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MICHIGAN CHILD CARE
TASK FORCE MINUTES
MCCTF Co-Chair
Contact Information:
Lisa Brewer, Michigan 4C
Association, T.E.A.C.H. Director
866-648-3224, ext. 27; brewer@mi4c.org
Richard Lower, Michigan
Head Start Association, Executive Director
517-374-MHSA; Richard@mhsa.ws
Future SCHEDULE for
the TASK FORCE
*** NO MEETINGS in July
and August ***
September 8 &endash;
Lake Ontario Room, 3rd floor
State of Michigan Library
702 West Kalamazoo Street
Lansing, MI 48909-7507
(517) 373-1580
Co-Chairs Lisa Brewer
and Richard Lower called the meeting to order shortly after
9:30 a.m. Introductions were done.
BUSINESS OF THE
TASK FORCE
Department of
Education, Judy Levine
(1) Michigan
School Readiness Programs - The State Aid funded programs
continue to expect a $2 million (out of $72.2 ml) in the
budget process since the House Appropriations
Subcommittee on School Aid passed that measure earlier
this morning. The application process for state aid
funding is now on line on the Michigan Electronic Grants
System (MEGS). Applications are due to MDE on June
16.
The education consultant job posting recently advertised
deals with school readiness programs, both state aid and
competitive. (The application deadline has passed as of
June 8). A reader session for competitive grants will
take place on June 15. MDE has enough readers.
(2) The Department is updating the 1992 Early Childhood
Education Standards of Quality. A large committee of
around 100 people attended the first meeting of this
endeavor. The group will start with preschool education,
move next to infants'/toddlers and do special needs
children later. A proposed update will go to the State
Board of Education for approval in the fall.
Family Independence
Agency - Kathi Pioszak
(1) Family
Resource Centers - Twenty expansion sites should be
approved this week. A listing of the new sites will be
publicly announced when final approval is
obtained.
(2) Child Development
and Care
(a) CDC
providers will be issued new personal identification
numbers (PIN) for telephone reporting. This change is
being made for increased security. Notices will be
sent to providers in a number of ways:
* Message on the Statement of Payments
* IVR telephone message (what providers hear when
reporting their hours of care.
* Internet message (when providers are using the
Internet to report
* FIA message on the June/July 2004 issue of Wonder
Years (relative care providers and CDC families)
* Direct mailing to all providers sometime in July.
Providers should have their addresses up to date with
licensing and/or local FIA offices. A July effective
date is expected.
(b) A major
overhaul of our existing FIA Assistance Application
(FIA-1171) has begun. In the past the application has
been restricted to 6 pages by law. This requirement no
longer exists. An Application Steering Committee has
been established and includes FIA policy analysts,
systems and training along with representatives from
DCH, the Center for Civil Justice, and Elder Law of
Michigan, Inc.
Five public comment sessions have been set up
beginning August 25th through September 30th in
Hartford, Novi, Grand Rapids, Escanaba and Gaylord. If
interested, Kathi (517-335-6186; ) has the complete
schedule with dates, times and place. The Steering
Committee expects to complete the revisions to the
application by March 2005.
(3) FIA Director,
Marianne Udow, has announced public office hours for
people other than FIA staff, other state policy makers
and the media. Information on dates can be obtained from
the FIA Office of Communications at 517-373-7707 or at
www.michigan.gov/fia.
(4) Child Day Care
Licensing - (Pat Hogg)
(a) A new
director has been selected for the Office of Child and
Adult Licensing; his name is James Gale. He will begin
about June 21.
(b) The committees
working on proposed revisions of child care rules
continue to work. The rules for Day Care Homes will be
sent to the Office of Regulatory Reform in August, the
Child Care Center rules will go to ORR in September.
Public hearings will take place this fall and new rules
should be promulgated by early in 2005.
(c) Pat presented
data on the number of child care licensees who are
overdue in getting their licenses/registrations
renewed:
Child Care Centers - 4,554 licensees, 391 overdue,
8.6%
Group Homes - 3,573 licensees, 103 overdue,
2.9%
Family Homes - 10,467 registrants, 160 overdue,
1.5%
Total 18,594 654
3.5%
Renewals are delayed for a variety of
reasons.
GUEST
SPEAKERS:
Marcia Ryzstak,
Lansing Community College; Rebecca Brinks, Grand Rapids
Community College; representing the Michigan ACCESS
(American Associate Degree Early Childhood Educators)
group.
ACCESS prepares
professionals for the field of early education and care.
