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8:30 CONTINTENTAL BREAKFAST
11:30 - 1:30 LUNCH w/REGIONAL STAFF—Nancy Hutchins—Steve Henigson (Maybe?)
3:00 BREAK
8:30 CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST
12:00 - 1:30 LUNCH
Members present:
| Dir. Rep. | Staff Rep. | Parent Rep. | Friend Rep. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alaska | Absent | Absent | Absent | Not Elected | Idaho | Dorlan Hergeshimer for Doug Fagerness | Darlyn Gravatt | Virginia DeSpain | Absent | Oregon | Ron Herndon Th. 1:00 - 3:00 | Shari Shell | Mandy Markham | Yvonne Roberts | Washington | Suzanne VanOrman | Diane Hollstrom | Marty Varela | Not Elected |
Technical Assistance: Debbie Ellis, Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory
Call to order: The meeting was called to order at 8:30 a.m.
Minutes: Because the March 2003 meeting minutes were handed out at the meeting, the board members will review them this evening and have discussion and the vote for approval tomorrow.
Finance Report: Yvonne Roberts gave report and handed out copies of the financial report dated 5/30/03.
Collection of dues has been more complicated this year. When the numbers for dues were received, they did not correspond with the numbers already known. Next year, executive directors will be asked for the numbers, or, at the least, they will reaffirm the numbers received. To date, Oregon is the only state that has not yet paid their dues for 2003.
No money has been paid to Dollar Per Child yet from RXHSA. $1000 had been budgeted, but only $660 has been raised. Discussion was held as to whether to give the budgeted amount or to give only the money received. Consensus was to send the money that had been raised to date.
Suzanne Van Orman called for a motion to approve the budget as is. Shari Shell moved and Diane Hollstrom seconded. All approved. Motion carries.
National Report: Suzanne Van Orman gave the report.
NHSA: Suzanne had identified the following issues to discuss with NHSA:
Suzanne talked with Ronnie Herndon about the concerns and faxed them to him. He forwarded them to Sarah Green, who sent a letter with the following responses.
The Board decided that, as a region, they would make a regional report to NHSA a regular part of the RXHSA Board meeting agenda, and fill out and submit suggestions/issues from the region at each of the board meetings. Other suggestions included mailing a copy of the report to all regional presidents to find out if these issues were also important to other regions. The Board also thought of challenging other presidents on the board to submit regular regional reports.
Legislative Report: Senator Judd Gregg said he believed that the state portion of HR 2210 (giving eight states control of their Head Start money) would not pass in the Senate. Funding for 2004 is currently at $8 billion, with $2 billion added each subsequent year. Senators Dodd and Kennedy have put out a bill that would increase T&TA to 3%; outline teacher qualifications; create a state collaboration office with real power; establish yearly monitoring and review teams made of collaboration officer and feds; and create a process for self assessment. Senator Patty Murray is on board with the Kennedy/Dodd bill. Senator Hillary Clinton may have her own bill. The Republicans will also have their own bill. Most likely, they will come with a complete packet that has been discussed behind closed doors. The Democrats have really held together (as evidenced by the vote on HR 2210), but unfortunately they seem to believe that Head Start is now poor quality.
As a region, the board has decided to encourage the membership to send thank you letters to all those who have been supporting Head Start (including Representative George Miller [CA]), as well as encourage them to send letters to those who did not support Head Start (such as Greg Walden). (Rebuttal letters also need to be sent addressing the letters to the editors that speak poorly about Head Start. Information about state budget problems should be included so the public can weight that against letters that say how much better state control of Head Start would be. Information about how the federal-to-local budget works (when there is a deficit, money can be borrowed from another program, but states can not borrow money in the same way) should also be shared.)
HR 2125: Head Start Assessment Act: The Eager to Learn report says that "assessments and procedures of young children need to be done appropriately so that they do not cause more educational problems", and that "emotional and social development are as essential for later learning as cognitive development." (See findings of report!) They have recommended that the assessment testing not be proceeded with until:
NHSA has not directly taken a position on HR 2125, but has taken an indirect opposition to it because it is part of the bigger Head Start bill that they oppose. They are also opposed to the taking of the funds for this bill from the T&TA funds. At the February meeting, NHSA said they had a strategic plan for working with this administration and would be sending it out soon. (No one at the meeting had seen the strategic plan yet.)
