June 15, 1999 -- Meeting Summary June 15, 1999 -- Meeting Summary
9:00am - 1:00pm |
Chaps Room |
The Radisson Inn |
SeaTac, Washington |
| Commission Attendance |
| Mona Lee Locke, co-Chair; Kathryn Barnard, Don Brunell, Lisa Brown, Craig Cole, Kim Cook, Yolanda Cortinas-Trout, Alex Deccio, Robbin Dunn, Peter Jackson, Marty Jacobs, Lynn Kessler, Mary Ellen O’Keeffe, Scott Oki, Dee Ann Perea, Gigi Talcott, Yvonne Ullas, Dee West, Lawrence White, Gayle Womack, Kyle Yasuda and Diana Yu . |
| Special Guests |
| Marsha Fraser, Facilitator |
| Meeting Summary |
| Robin Zukoski started the meeting with the following housekeeping items: |
| She explained to the public that there would be time for comments prior to the discussion and vote on the Children’s Bill of Rights. |
| Robin also noted that letters have been sent to Commissioners inviting them to lunch to hear Robin Karr-Morse speak at the Democratic Governor’s Association meeting on June 25. |
| The end of the 1997-1999 Biennium is on June 30. Commissioners are asked to turn in any outstanding travel reimbursements for 1999 prior to June 30. |
| The Commission has now finished the RFQQ process. On Friday, June 11, a group of evaluators interviewed the top 3 candidates for the public engagement campaign. A decision was made based on the evaluation and the winning contract was awarded to Cocker Fennessy of Seattle. Rick Cocker and Anne Fennessy are the partners in Cocker Fennessy. |
| The next Commission meeting will be on July 20 at the Radisson Inn Chaps Room. |
| Mona Locke then welcomed back the four legislators after a long session. |
| Mona explained that she and Melinda Gates had a meeting to discuss the future of the Commission during the rest of 1999 and into the year 2000. Throughout the last year, the Commission has identified several core themes: |
| The Commission wants to focus on all children birth to age 5. |
| Whatever the Commission implements should be voluntary not mandatory. |
| The Commission should implement things that will help maximize brain development. |
| Local community involvement is key to whatever the Commission decides to implement. |
| Based on these themes, the Commission Mission statement, the work of the subcommittees and the results of the parents forums it is the co-chairs recommendation that the Commission commit to: |
1. Hire a
researcher to conduct an interdisciplinary inventory and assessment of the availability
and adequacy of integrated and coordinated services in each community of the state in the
following three areas of concern:
2. Create a charitable foundation that would provide funding for programs in the areas of parent education and support, and child care. |
| Discussion of recommendation #1: |
| Robbin Dunn noted that local communities have been doing some of this research already. |
| Marty Jacobs agreed and that this assessment would be a statewide view of all of the local assessments. |
| Craig Cole also agreed that this would be a coordination of local efforts at the state level. |
| Gigi Talcott explained that she supports getting more information, but that the goal should be to get this information to a place where everyone can access it. |
| Craig Cole feels that this will also stimulate a community assessment of what their needs are. |
| Lynn Kessler noted that community networks should be accessed throughout this project. |
| Gigi Talcott noted that this goal states a "blueprint" for an integrated approach. |
| Marty Jacobs responded that the intent is not to create one "model" to be carried out in each community. |
| Discussion of recommendation #2 |
| Gigi Talcott asked if individual members are being asked to be involved in fund raising. |
| Mona Locke responded no, this is not something where individual involvement is part of the process. |
| Kathryn Barnard noted that currently the US Senate may be looking at a bill by Ted Kennedy that creates the Early Learning Trust Fund. |
| Robin Dunn noted that the second area of focus, child care, should be expanded to include early learning education – not just child care. |
| Dee Ann Perea noted that when she thinks of child care she thinks of all types of care by all types of providers. |
| Marty Jacobs suggest that the areas of focus for the foundation should be "Early Care and Education." |
| Kim Cook explained that what we are looking at is long term systematic financing. |
| Robin Zukoski noted concern that we may be broadening too far and that we may not be able to accomplish other things. The task today is to narrow in and focus on a few specific things. |
| Dee Ann Perea likes that idea that we focus on children 0-3. The needs of infants are so different from that of Toddlers and Preschoolers and that we shouldn’t lump them together. |
| Robbin Dunn explained that a focus on 0-5 is better because you reach the right range of children up until they enter kindergarten. |
| Lynn Kessler noted that 0-5 is our focus area. It is what we do within that age range that really matters. |
| Scott Oki asked what kind of dollar figure we have as a goal to raise for this foundation. It’s easy to say it’s a goal to raise funds, but having a dollar figure in mind is essential. |
| Robin Zukoski responded that we’ll have more in-depth discussion about topic areas and get specifics of what we want to focus on. We don’t have a dollar figure in mind and want to define what we want to do first. For example the Commission could sponsor community programs based on a set of qualifications yet defined. We need to get to the specifics first. |
| Mona Locke also noted that this is a wish list. We need to narrow the lists and prioritize, then raise money to support one thing at a time. |
| Scott Oki responded that having a number in mind is fundamental. Trying to raise 10 million is much different than � million. An infinite amount could be spent on this issue. |
| Lynn Kessler responded that we first need to define and finalize our over arching goals then get the money to help put that to fruition. |
| Scott Oki believes we need to suggest what the amount of money should be. This should come first. |
| Gayle Womack responded that we need to know what we are doing first. We can get some details and then see what funding is needed. |
| Gigi Talcott noted that the foundation goals must be separate from the Commission goals. The foundation cannot be created by commission money. |
| Mona Locke then asked commissioners to vote on these recommendations. BOTH RECOMMENDATIONS WERE ADOPTED. |
| Facilitator Marsha Fraser then explained to Commissioners that we would try to focus in on the Child Care subcommittee recommendations. The subcommittee identified 3 priority areas for action: |