It also sees itself with an advocacy role. It was started
by the Michigan Early Childhood Professionals Consortium
(MECPC) and a similar local group in the Grand Rapids
area about five years ago with help from a Frey
Foundation grant. It became the Michigan affiliate of a
national ACCESS group in 2002. The group is mostly
comprised of early childhood coordinators from the 28
Michigan community colleges; ACCESS also works with early
childhood programs in 4-year colleges and universities to
promote a system of professional development and
articulation. Though community colleges operate very
independently, the ECEC programs across the schools have
substantial similarities: they tend to have similar
course content, specialty areas, moving theory into
practice (i.e. lab experiences). The NAEYC standards for
early childhood professional preparation, approved in
July 2003, also helps provide some consistency among the
community colleges because they require very consistent
outcome/assessment measures. Michigan's "Core Knowledge
and Competencies for Early Childhood Care and Education
Professionals," adopted by the MECPC, also provides a
working base for the group. The group has taken the
first level of the Core Knowledge and Competencies and
created an entry level course that is consistent and used
by many of the programs. The group is currently working
on a "challenge exam" that assess knowledge gained from
the course or an equivalent course/training program.
ACCESS promotes "articulation" of credits so a provider
can obtain professional ECEC credits even if they have
accessed a variety of training options. Articulation
efforts have included vocational programs and 4C
training. Since the T.E.A.C.H.® program began,
articulation has increased and the community colleges
have had increased success in forming agreements with
colleges/universities in their area. Western Michigan
University has been a leader in this effort, making
agreements with five different community colleges. Other
four-year program continue to work with the community
colleges to create unique agreements for their
communities. In addition, the group is working with the
four-year colleges to discuss the issues related to
"early childhood education" being a minor versus a major
area of study. MCCVLC (Michigan Community College
Virtual Learning Consortium) started with a grant to help
child care providers have access to formal training hours
to obtain their CDA Credential from the Council for
Professional Recognition. The collaboration began with
Grand Rapids Community College and North Central Michigan
College and is still available on-line. This coursework
option is an alternative means of allowing students to
learn on-line with support from their "home"
college/university. In addition, many of the ACCESS
group members also have CCAMPIS grants (A program which
helps student parents stay in college, graduate and find
on-going employment. It helps children develop and
succeed in school and later life. These successes for
parents and children help lead to a better economic
benefit for society.) This program also assists
students in finding access to quality child care
programs.
As Professional development continues to become a major
plank in the Governor's "Great Start" work a professional
development pathway is important. A growing network of
Michigan leaders realize that early childhood
professional develop is very important and this is
generating many new efforts and idea as we try to
address. A major advocacy concern arises from Michigan's
bottom ranking among all states with respect to required
training for child care providers - Michigan requires no
training, unlike 48 other states. The ACCESS group will
continue to work in these areas to make professional
development opportunities available to providers across
the state.
MORE BUSINESS OF
THE TASK FORCE:
MDCH Mental Health
Services - Deb Marciniak.
(1) Michigan
Mental Health Commission - Children's Issues The
Children's Workgroup of the Michigan Mental Health
Commission is in the process of refining its preliminary
recommendations - they are not yet available for public
review. There appears to be much interest in
prioritizing children. Child advocates still have plenty
of opportunities to comment on children's mental health
issues. See www.michigan.gov/mentalhealth.
(2) Social-Emotional
Development in Young Children - A MDCH booklet titled
"Social-Emotional Development in Young Children" is now
available at: http://www.michigan.gov/documents
Social_Emotional_Development_in_Young_Children_Guide_88553_7.pdf
You can print if off the web site or use the PDF format
version to take to the printer to make hard copies. Some
Intermediate School Districts are printing and
distributing hard copies.
(3) Children and
Trauma Conference Call July 28, 2004 The next conference
call in the Georgetown University series on the
social-emotional development of young children, which is
on Children and Trauma is scheduled for July 28 04 from
1:00 to 2:30 p.m.. If you would like to participate at
the downtown Lansing site (Lewis Cass Building), contact
Jackie Cadwell, 517 241-5767.
(4) Conference on
"Parenting Preschoolers: Resources to Help Overcome the
Challenges" This conference will be held on June 12 04 at
Lansing Community College. It's sponsored by the MSU
Parenting Young Children Study; Families and Communities
Together Coalition; MSU Department of Pediatrics &
Human Development; and Office for Young Children. It
will feature sessions on "Medication for Young Children"
and "Environments that Prevent Problems in Preschoolers",
among many others.
(5) Challenges in the
Early Years: Infant Mental Health Perspectives. This
month, The WSU Merrill-Palmer Institute and the Metro
Detroit Association for Infant Mental Health are
sponsoring 3 trainings on "Challenges in the Early Years:
Infant Mental Health Perspectives."
* June 11 - Recognizing and Responding: Children's Grief
Across the Lifespan
* June 18 -
Postpartum Depression Update: What You Need to Know
About PPD
* June 25 -
Promoting Social-Emotional Competence in Infants and
Toddlers
Call Reta at 313 872-1790 for more info.
(6) Early Childhood
Comprehensive System Strategic Planning Workgroups To
Convene in July. If you have not yet joined the listserve
for the Early Childhood Comprehensive System Strategic
Planning project, you may want to do it now. The 7 work
groups will convene in July and their work will be posted
on the listserve for review in between the monthly
meetings. To be added to the listserve, email Joan Blough
at JBlough@kazoocmh.org.