Region X Concerns Regarding the NRS: During the last conference call, several participants (whose Head Start children have already been tested) stated that the reporting system was "nothing more than blatant child abuse." Parents were promised money if they had their children tested, so they are bringing in their children to be tested in order to get the money. But, by the end of the test, the kids were crying and asking to be taken out of the test.
When Head Start teachers are being trained on the proper use of the national reporting system (NRS), they are told they can not deviate from the training programs nor deviate from the exact words/exact hand movements shown during the training. The test is to be given to kids who are four years old and on their way to kindergarten. The same test will be given at the beginning and end of the year. Spanish-speaking kids are asked 3-15 questions to determine if they can take the assessment in English. If they can't do it, the teachers are able to give it to the students in their home language. To insure confidentiality, kids are given a number and their number is matched to their teacher. The reporting system is also collecting a lot of information on the teachers, including marital status, education, etc.
Another concern was that the assessment does not accurately reflect information that has been sent in already. How do programs know if the results of their assessments will be reported accurately? (Many programs have decided they will scan the results of the test and keep a copy of it for their program.) Information about the opportunities where this information could be misused to harm the children should be shared.
Another concern is test anxiety. (Are we brewing test anxiety in four year olds?) Parents are also anxious about the tests. Parents do not get any information back regarding the results of the assessment. They need to hear how their children are doing. And it is still up in the air whether parents can sign a waiver and not have their children take the test. Rumors are circulating that programs must require testing as a requirement for enrollment, or programs will be defunded if they allows their parents to waive this requirement. Testing is being done for the wrong reasons and will not give parents (or the program) the information we need to know about how to help the kids.
Maybe a copy of the test should be shown to the newspapers. Or it could be dealt with within the legal system... as a class action suit in terms of discrimination against a multitude of families and children. What happens if they don't speak English or Spanish... the kids have to take it in English. A class action suit could stop it indefinitely.
The board decided that they would figure out what concerns they have with the assessment process and put it on the regional report to see what NHSA is doing with it. Ask to make it a national issue that they put in a letter of concern.
National Report (cont.) - When Ronnie Herndon arrived, he updated the board with his national report.
There will be a conference call on Monday (August 11) at 1:00 p.m. eastern standard time to discuss the Wendy Hill memorandum of agreement between the community action program and the Head Start Bureau. They will also discuss the Head Start training and Head Start design.
NHSA is looking into the national reporting system. NHSA is pursuing whether a parent can sign a waiver so their child will not have to take the test. (Please send Ronnie any pertinent information about the testing system and he will forward it to NHSA's lawyer.)
NHSA is also pursuing how to get the T&TA dollars restored.
NHSA is trying to keep the momentum up for September when the Senate will vote on a Head Start bill. Ronnie suggested that RXHSA go back to their policy councils and tell them what a victory has been achieved—which shows the power of community and parents—by keeping the bill off the floor for three weeks and the House not being able to muster more than one vote to pass HR 2210. Parents and staff need to get a feeling of what power they really have had.
Alaska: No representatives from Alaska were present at the meeting. Kristine Armstrong emailed a report to the board. An outside organization—made up of directors—is revamping Alaska's bylaws. (Pam is part of that committee.) Because of monetary considerations, the representatives from Alaska may not be able to attend further RXHSA meetings unless they can pay for it out of their own pockets. Due to these issues, the representatives are unsure what their role will be with RXHSA.
Idaho: Virginia DeSpain reporting.
Many changes have happened. In April, Wendy Hill wrote a letter notifying all state associations that the collaboration office/grant can not share office space with the associations (which effects Idaho and Massachusetts). They were given a 90 day time frame and had to move by July 1. The board voted and the majority decided not to fight it; although they did send letters to the regional office and NHSA telling them they wanted to continue their collaboration and make it work.
