need they need to look at other programs for them. Well, I'm sorry. You have to consider the staffing that planning too. So for that facility, are they prepared to actually deal? If a kid needs and if they're not, then they're doing more of a disservice by just bringing all those children in there. Well, the properly served them. Right. Well, our teachers in early childhood are all dual certified. They do not get fired unless they have a dual certification of Special Education as well as early childhood education. So there's teachers certified. We have a lot of supports in place. We have Behavior Support Specialist, BCBA ways that work individually with students. They get a lot of consult time with the school psychologists. So there is so much support for some of these students. The classroom sizes are very small. Classroom ratios, or sometimes four to one. So I think it's just I mean, that's what we're doing in red clay. Again, I don't want to speak for Christina School District, but I'm going to say that's probably what the thinking is. Unfortunately, we do have to look at community peers as well to keep some of our role models we need. We don't have a lot of community peer students without special needs in our programs. But we do have a few because we do need those role models for typically developing students. That's the best practice. So we do have some, but it's not a significant amount. So I'm not sure if that's the way that it's gonna be. Pulaski, I haven't heard, but just guessing that's probably the there'll be there'll be doing. But I do want to give a shout out to red clay prompts because red clay has done amazing in the entire state Day of the most itinerant teachers, which the individuals that are out in the community. When we have itinerant meetings, I often laughed and I'm like, it's the red clay meeting and then everybody else can come because they did, they made such a huge size shift, which is phenomenal. And we're hearing all the positive things about it. It really, it's been wonderful and we serve, we serve almost all of our students. I don't want to say all of them, but we serve many, many of our students and a lot of our incoming students itinerant. That's our first line. And if the students can't function, there are students that just aren't. You can put all the supports in place. But because the sensory needs, because of a lot of different needs, they aren't able to be served in the community setting. We do have some students that we can say and I know Michelle, Michelle can attest to, um, but it, it is difficult to serve them and they do need a smaller class size. They do need that extra support that the school district program can give them, but we do serve We try to serve as students itinerant the best that we can. And we do have a lot of teachers and all of our speech students. Unless if they don't have a childcare center, then we have to bring them in. We push a lot of kids towards headstart and say, it's a wonderful program. And Hilltop and LAC see, we try to encourage parents if they can enroll in a community program. We do, but there's a lot of parents that just can't do it or don't choose not to do it. And those are the kids that we have brought in for program that don't do not have an early childhood program within the community. And parents just either can't afford a program or choose not to do it for some reason. So then that's exactly why I love shining the light on red clay because they do they provide that continuum of services? They start with inclusion model. They say the children are in the community. Let's see if we can serve them in the community. And knowing that not every child can be supported that way. That's why they have that continuum. And I want to just like everybody else and make sure that that's really the thought process that Christina has is that it's a continuum of service. It's not going to say I think stubs from similar way. I would hope so. I would hope that this new program, I'm sure if Whitney has. Dr. Williams has any input in it. It's probably going to run the same way. So I would say it probably will, and hopefully it will. I know that there is, there are a lot of students. Again, we have had a huge increase in autism classification, I mean, in the last year-and-a-half, two years. And it really is overcrowding our centers. And a lot of those students needs such significant support to function and dysfunction, not even excelling. It's really just basic. Everyday functioning within the community is difficult for them. I wanted to jump in with something that I have seen an I and I totally forgot about this when I said, I don't have the solution, I still don't have the solution, but I have seen something that looks pretty good and Lily, and I'm hoping that you can help me with this because, you know, this program two, I did eight CDA verification visits at a center in Pennsylvania. Last year. My group we have another batch coming through again. I know. I'll probably I'll probably be back. But yeah, I didn't realize you were working with them until I went into their portfolios and all letters signed by you. I'm like, Oh, yeah, I have a contract in Pennsylvania to run the CDA. And Lillian, they are fan caustic, fantastic, very nice to hear. Thank you. Just wonderful, wonderful observations of these professionals. But, but what I don't know all the ins and outs, I wish that I had asked more questions. I will be asking more questions next time I go there. But this was a childcare center with with state-funded preschool embedded into it. And there were preschool teachers who worked for the school district. They were not present when I did my observations. It was spring break. So the Paris who were employed by the childcare center, we're