Members	Present	Absent		Designee	Present	Absent
Terri Davis (Chairperson)	x
Vacant (Vice Chair)
Brittany Lee (Secretary)	x			Carole Turner
Lynn Anderson	x
Paula Brown		x		Meshel Richmond	x
Peggy Byerly	x
Susie Cain		x
Gayla Carnagey		x		Angela Whisnant	x
Jason Charles		x		Terry Owens		x
Darla Cheek	x
Arianne Conner	x
Denis Doyen		x
Jill Goyette		x		Rose Jackson		x
Audra Haney		x
Kourtney Heard		x
Carrie Coppernoll Jacobs		x
Lauren Jenks-Jones	x
Harold Jergenson	x
Jeannie Jones		x
Keri Laxton	x			Michelle Stasser	x
Katherine Leidy		x		Nola Harrison		x
Amanda Leonhart		x		Jaremy Andrews		x
Stephanie Lippert	x
Tammy Maus	x			Janell Wheat	x
Catherine Mure		x
Kelly Rampsey		x
Jennifer Sneed	x
Aimee Ryan		x
Carrie Williams	x
Shaunda Williams		x		Amie McDaniel	x

Others Present:

CCS / DHS	Visitors
Audrey Charlson	Lindsay Insomya	Teresa Widick	Christy Kastl
Mitzi Lee	Rachel Proper	Darci Bolner	Candice Fair
	Taylor Sanders

 

Meeting Notices:

·       The Agenda and Meeting Notice were sent to publisher@ecapitol.net on 8/8/2022. 

Call to Order:

·       Terri Davis called meeting to order at 10:04 am

·       Introductions.

Approval of Minutes:

·       March 9, 2022, Carrie made a motion to approve, several seconded the approval.  There were no objections.

Standing Subcommittee Reports:

Membership Subcommittee - Peggy Byerly:

• We did have a legal consult before we had our meeting and looked in detail at the bylaws.  This subcommittee provides recommendations based on child care expertise, experience, and leadership. The director of CCS and the OCCY representative (currently Brittany Lee and Harold Jergenson) bring the recommendations to the director of DHS who chooses to appoint new members of CCAC based on their position, leadership and experience in child care.

The CCAC Standing Membership Subcommittee met on May 2, 2022 and provided names for recommendation of four new appointments:

·       Corporate Child Care – Jennifer Sneed (with KinderCare)

·       Rural Family Child Care – Lynn Anderson (from Anadarko)

·       Part-Day Program – Jeannie Jones (Spring Creek Mother’s Day Out, OKC)

·       Private Partnership – Kelly Ramsey (Public Strategies)

The CCS director Brittany Lee, in consultation with the OCCY representative Harold Jergenson brought the recommendations to Director Justin Brown. Members are then appointed to serve at the pleasure of the DHS Director.

• We learned Amie Ryan resigned on June 1, 2022 from CCAC due a change in her job.  She will ask Catholic Charities about a replacement who can represent Oklahoma Adoption Coalition. 
• Terri Davis: In our goals to bring this committee back to where it is supposed to, and following the bylaws more closely; we all serve at the pleasure and appointment of the Director of DHS.  Peggy added CCAC members do vote on officers (except for secretary).   As well, Peggy shared that she received a letter and certificate when she started on CCAC (1991).  Terri stated going forward new members will receive certificates and letters to mark and welcome their appointment to CCAC. 

Upcoming Terms expiring:

·       Jason Charles - term expiring 11/2022

Vacancies:

·       None

Lynn Anderson & Meshel Richmond attended orientation today. 

Family Child Care Homes Subcommittee – Ari Conner:

·       Several people asking about the QE audit; there is a poll taken 77% don’t recall receiving it, others received it from an unknown email and considered it spam.  There were several questions with finger printing. Some people are at 7 years since last fingerprinting, and we are told 5 years.  We are unsure what to expect regarding this.  

QRIS Subcommittee – Amie McDaniel provided update in Shaunda’s absence. 

·       I do not have a specific report.  With the application being rolled out, we are tackling all the questions coming in and ask for clarifications when needed.  This will be the case for the foreseeable future.  Terri added she attended one of the calls and feel the questions and answers are going well. 

Child Care Facilities (centers) Standing Subcommittee – Tammy Maus:

·       Tammy provided a full report handout to the attendees.  Detailing highlights:

·       We met on 3/30/22 and 4/20/22 via zoom.  We had approximately 50 people in attendance for each meeting.  The providers are very concerned about the QRIS Stars implementation.  Keep in mind we met before the QRIS rollout and find the videos and information do answer several of the questions we heard.  The biggest concern is finding the time and energy to meet the application guidelines because of the staffing crisis and turnover.  Several voiced concerns on the EBT system and the App.  It seems there are software issues/freezing up. 

·       Master Teachers are nearly impossible to find. The industry request 3-star levels until the industry has recovered from the pandemic. 