Because of this move, funding has been hit hard. Office space has taken the biggest hit. IHSA has moved back to the Department of Health and Human Services. The executive director is gone and will be moving back to California, so a search for a new Executive Director half-time interim position is underway. Her assistant is also gone. There is one full-time staff person there, as well as a fiscal assistant who is there some of the time. The association is also looking into other early childhood associations to see about space sharing, staff sharing, etc.
Because the functions of the association have evolved over time and are now a new thing (including managing funds and networking/training), the association will be reorganizing in October. The board is young and inexperienced. It is made of up directors and is the managing body that makes fiscal and legal decisions. There is also an advisory board of parent and staff who give input and approve policies, but do not make decisions. This maintains a role for staff and parents but does not give legal responsibility to them. IHSA is looking at other state structures to see what may be an appropriate structure for Idaho—keeping in mind the uniqueness of their state (legislature, demographics, duties/responsibilities, etc.).
Earlier this year, a grant came out to the program directors about retrofitting the busses to diesel engines. The association encouraged individual programs to apply for the grants, but there was not enough interest. The programs dismissed it because they needed bigger buses. So the association is looking into applying for the grant to upgrade 12 buses/transportation vehicles state-wide.
Even though the report states that Idaho sent in $14 to Dollar Per Child, Idaho actually sent in more!
Lou Landry is now working for the Hilton Foundation, doing trainings.
Debt Service Report: Suzanne got a preliminary report from Lou Landry outlining the information he received from programs within the region regarding the outstanding debt they had and how much would be turned over to the states if they received block grant funding for Head Start programs. Suzanne will be sending a copy of the information to Ben (?). If NHSA or any of the states would like to have this information, let Suzanne know.
Oregon: Yvonne Roberts reporting.
Within the packet of information that Yvonne passed out was a yellow sheet of paper with information cards advertising SaveHeadStart.org. Yvonne sends these cards out in routine mailings so people will know how to access the latest information regarding Head Start legislation. She encouraged the other board members to make a similar sheet of cards and mail them out to individuals on their mailing lists.
Within the last three years, Oregon Head Start has received $42,553 from the Charitable Check-off tax program. They have also received a $20,000 donation from Aneheisher/Bush. Oregon has set up a simple grant application process so programs can compete for this money. The money can be used for facility, playground equipment, or development. The programs need to write a one-page description of need, project, and matching dollars, and send it in by August 15. Awards will be made by the middle of September. Grant awards will range from $5,000-$20,000. An outside entity will be reading the grants and making recommendations to the board as to which programs will receive the funds.
Oregon really works hard on Dollar Per Child. This year they sent in a check for $7200. Every meeting there is a hat passed. Oregon is one of the few states that sent in more money than they have children.
Oregon Pre-K dollars are still in jeopardy from the Department of Education. Oregon is still working on a budget, and is operating on a continuing resolution for July and August. The Governor has stated he will not sign a third continuing resolution. No parents have been informed that their children will be in the Oregon Pre-K Program and no staff have been hired.
Washington: Suzanne VanOrman reporting.
Things are going well in Washington. (They have become a "shining example of growth and development.") The collaboration person is doing some terrific stuff, and has printed a wonderful book that talks about the head start programs in Washington. The Executive Director has things well-organized. She is diplomatic and has good support among the programs. She has a team of people who give her their full support.
In Washington all programs give 10% of their training dollars to the region to do regional trainings. They are concerned about what will happen to this regional training program if the training dollars are taken away from the programs. All the statewide trainings have been well received and successful, so the executive director is looking at the conference to figure out the value to the participants to see if they could charge for the trainings (thus adding money for the association to continue to do the regional trainings).
Two weeks ago, there was a Director's meeting. They discussed the push for universal pre-kindergarten in Washington State. On the last day, they talked about Head Start issues, transportation, and what was happening in their programs.