running the classrooms. They were fabulous. But when I talk to them, they were like, Oh yeah, you know, usually we have a teacher from the school district. And these kids were some of them were at the Center for before and after Karen got bussed to other sites for their school school day. And some of them stayed on site and it seemed like a lot of moving pieces. But it was working. It was working. And you guys have been in centers, you know, you can't fake that. Like if things are, if things are crazy, you're going to see that they're crazy. You can't fake that with little kids. This place was functioning really well. The kids knew all the teachers. All the teachers knew all the kids. The classrooms were great, the education piece was great. And like I said, I didn't even see the certified teachers because they were on spring break. And I'm just I just thought, how could Delaware do this? Could Delaware do this? This is true meshing of the childcare center and the state preschool. I I thought it looked great willing do you know more about what they do and how they do that? Because I didn't ask to me. Yeah, no. It's it's really just a braided funding model, much like any other state does. And our funding, we don't call it e cap or purchased care or anything like that. But it's the same type of thing. People apply for funding for seats. And then programs take the funding that they've received from various entities and braided together so that they create a budget for their program. So most of our programs function that way. They have some sort of braided funding component. But then they're also they're the district is sending their teachers into community, says No, it's not they're not district employees, their employees program, but they have to match the qualifications of where the funding is coming from. A school district employees, the program. So Pennsylvania i'm I'm sorry. I'm just going to jump in real quick with something because I didn't know. Pennsylvania runs their special education, their early childhood special education is complete, many different than Delaware. They have what they call an intermediate unit. So it would be one for delaware county? It would be one. I'm not sure where you saw this, but it's either Chester County. Chester Chester County has an intermediate units. So all of the evaluations, all of the the services are provided through the intermediate unit, not not specifically the district. So I think there is some funding kicked in for from the districts for their kids, but basically, they're the intermediate unit is in charge of providing all of that for kids birth to three. I'm sorry, birth to five. When they turn five, that's when the school district takes over. So here in Delaware, the school district takes over. It's three it's more local school districts. Funds are being used to to service the kids. And that's why we have we have all these districts in Delaware that do things differently. We're in Pennsylvania, it's much more streamlined because it's all run through an intermediate unit until the kids turn five. Actually, the funding that we're referring to actually doesn't have anything to do with children with special needs. So these are our these are our principal seats. These are okay. It's like it's just funding for programming. So yes, you're absolutely right. And it depends on where in the state you are because it's Philadelphia does not have an intermediate unit sold as he does come out of the school districts and we have a separate entity for birth to three. But what you saw LIATE is typical of all programs that has absolutely nothing to do with children with IEPs or IFSP. That is just a braided funding system, just like people are gonna apply for the reading. I'm recap seats. That's exactly what happens in Pennsylvania. You apply for the number of seats in your program. That's good to know. Thank you. Yeah. No problem. No. No way. Perfect. That's for sure. I figured I figured there was there was some I knew there was something that I wasn't because I knew I only knew what I saw. I didn't get any details about how it was working. And Julie put in the chat similar to reading? Yeah. Yeah. Staffing. Because for reading you have to like it's written in there, but you have to pay your teachers. Equivalent to publish. Cool. And it doesn't say what that means. But it sort of implies that your teachers would whatever you, whatever you are paying based on their education. That like the school you saw that you might think that they were public school employees. But they're actually not, they're employed by your center. Exactly. That's exactly how this the reason I presumed that was public schools because they were all the all the teachers were out for spring break. So I guess they also get spring break as part of their well, but it depends how your program can breed the fund to match what's happening in the district. So some some programs will hire teachers, certified teachers as 12 month employees, but then they have to supplement those two summer months because that would be additional work if you were to do a comparison. So some schools don't have that extra funding. So they say, alright, well then we'll let you follow the exact schedule. The same outcomes. They also had a couple of individuals who worked out of a public school. And we're working out of the center because the school was closed for spring break. Check because they could have just been hired as additional people. All the truck early childhood programs function differently as well. So that particular program, they shut down their program in the summer, but they run a summer camp that's completely different, completely different staff, different enrollment, all of that. But schools have that flexibility