MINUTES

MANSFIELD ADVOCATES FOR CHILDREN

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

6:30-8:30 PM

Council Chambers- Town Hall

PRESENT: K. Grunwald (staff), S. Baxter (staff), A. Bladen (Chair), N. Hovorka, Amy Lapsis (guest), J. Higham, J. Goldman, J. Stoughton (staff), R. Leclerc (staff), S. Daley, MJ Newman, C. Guerreri

REGRETS: D. McLaughlin, B. Lehmann

ITEM	DISCUSSION	OUTCOME
Open	-Welcome: members introduced themselves to new potential member, Amy Lapsis. -Vote to adopt 10/01/08 MAC Minutes: note that Kim Russo was in attendance. -Announcements: new calendar distributed; first Wed. of each month through June 2009; second Wed. starting in Sept. 2009. Still have 2 full-time school readiness slots open at Willow House. Mobile Dental Clinic: MJ Newman not present for discussion. -Update from Leadership Work Group: S. Baxter reported on the Results Statement that has been developed: “All Mansfield children birth-8 are healthy, successful learners, and connected to the community.” The group has begun to identify indicators for each of these results. How do we affect the indicators in a positive way? At the next meeting experts in each of these areas will be invited to provide feedback on the indicators. The group is working on communication, and needs to identify how to best get feedback on the work out to the community at large as it progresses. -Update from Parent Committee on 1-1 Interviews: J. Higham reports that the group is still at 27 interviews. The group looked at how Vernon and Torrington presented the information from their interviews. J. Higham is in the process of developing a presentation of the results. The group would like to partner with the Leadership Work Group in formal presentations to community groups (Town Council, Board of Ed, etc.). J. Goldman pointed out that it is important to go back to the interviewees to get feedback on how the information they presented has been reported. This is a way to validate the information that has been collected before presenting it to the full community.	Minutes approved with that correction. R. Leclerc will identify contact information for the clinic. Contact is: chanel@mobiledentists.com Sandy will email the statement and the indicators that have been developed. Please email feedback/questions to Sandy on the Results Statement and indicators that have been developed. Finalize presentation and explore partnering with LWG to do community presentations at their meeting on Nov. 12. The group will report back at our next meeting.
Small Groups	Individuals split up into small groups: Infant/Toddler group, MAC Parents group and New Member Recruitment group
Report Out	Report out from each group and review next steps: Parents committee: J. Higham reported that they learned about Parent Voices and Action framework from C. Guerreri. The recommendation is to get parents to each take one of the 6 cells in the honeycomb framework and identify strategies or next steps to accomplish those tasks. Infant/Toddler ad hoc committee: MJ Newman reported that the task of the group is to come up with a Scope Statement for a feasibility study. The group identified questions that need to be answered to complete this assignment. The group designed a Web of actions for their process. This is a framework often used to identify ways to approach children’s learning. New Members committee: N. Hovorka reported that this group is working on packets for potential members and also for individuals who are more interested. This will include a timeline, MAC organizational chart, accomplishments, checklist for interest areas, and glossary of terms. The group is still looking for input from members. J. Higham asked that the list include pictures and background information on members; suggestion for name cards/tags.	Use the Parent Voice and Action Framework resource guide to collect feedback from parents. The Parent Committee will be taking on the task of compiling the Family Information Packet in the future. Formerly this task was ably led by Becky Lehmann. Thank you Becky! They will also be looking at developing a resource guide for parents and what form that will take. I/T Group will be meeting on Nov. 20 to finalize the Scope Statement. They will contact Coventry to find out about a Scope Statement and feasibility study that were developed there. Please respond to D. McLaughlin’s email to provide information.
Presentation and Discussion	“Parent Voices and Action” Presentation and Discussion	Completed in the MAC Parents small group with Cindy Guerreri.
Next Agenda	Topics for Next Meeting	Continue small group format and provide updates to the larger group re: the work that is being done.
Adjournment/Next Meeting	Meeting adjourned at 7:58 PM; next meeting Dec. 3, 2008 Town Hall, Council Chambers

Respectfully submitted,

Kevin Grunwald