At the Summer Retreat, a letter was developed to send to Patty Murray discussing the reasons it was good to oppose the move of Head Start to the Department of Education and the giving of funding to the states. Washington has developed a plan for advocacy to get legislatures to support their positions which included getting editorials printed with positions statements, holding news conferences, and speaking on radio shows. It has been an across-the-boards effort. They broke the state into a grid and had people target specific legislatures. Robbin has also been using peer support of the executive directors (she has been staying neutral, but gaining lots of information to inform her work). The Washington State Legislators have been actively visiting Head Start programs, and the programs have been building relationships with their elected officials in Washington (and Oregon) who are now really supportive of Head Start. Washington will be having their first Head Start Day this year.
ECEAP is flat funded. Suzanne is on the steering committee for ECEAP, and their focus is on the bureaucratic stuff, not what is being done for the kids. It is difficult in Washington to integrate HS and ECEAP, since their issues are not the same. In Washington, the gap between the state version and federal version of early education and care programs needs to be addressed.
Washington extended terms for their officers to align them with the rest of Region X. They are also serious about starting a friends affiliate, and have developed a structure to get this into place.
Washington also came up with planks in July, that will be refined at the October meeting.
Training and Technical Assistance: Some Head Start programs have been given an amount for their T&TA dollars, but it has been short of what they feel they need. There has also been no direction on how to spend it, or instructions on how to calculate amounts. Training plans have to be approved by the regional office. A national rep is supposed to work with the programs to develop a T&TA plan that will be forwarded to the regional office for approval.
Within the House bill, programs will lose 50% of their training dollars. The Kennedy/Dodd bill is asking for 3% of the total Head Start budget be set aside for T&TA dollars. Maybe in negotiations, the 2% may get restored. (The language regarding travel dollars has been changed to keep people from attending both NHSA and NAEYC conferences.)
No training contractors have been chosen in any region yet. (Because of how the RFP was written, the contractors can be funded within one week.) RFP for the contractors was very different from any RFP than has ever been seen before; there was no mention of training of any kind or consulting. The general feeling is that all consultants will be paid for by grantees.
Annual Report: Last year's annual report was not written, and none of the members expressed an opinion about its absence. Discussion about suspending the written annual report from distribution until such time as it is warranted. The annual report was created to show what the association has done over the past year, but they have found that word of mouth from its representatives has done more to pass this information to the states.
Meeting with Regional Office: Suzanne called the Regional Office. They (Steve and Nancy) were not able to come to Portland, but would really like to maintain the relationship with Region X. (Bev Clarno, a rancher from rural Oregon, is now their new administrator.)
Conference Report: Cari Olmstead gave report.
The 2002 conference made $6423.92. With the 30/70 split, Oregon will get about $1800. (She suggested closing this account at this point.) She handed out a summary of the overall conference evaluations—which were mostly positive.
Cari meet with Suzanne, Shari, and Yvonne to talk about the possibility of the Quality Center continuing to provide support for the RXHSA annual conferences. The QC charges about $1600 to do all the conference things (registration, etc.). If we decide to go with the QC, we would need to make a decision to do a conference, then create a subcommittee that would work with the QC to create the conference. Regional conference team would be the planners, and the association would hire the QC (or someone like them) to do the logistics.
We may have to create multiple contingency plans about how to proceed with regional conferences if we do not go with the QC. For instance, states have not been making very much money from these conferences (last couple of years they have only made about $2000). Maybe all states can help plan and split the costs. Or offer percentage back to states based on participants.
A concern about attendance and the feasibility of a regional annual conference was discussed. If the 2% T&TA money gets restored, program staff may be able to attend. But if T&TA funds are cut, there may be no ability for people to travel to training any more.
Going to Alaska for the 2004 conference is not an issue, but the loss of training dollars will be an issue. (Washington and Oregon are having some pretty significant loss of dollars within their programs.) The Captain Cook is holding rooms for us until we know more about T&TA funding. They will call the association if someone calls to request the dates. At that point, we will have to firm up our plans with them or relinquish the rooms.
Suzanne felt that if we do not have a training this year (as a place holder), we will have a hard time getting back into the training business in the next few years. What would be some burning issues to compel people in for this year (transportation, NRS)?