to determine am I at 12 month of your program, I attend lungs just like any childcare could create their hours. Okay. That's yeah. So that's just something I'm thinking about. Like they're just there other, other ideas out there. And I just feel like the way things are being implemented in Delaware, even with the best intentions that the the community programs are getting pushed out. Resources dwindling. Who suffers in the end is the children and families because childcare centers cannot get quality staff in their centers. It is, it is so, so difficult. At this point. Some of the people that are watching these kids are just warm bodies. And it's not, it's not the quality that we want to see for kids. Anything else on this topic? Alright, I'm gonna be at the meeting. I hope I hope to see as many of you there as possible. We'll ask Dr. Williams what's going on with the potential virtual option and get that information out as soon as possible and to RSVP or anything or just you could just show up. I think you just show up. Okay. Thanks. Okay. If if there's nothing else, I'm going to open it up to round robin. Announcements, information share. I'm just going to go by I'm going to call on you based on where you are on my list. So first I've got well, first of all, as Lynn, Patty, and Phyllis, did, any of you have anything additional to open, more people would sign up to be on the provider appreciation committee. Well, it's not over yet. We have fun. I'm excited. I'm excited to be on the committee. Said she'll joy. Thanks, Lillian. Yeah, it was fun all the time. I got Lillian. And who else said that? Diane. Oh, wait, wait, wait. I can and I'm going to tell you why in a few minutes, but I do have some kind of rising administrators, so can I put it out to them? Yes. Anybody? Everybody is welcome. Everybody has their expertise and funding that they bring to the program. Thank you. Thanks, Lillian and Karen and Lucinda. Diane. Diane. Diane? Yeah. For sure. Back leg. Thank you. Alveolus. Thank you so much. And as you always know, anything that you need to know that please reach out to us. We're here for you. Thank you. Alright. I'm gonna pass it to Karen. Hey, morning everyone. We are super busy identifying students. We were about to get audited. Again, we have upcoming audits, so we're we're working frantically to try to get all of our ducks in a row and get everything done. That our audit done on February I think it's February 1st. But we have a lot of students. We've seen a huge uptick in the number of students identified with autism and speech concerns. So our speech only students with some articulation needs have increased greatly tooth. So we're identifying kids every day, many, many meetings happening here. So we are super busy and we're again, we're still offering itinerant services to move to those students. We do have some students that come in for program, but a lot of our students are served itinerary. So we're continuing that. And that's about it. We're just busy putting our head to the grindstone here. Alright, Thank you, Karen. I'm gonna throw it to Jennifer. Hi everybody. Happy new year. I just wanted to let you know a couple of things that have come up in the last the first couple of weeks of classes. One, looks like financial aid slash registrar went through an audit and a students have bills that have popped up that's keeping them from registering. And that's very frustrating for everybody. As advisors, we don't have specific information about their billing. We are here to support them and guide them through that. There are payment plans here. There are people here to support. I, myself have been reaching out to as many of our students as we possibly can. But if you are aware of students delta-x student's current or former and there is funding concerns. Please just send them to me. We'll we'll delegate appropriately. The other resource that I'm really stressing to people is standby me. Because it's so it's such a great thing. I met with a student last week. She is a 4,500 dollar bill and she just didn't even know where to start with that. She met with standby me two days later. She has a plan just coming back to school in June for summer session. So please just shout out to the world that we're here to support students. Our enrollment in the ECE program is up, which is great news. We have a lot of people coming back to school after COVID, I'll just put a blanket statement on, which is great, are more experienced students who did not want to be online or zooming and do better in the classroom. And I would raise my hand so that myself are coming back. So that's good news and I certainly wanted to share that with you. Patti, I haven't forgotten about you and connecting you with Dr. Rose. It's just been crazy here and like everywhere else we're short staffed again in our department had some changes because Beth Richie has stepped down from being our chair. She is now full-time faculty with us. We lost a full-time faculty member. We're trying to find a full-time faculty member and now we're trying to find a chair. So that's the last thing I wanted to say. That should be posted on our website soon. So if you know anybody who is looking for Higher Ed administrative positions, Diane, I'm thinking of you. I know you're super busy, but I maybe connecting with some of you as well, just kinda putting it out there and if you have any suggestions about the college itself, so I'll conclude unless anybody has questions or anything else. Jen, thank you for that information about helping people to navigate if they have a bill. Often, I will work with persons who have are doing the CDA, but they're also doing the AAA. They're also get via yeah. And they're like, Why can't get an official transcript because I