(7) Detroit Free
Press Does Front-Page Story on the Child Care Expulsion
Project (CCEP) on June 3, 04. Here's the link to get the
story: http://www.freep.com/news/education/expel3_20040603.htm
Federal
Reauthorizations
(1) TANF -
Kristen McDonald-Stone reported that TANF may move soon
in Congress in part because advocates are pushing for
action now. People are beginning to realize that the
budgets for fiscal year 2006 might be very bad because of
the huge deficits being run up now.
(2) Head Start, Child
Care & Development Block Grant--nothing is expected
to happen in the near future.
Lindane Poison:
William Weil, M.D., Professor Emeritus of
Pediatrics and Human Development at MSU, discussed efforts
to get the state to pass a rule banning the sale, use or
prescription of any substance that contains lindane. Lindane
is a pesticide in the same chemical family as DDT and shares
the same harmful characteristics: it is persistent,
bioaccumulative and moves up the food chain to affect
humans. It is especially dangerous for small children. Dr.
Weil, the Michigan Environmental Council, the Ecology Center
and others have petitioned Michigan Department of Community
Health and the Department of Agriculture to promulgate a
rule banning the use of Lindane. Under state statutes, these
two departments are supposed to reply to the petition
sometime this summer. Dr. Weil will keep us posted on this
matter.
Tiered Reimbursement
Opportunity - Mark Sullivan (Michigan 4C), Bob
Parks (Michigan Association of United Ways) A program called
the Colorado Educare Quality Rating System, which is a
tiered system of child care, might come to Michigan as a
4-community pilot program. The pilot would run three years.
The Michigan partners in this effort are: The United Way,
MiAEYC, Mi4C, FIA, MDE, MDCHealth, Child Care Expulsion
Prevention Projects. The four Michigan communities under
consideration are: Jackson area, Gratiot County, Muskegon
area and Detroit. The Michigan pilot would receive an
initial $500,000 through the efforts of United Way and would
have to acquire another $1.5 million in matching funds.
A tiered system typically has three to five levels of child
care, with the different levels determined by different
standards of quality programming. Consumers, including
government programs that provide child care support, would
choose higher or lower quality child care according to what
they could afford and their desire for quality care for
(their) children.
Educare Colorado has developed a Quality Rating System®
(QRS) for evaluating the quality of child care in accordance
with scientific standards of validity and reliability. QRS
is now ready for customizing and use in any community in the
nation. QRS rates quality in the following areas: learning
environment; family partnership; training and education;
adult-to-child ratios and group size; program accreditation.
As Educare Colorado goes national, it has already started a
pilot in Kansas City. A second site will be selected later
this year and Michigan is being seriously considered.
Michigan has a favorable climate for this pilot thanks to
the Governor's interest in child care, strong potential
support from Michigan's foundations, support from leaders
such as those found in the Ready to Succeed Partnership, and
a strong child advocacy network. We should know more about
this in late summer/early fall.
For information about this matter contact Bob Parks at the
Michigan Association of United Ways:
517-371-4360; bparks@uwmich.org
FINAL
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
(1) Mark
Sullivan - Michigan 4C will host a one-day policy
conference on February 24, 2005 at the Lansing Center,
downtown Lansing. Highlights include: A keynote by Paul
Hillegonds, CEO of Detroit Renaissance and co-chair of
the Michigan Ready to Succeed Partnership; As a main
speaker, Art Rolnick, Senior Vice President, Federal
Reserve Bank of Minnesota, co-author of "Early Childhood
Development: Economic Development with a High Public
Return." Details to follow.
(2) The Children's
Trust Fund (517-241-7226) will sponsor the Fourth
Biennial Statewide Conference on the Early Years:
Supporting Families with Young Children; November 8-10,
2004; Amway Grand Plaza Hotel, Grand Rapids. Conference
brochure and registration materials will be available in
August. Limited scholarships available.
(3) *** NO MEETINGS
in July and August *** NEXT MEETING: - September 8 (2nd
Wednesday of the Month) Lake Ontario Room, 3rd floor,
State of Michigan Library.
The meeting adjourned at
12:00 noon.
Margie Murphy (Van Buren Intermediate School District) and
Steve Manchester (Michigan AEYC) took notes for these
minutes.
SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE:
Send comments and suggestions regarding this e-mail network,
or requests to be added or removed from it, to
mcctforce@miaeyc.org.
Please FORWARD THIS NOTICE TO OTHERS; we invite and courage
people to join this e-mail network.
The MCCTF Organizational
Sponsors:
Michigan 4C
Association (Community Coordinated Child
Care);
Michigan's
Children;
Michigan Association
for the Education of Young Children;
Michigan League for
Human Services; and
Michigan Head Start
Association.
Legislative
Sponsors: Senator Patricia Birkholz, Dist. 24;
and Representative Michael Murphy, Dist. 68.
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