Ideas discussed included:
Darlyn Gravatt motioned that we have a joint director/parent leadership summit in Seattle in March 2004. Shari Shell/Mandy Markham seconded. All approved. Motion carries.
March 3 and 4, 2004, will be the dates for the regional summit: Head Start at the Cross-Roads: A "Leadership" Summit for Directors and Parent Leaders. It will be a narrowly focused conference, where some time will be spent with directors and parents together and some time apart for them to work on their separate issues. The content will be guided by the summit planning committee. (March 1 and 2, will be the board meeting dates, starting at 10 a.m. on Monday.) No state will be given a percentage. It will be held at the Double Tree suites, Tukwilla, Washington. Any suggestions should be given to the summit planning committee. (Cari will call the Captain Cook and cancel the hotel. Suzanne will call Alaska to inform them of the decision.)
The 2004 Regional Summit Planning Committee includes Marty Varella (WA), Darlyn Gravatt (ID), Suzanne VanOrman (WA), Shari Shell (OR), and Dorlan Hergesheimer (ID). A phone conference will be held soon to start the process.
Board decided to engage/extend the conference planning services of PSU's Quality Center. A letter will be sent approving the use of the conference funds for next year's conference. Yvonne Roberts motioned to leave the balance of the 2003 conference funds with PSU as seed money for the 2004 Summit. Shari Shell seconded. All approved. Motion carries.
Updates on the Status of the Quality Center: The Quality Center is no longer in business as of August 1. Johnny went to Alaska. Melissa is moving to a new university job. Barbara took a new job at a Head Start Program. Barbara Reid took an early childhood special education job at White Shield. Chuck, Mary, Polly are staying at PSU. Polly will be part time, and Chuck and Mary will be running the office. Mary will spend 25% of her time with infant mental health for PSU. Chuck will be running the SFC. They will both be doing training. The Policy Council Leadership training in November has been opened up to the region. The Early Head Start Conference will be held in the Spring (partially funded by Washington training set aside dollars). Cari's last day at the university will be August 31, but she will be staying on about 6 days a month to set up the conference planning section. The rest of the people are without work and are hoping to get picked up by the new contractors.
This afternoon the Communications committee (Shari Shell, Virginia DeSpain, and Diane Hollstrom) will meet to choose the Parent of the Year and the Beating the Odds Scholarships winners; the Executive Committee (Suzanne VanOrman and Yvonne Roberts) will meet to discuss the bylaws and fiscal policies (Dorlann Hergeshimer will also meet with the Executive Committee); and the Networking Committee (Darlyn Gravatt, Mandy Markham, and Marty Varela) will meet with the Scholarships Committee to discuss the web site.
The Board broke into committees at 3:15 p.m.
Committee Reports:
Scholarships:
Add an additional article: Duties for Regional Reps: Communication Liaison
Executive Committee: "shall" misspelled in the last sentence
Training Committee: planning of the annual conference
Meetings - get rid of the first sentence.
Discussion was held regarding states and who they send to the regional board meeting. Consensus was that it is up to the states to decide who to send and if they chose to send an alternate.
Discussion was held on a formal policy regarding absentia. At the last meeting it was decided that to be eligible to be an officer or national rep, candidates have to be present or have written declaration of candidacy at the November meeting of the even year.
Proposed changes will be formalize and voted on at the November meeting.
Fiscal Policies and Procedures:
Treasurer Responsibilities: Treasurer does not receive and record all state dues. Change to verify all state dues.
Page 2 of 4—VI.B: Change to "At the November meeting of the Association, the board will be responsible for the preparation and adoption of the budget."
Page 4 of 4—IX Systems Cost: Add something that says "Any money earned by the Association will be kept by the Association; the decision to disburse it will be up to the board."
Suzanne made a motion to adopt the revisions. Shari seconded. All approved. Motion carries.
Changes will be distributed before the November meeting and voted on at the next meeting.