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| Marsha asked each group to narrow this list down to two things the Commission can do and to prioritize these recommendations. |
| After discussion the Commission agreed that the two recommendations should be: |
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| Marsha Fraser then explained that further discussion will take place on how these items will be implemented. |
| Children’s Bill of Rights Discussion |
| Due to time constraints the Commission adjusted its agenda to discuss the Bill of Rights and then continue facilitation work on the recommendations of the co-chairs. Robin Zukoski then asked those addressing the Commission to use the microphone, and indicated that speaking time would be limited. |
| Based on a sign up sheet provided for those people that wanted to testify on the Bill of Rights, the following people spoke against the Children’s Bill of Rights: Sonny Van Gelder, Shirley Brown, Joan Gorner, Cris Shardelman, Carol Miller, Sandy Elliot, Julanne Burts, Katherine Reed, Margaret Wiggins, Sue Trout, Lois McMahan, Ladeva McMahan, M. Jensen, Joan Monteith, Lloyd Gardner, Rachel Harderidge and Steven Whitson. * |
| The people listed above voiced their opposition to the Children’s Bill of Rights. There were several basic themes. They believe that the Children’s Bill of Rights is an infringement upon their rights as parents. They believe that many programs already exist for children and this Commission should not be implementing new programs. They feel it is not the role of government to provide day care or tell parents how to raise their children. They feel that, as tax payers, this Commission is a waste of government money. They feel that the Bill of Rights forces a socially acceptable value system on them as parents – and feel that this cannot be defined. |
| After public comment on the Children’s Bill of Rights, Craig Cole offered an amendment to the Bill of Rights that would precede the preamble. It reads "The Governor’s Commission on Early Learning encourages parents and caregivers of young children to voluntarily embrace the following". Craig moved to adopt the amendment, and there was a second. A vote was called and THE AMENDMENT WAS ADOPTED. |
| The Commission then discussed the Children’s Bill of Rights. |
| Lisa Brown asked for a reminder and description of where the Children’s Bill of |
| Rights fits in to the Commission’s goals. |
| Craig Cole responded that this Bill of Rights was intended to create discussion, awareness of the importance of the development of children, foster thinking about this issue and to help focus on the importance of the roles of parents. |
| * Due to number of speakers and limited time at the meeting it was not possible to link each speaker with their specific comments. Rather than risk misattribution the comments have been summarized. |
| Lisa Brown then reminded the body that this Commission cannot create legislation and this is meant as an ideal. She also said it is interesting how half of the general fund is put into K-12 education yet half of the kids can’t take advantage of this public education because they are damaged and ill-prepared to learn. |
| Diana Yu noted that much of the confusion has been over the title of the document. But there has never been any doubt at any time that parents are the number one caregiver of infants and children. |
| Gigi Talcott expressed concern over the Bill of Rights. She believes that this will eventually become legislation. As a legislator she has to think about the effects of a document like this and therefore cannot support it. |
| Lynn Kessler responded that this document is intended as an ideal – not as legislation. She feels that the terms must and shall in the document are a bit strong but generally supports it. |
| Mona Locke agreed with Lynn Kessler that this is not legislation this is an ideal that the Commission holds. She also agrees that some of the language is a bit strong. |
| Alex Deccio responded that he has concern about the document. He too feels that this will become legislation. He also feels that the word voluntarily in the opening statement is inconsistent with the rest of the document. He does not support the document. |
| Scott Oki explained that this document is created as an ideal. It is not a mandate and will not become legislation. |
| Kyle Yasuda noted that this document was a way to generate discussion and awareness on the issue of early childhood development. This is a multifaceted issue. We are trying to elevate societal value through this document. He supports the ideal of the document. |
| Craig Cole then offered an amendment that would replace the words "must" and "shall" with should throughout the document. |
| Scott Oki responded that we should not water down the Bill of Rights. Our intention was to create a strong document that would create awareness. Replacing these words will make this less of an impact. |
| Craig moved the motion and there was a second. A vote was taken and THE AMENDMENT WAS ADOPTED. |
| Ms. Locke then called vote on the Children’s Bill of Rights. With over 60% of Commissioners voting yes THE DOCUMENT WAS ADOPTED. |
| Discussion of Recommendation #2 |
| Facilitator Marsha Fraser then brought the Commission back to discussion on co-chairs recommendation number two: Create a charitable foundation that would provide funding for programs in the areas of parent education and support, and child care. |
| Marsha wanted to the Commission to now focus in on details of what makes up parent education and support. The Commission had a brain storming session and came up with the following ideas: |
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| Because of the broad ideas around this issue it was recommended that a subcommittee be formed to narrow this list down to 3 actionable recommendations by the August meeting. The following Commissioners volunteered for the Parent Education subcommittee: Mary Ellen O’Keeffe, Dee Ann Perea, Robbin Dunn, and Dee West. |
| A few items were identified for discussion at the July Commission meeting including discussion on TANF options and capacity for infant care. |
| Robin Zukoski then announced time for public comment prior to closing the meeting. Jean Hueston thanked the Commission for their hard work and also noted that the Commission needs to continue identifying the roadblocks to helping children. Several other audience members spoke out against the Commission’s involvement in insuring all children age 0-5 go to school ready to learn. |
| The meeting was closed. |