owe money. Yeah. So we have lots of conversation. So that would be awesome if you could be a touch point for me. And I think Julie shared and I'm gonna share for substitute. We also have Stand By Me Program. So if anybody needs those services, please. That's good to know Patty because they used to be here and they're not. So I think stubs are closest and I'll share that with students as well. Thank you all. Thank you. Jennifer. I just want to make sure you saw that Julie would like to connect with you. She she put her email in the chat. She has teachers enrolled at deltaic. You're muted, Jennifer. Jennifer, We can't hear you. You're muted. Sorry. Julie. All connect with you tomorrow. That's my best promised. Connect with you soon. Take your time. It's just not it's not urgent. We have some teachers that are that are currently enrolled that are doing really great. So I'd love to just kinda keep things rolling and see if we can do anything to support you guys. Yeah. That'd be great. No urgency. Take your time. Yeah. Thanks, Julie. All right. Thank you, Jennifer. Good morning. From the instance Delaware Institute for Excellence update, sir, We've a podcast dropping the last Friday of this month. It's a family provider from Delaware. It's a great it's a great conversation. So that'll be coming out at one. You can find it through our website very easily, but also anywhere you listen to your podcasts. And lots of greed professional learning experiences that are happening and getting ready to happen. And we're really encouraging people to take a look because there's a lot of new, new ones out there. We've changed some things up. We're in the process of planning for already planning for our family provider conference for next year because this year is was so successful. Let's see what else on the other teams. Outreach wise, we're really working to on already working on week of the young child as well as our provider appreciation and educator of the year. And I think that's it. Just so people are physically aware, we are physically out of the office for the next few months. It flooded on Christmas day and we had to go in and pack everything up. So people are working from our crew, from home that normally would be in the office just as an FYI because there's a few people like Oh, I swung by and if you do, you'll see the buildings being gutted. So I think that's everything I have on my list for you guys. Thanks. Thanks Meg. Thrown to Diane. Hi everybody. I'm gonna start with the parents survey results, since it was a big topic of what we're doing. At our last meeting, we had really talked about needing to hear and see this connection between like how the staffing shortage is really affecting everybody. And the survey results were spot on with what we were seeing. Families saying not only the cost of care is too high, but talked extensively about waitlist. Some parents saying, I got it, I'm on the waitlist and they said five years. Five years, you're going to need the waitlist. And then some parents not even being put on a waitlist at this time. So the full results for the survey will be coming out. I'll be sure to share those. And there's also a lot There's press release that's being put together right now for it, some infographics to really show where we're at. We're really going to try to make the connection between like all of these things that families are saying and how it's, how it's really affected by everybody is affected by early childhood. It confirms everything we've heard from the business community. We continue to hear that they can't hire people because people don't have childcare. And we were connecting the dots there on the staffing shortages. The reason why it's not just that there's a waitlist because there's no space in the program. There's a waitlist because they don't have enough staff to staff that. And so when you think weightless, it's like, oh, the programs just fool. We need another and we need to open a new place. And the reality is, is that they just don't have anybody that can. Work in those classrooms that are qualified staff that meet the standards. Until we get that, we want to make sure we're educating the greater community on that. And the real need to invest in early childhood. So there are things coming. I do want to encourage everybody to that is interested in this advocacy piece for this, to join the first state pre-k Coalition, I can send out some information about that, but they really are working to educate everybody and really advocate for additional funding to go into early childhood. So that is one way to get involved and I will be sure to share all of the survey results. I'm just also kindergarten registration outreach, thanks to all the partners and everybody that's been involved in getting the folders out. We have already delivered 5,500 registration folders throughout the state since October. The folders did have a lot of just different resources to connecting families to the different things. And we did work with some local school districts that put in some additional information that had with some of the programs that were happening in their area as well. So we still we did order some more folders. We had some that we had more requests than what we had. So we got some more we're putting some more together to try to get every single order filled for that. And we did help support pilot of the new registration system. There were a lot of lessons learned, but we've heard a lot of great things for families. And we have put together all this feedback that we've heard and we're gonna give a full report to DOE that has what some of the feedback was. And then families also can submit information or line on the registration portal. There's a feedback form and we continue