Parental/Policy Council Conference Calls: Yvonne Roberts will get copies of the NHSA list of upcoming conference calls and give to everyone. Any interested parents should be encouraged to participate in these calls.
Strategic Plan—The main goal should be to help make state associations strong and functioning.
A discussion was held regarding developing marketable value for the Association and regional conference. Some members feel there is no need to send folks to a regional conference. People want to leave a conference feeling they got something out of it.
By changing the focus of the conference this year, it may be a better selling point than in the past. But we have to be strategic about how we "advertise" what we do for the members and give them stuff they really want/need. The Association should compare costs of other conferences and see how we compare. We also need to get information on the upcoming conferences out in a more timely manner.
Darlyn and Marty would like to work on a marketing plan.
Darlyn Gravatt motioned to adopt the mission statement. Virginia DeSpain seconded. Approved by six. Motion carries.
Marty Varella moved to approve the new strategic plan. Shari Shell seconded. All approved. Motion carries.
Minutes:
State Report: Correct misspellings. Delete wording about elections from Washington State Report.
There was a question and discussion on the video that was mentioned on page 10 of the minutes. The board had discussed the possibility of getting a large corporation to donate money to produce a video for marketing RXHSA. Discussion included having a brainstorming session about what the Region X has done and answering what the states would get by being part of the Region X Head Start Association. (Many years ago, Alice, from Idaho, produced a little booklet that was passed out at a regional meeting for this purpose. Linda McCray, from Joyce Irving's program, would probably know where we could get a copy of the booklet.)
Suzanne Van Orman asked for a motion to approve the minutes with corrections. Yvonne Roberts moved. Diane seconded. All approved. Motion carries.
RXHSA Regional Report to NHSA:
Issue: RXHSA is apposed to the National Reporting System (NRS) - HB 2945. We feel the system has a lot of flaws. We believe more thought and planning needs to be put into it and do it needs to be done right, before implementing this type of program. (Make reference to the letter from researchers that went to Congress.) We believe:
Recommendations/Suggestions: RXHSA wants NHSA to oppose HB 2945. We would like this to be part of a conference call or special board meeting to discuss with other regional presidents. We would like information collected from states and regional associations so NHSA will be able to hear/be able to represent our collective voice. We would like suggestions from all states and regional associations as to how to proceed (suggest that programs refuse to do it, write a letter to show what is currently used and suggest that is be used as a legitimate source of data instead of the new assessment, encourage programs not to participate because it violates the sacred trust between our children and our families.) After we have confirmed our collective voice, we could hold a national press conference to express Head Start's opinion of the NRS. (We also want to know what are the legal issues if we do do this? What are the legal issues if we do not do this? (i.e. Program defunding?))
Discussion: The feds can't do a damn thing about parents who waive the right to take the tests. Parents should discuss it at one of the next conference calls. They could create their own individual waivers and give them to their programs. Make sure the actions are parent driven. Have policy council be the driving force behind the decisions.
Statement—Wish NHSA to continue to work on Reauthorization.
Issue: Region X would like NHSA to challenge the diversion of Training and Technical Assistance Funds and recommend that the money be returned to local programs.
During the break, the NHSA report form was filled out. It read:
Yvonne Roberts motioned to fax the approved RXHSA regional report to NHSA (Sarah Green) today. Mandy Markham seconded. All approved. Motion carries.
November 13-14, 2003
Location: Seattle—to keep in touch with the regional office.
Call to order
Additions/revisions to the agenda
Minutes
Financial/Budget report (approve 2004 budget)
National report
State reports
Lunch with the regional staff
Conference report
Committee meeting (scholarships)
Bylaws—vote and approve
Marketing plan report
Calendar
Write regional report for NHSA
Association Strengthening—get information from states as to how we can help them/provide resources to them, etc. (During state reporting time for regional reps., what would you like to see the regional association do to support this?)
Set March agenda
Lunch on the second day, can be earlier... 11:00/Brunch... for ease of out-of-town travelers; or we can buy a box lunch that folks can take with them if they need to leave early.
The meeting was adjourned at 11:47 p.m.