to encourage families to use that. That the system can really be family-friendly and that it's something that is easy to use. So please encourage families if they had any questions or concerns or issues, or even if it's something positive, we want to know that feedback. The kindergarten Academy is underway. The next session will be held on February 14th and English and February 15th in Spanish. And the topic for this month is going to be language and literacy. The other thing is, is that as a community partner provider, you can sign up for the kindergarten Academy. We will mail you or we will email you all of the resources that were used during the kindergarten Academy. You'll get the child session recording. The session recording, they'll get the checklist for that learning domain. You'll get a list of all the resources that were used during the kindergarten Academy. Then you'll also get a script for the lesson. We've heard from a lot of our partners that they've been using it in some early learning programs. They've been using it in libraries and some community centers. And the goal is just to get the information out there. It's based on the Early Learning Survey. It's been approved through the office of early learning. So we want to make sure that we're getting some appropriate curriculum that's really supporting that transition into kindergarten, out into the hands of kids that will be transitioning. Then just the Healthy Kids group is continuing to meet. We've got a lot of different projects going on, including some healthy kids resources and some outreach materials. We do have to training opportunities that's coming up. One is the pals training. It is the physical activity learning session. And this is a train the trainer. So by taking this training, it's through numbers. We're gonna do it via Zoom. You would be a certified trainer for this national pals program to do that training, we're working with DIC. We have several people signed up to so that they can offer it to through the PD, but it is open to anybody that wants to get certified for that. The other training opportunity is there as an equity training through the Institute for Public Health. That is again going to be a Zoom training that will be free. And I will send full details of those trainings so that you can look at those and if you're interested, you can sign up. And then we're going to have some lead information sessions and some material sharing that's coming up. Lead's been a pretty hot topic and we have some of those things coming. And last update is we are excited because we are going to be implementing the Early Literacy Project for this summer. It will. We're going to be working with Department of Education to do this. It's going to be based on the library summer reading theme. We're once again going to work with all of our partners to distribute books throughout the community. We will update the resources that we have. We'll update the website with additional learning materials and resources, and we'll have some community events that will be happening through the summer. So I will send out information on that too. Because if you're interested in joining that early literacy group, that's really going to be talking about what the resources are going to look like and the communication to families. You are more than welcome. Anybody is welcome to any of it. That was almost a whole page of notes. So sorry. It's okay. I was fascinated me as well. Make sure you send me everything. We'll do. Lead. Very busy lady Diane. Okay. Thank you for all those updates. Next, Kim cow, sad. How are you? More morning, Leah, and it's Kimberly. I'm really sorry. It's okay. Well, I'm one of the lead educators with parents as teachers. Good to see everyone. Weeks continued to do virtual and home visits with families. We do to make sure that know the importance of being that first teacher to their children. Do everything. We're really trying to get things together in regards to getting back out there to visit families hasn't been easy, but we're doing it. They're excited to see us and we're also thankful for the virtual visits that we can still meet with them. Thank God for weekends and adore generation of center that we can actually collaborate together to make sure that our families still receive what they need, right? Because we find that there is still a great need. And just listening to everyone today in regards to the whole learning and helping families deal with the autism, with special needs is a lot, you know, and things that we have to deal with going in as well as on virtually to help families, parents stay focused, right, and still be what they need to be because everyone is stressed, including us on this end and we can't forget self-care. It's very important and sometimes we have a tendency to forget ourselves in the midst of servicing others. So I'm just glad that we're able to see all of this and know that we are nothing to anyone. If we don't deal with ourselves, we can't forget. And that's what we all tried to make sure that we do remember, um, so that we can truly be effective, right? But that's, that's all. It's nothing new. We just got to continue to stay motivated to do what we need to do for our families and ourselves because getting back is a bear. And for me personally, I was out six months due to an accident. So I'm just coming back on trying to adjust to everything myself. So I'm glad glad that I am able to come back and help him to be welcomed back. So that's about it for parents as teachers. Again. Thank you. We kick. The meeting that we had that I was attending that evening meeting was wonderful. And far as the planning committee, I can try to see what I can do to also help and assist alone. We're writing, let's say we were right next door as we are housed in steps as well. I believe that's it for me. Parents of teachers. Great. Thank you so much, Kimberly. You welcome. Okay. Julie, do you have anything? Hi, everybody. It's good. It's good to see everyone. So I, I did share in the chat that kings would have started with Stand By Me on site so people can actually sign up. There's a link on standby nice website to request an appointment directly with the coat says that Kingswood he's there on Tuesdays and Thursdays, typically 10-6. So if people have a job, they can come towards the later end of that. So other than that, I think we're kind of rolling along. We've been fortunate to get some new teachers, which like everybody else, we have a large waitlist, so we're happy that after six months we're able to open in your classroom that we've been trying to open. So I know that I'm preaching to the choir here and everybody else shares the same issues. I think. Other than that, we're really excited to be involved with the CDA process and, and also have some teachers that are at Dell techs. So I feel like the last just wanted to share. I feel like the last couple of years of everybody kind of working together and really pushing Education has made a real difference for our teachers. So we've raised the bar, but they've responded. And it's because they have the supports of different places and they're able to everybody who's done a great job of creating flexible options for them. So I'm really, really pleased with that and I'm looking forward to everyone's continued support, so thank you all. Thank you very much, Julie. Lucinda, do you have anything you need ask. After Julie is great because I can say we hang up a lot together. We're pretty busy as usual. The first thing I want to just reiterate is the Workforce Committee, which is partnerships who has professionals from the Early Childhood Council. I think the one thing that other than anyone who wants to come on the committee certainly can. But the other thing to ask providers to do is we just need anecdotes out there folks, letters from providers, letters from families that just talk about the reality of what we're going through. That that tends to be powerful when it comes to testimony in front of KFC, I think it's powerful to give Madeline the ammunition of being able to talk further about what needs to be done. And I totally agree with what Julie just said. We are retention rate with teachers is great right now. And I think it's the combination of the things that Julie said, but also the fact that those stabilization grants for us during the pandemic, we were able to really support staff and let them feel as though that they were important to us as well as the community. So the second thing that I just wanted to share with you is St. Michael's is undergoing a 6.4 million dollar renovation. Pray for me. We're staying open to 98, I think children right now. But we needed we desperately needed renovations to h FAQ and structural problems, is that but we are adding two new classrooms as well as reconfiguring a lot of offices. But the exciting thing to me is that we're looking at our library and reconfiguring that it will have part of the library if you've been there before, they're beautiful stained glass windows that are now have been uncovered and they're even better than they were. And that will be the children's library and the other half of the library area up there is going to be a Resource Center. We'll have a family resource room with food, clothing open to the public through a separate entrance. We also my big wish and this has been a big thing of mine is that we're going to have a social worker on duty. And I've learned a lot about poverty since I've come here and inter generational and being able to duplicate in so many ways. But Stubbs is doing, I think it will be, it will be, it will be different because we have such a big infant toddler population. So I'm hoping we can take all the wisdom of Dr. Williams and translate it into families that are coming in when their children or eight weeks old. So I'm very excited about that. It's also going to have an area of four cohorts, teaching study groups. And we will be offering childcare in evenings for that. So all in all is lots of things in the fire. It's exciting. But I do typically wait up at 04:00 in the morning and think of one more thing. However, the good news is I'm off to Nana duty for the weekend, so thanks. Listen to enjoy. You know, I will marry Mary Kay. Hi. Unmute. She's turning. Yeah. Yeah. So on from the Office of childcare licensing and I just have a couple of updates. Os UCL has staff vacancies that we're working to fill and like our childcare providers, having difficulty filling the positions. And Department of Education is working with many partners to work on the stars revision and possible regulation revision that would go along with it. The process is somewhat complicated because we're attempting to balance legislative mandates along with provider needs. So it's a complex process. We keep plugging away at it. So that's it for today. Alright, thank you. Thank you for being here. Gladly. I think Did I miss anybody? Think so. Okay. Okay. Anything else for the good of the group? All right. Thank you all for being here. We'll we'll adjourn. Thank you. Thank you, everyone. Thank you. Have a great day. Bye. Bye. Bye. Thank you. How lucky are we?

WECEC Meeting 1.19.2023

From Leah Leader January 19, 2023

1 plays 0 comments You unliked the media.

Zoom Recording ID: 95065833804 UUID: Of0ab187RxyYBt4lYiFtKA== Meeting Time: 2023-01-19 01:54:04pmGMT

Tags: early childhood educationearly childhood fundingwilmington early care and education council

Appears In: WECEC Meetings

Comments

Add a comment