·       There was a discussion on the way you count and the way the number rolls up.  For example, the way you count the requirement for master teachers.  If a program is licensed for 105 and desires to be a 5-Star, taking 105/20 = 5.25 which means this program would need 6 master teachers.  There were two suggested solutions; 1) the calculation is under the full numeral and be adjusted to the lower number.  So, 5 in my example.  This would be a very welcomed relief to the industry.  Or 2) take the calculation down if the number is a .1-.49 it goes down and if .50-.99 it rolls up.  This would be a fair solution without sacrificing quality. 

·       Probationary period for replacement of a master teacher.  Any person replacing someone as a master teacher be provided a 1-year probation to complete the educational requirement to be a master teacher.  There are some say it applies, some say it doesn’t.  Industry requests this.

·       Subsidy rate schedules; there were questions about this; guidance is needed.  What will the payment be for a 3, 4, 5 star? 

·       Guidance is still needed for licensing requirements rolled out on 6/1/22.  Getting the books out so they know. 

·       Child Care Workforce shortage– ECEC (industry leaders, larger child care corp, state associations, etc) they recommended some defining guidelines to helping the industry get out of the pandemic.  Really good article.  We have started doing some of those things ($1,000 workforce grant). 

Residential Standing Subcommittee

·       No one in attendance, no report given

Legislative Update: 

·       Brittany Lee provided report and handout for Linda Whaley. 

Licensing Sanctions Report:

·       Brittany Lee provided report and handout for Carol Turner.

Old Business:

·       none

New Business:

·       Tammy Maus: requested we look long and hard that the purpose of the subcommittees.  It is for child care; we do also serve residential and adoption industry and it seems all the concerns only come from child care.  So, I would like for you to keep in mind what our purpose is and that we are in a historical pandemic.  There are many calls for mental health from our workers because it is hard. 

·       Tammy Maus: I reviewed minutes for the last several meetings, it saddens me that this meeting only last less than an hour.  When we bring concerns, just think about how we can hear what is going and propose some solutions. Also, a few years ago the CCAC came together and we had a work group to discuss language for legislation that would put the CCAC purpose and responsibilities back the way they were (pre-2018). We proposed it as a bill and my senator Paul Scott carried it for us, but there were some questions.  Maybe at the next meeting we propose to DHS to move this forward.  Peggy – we did work on this as a small group and brought the wording to the full committee for approval.  It seemed we had more of a purpose then.  Some question why we even meet.  We wrote it in a way to get it back to having our original purpose.    

·       Carrie Williams: I have a few announcements.  First, I have passed around our press release for the Clearinghouse for Early Childhood Success.  We did announce our first round of ratings through the Clearinghouse.  There were 10 that were posted on the website; you can find more information on them there.  We are in the second round for child development where we only had 15 submissions.  We would love to increase that in future rounds.  We host town halls before each submission. We plan to market those better to increase awareness and submissions.  We are excited in the progress we have made in a short time.  Your input is very beneficial to us, especially as we implement some of the programs.  Secondly, we have been working to create and uplift an Early Childhood Workforce job board through OPSR.  Brittany has promoted this and sharing a tutorial video on how to post to the job board.  It is very easy to do with templates available and posts to 8 of the top job boards; careforkidsOK.com.  It is through Acquire4Hire, which is an arm of OK Shared Services, which is a fantastic resource for providers.  Thirdly, we announced officially we are merging with the Oklahoma Child Care Resource and Referral Association on July 1. 

o   Terri asked: The first round that were rated, were they funded?  Carrie said we do have 3 funded of the 10 rated.  We don’t make funding decisions; we only present the projects.  They are exciting projects that will make a positive impact.  Round 2 will be rated soon.  There is an entire workflow process.  The 3 projects are being funded 90% by the ODHS through OPSR, we will be responsible for monitoring those projects via a subcontract.  Public Private Partnership Committee is providing the final 10%.  They want the funding to go through a public body first; such as the Dept of Ed for example.  It comes down to the funding that is available, the source and the state guidelines around that funding.  That is why we stay out of funding completely. 

o   Someone asked for an overview of Clearinghouse.  Carrie:  It was created by Secretary Brown and OKDHS with the goal of building an evolving definition of quality in early childhood programs.  He would ask what defines quality in early childhood programs, he was getting regulatory answers, vs. out in the field he would more about teacher led activities, etc that make a direct impact on quality.  Both parts are important.  24 committee members across the state; researchers, practitioners, etc, were brought together to create this process to evaluate anything that impacts early childhood learning.  It is to be a repository of good ideas.  Looking at materials, programs, curriculum, etc.  It has 3 lanes; research based, practice based or innovative ideas proposal.  Anyone can submit.  Our job and goal is to rate the proposals.  We assign a rating category and assign it to one of the lanes on the okclearinghouse.com website.  It is available for anyone to review any of these programs, even if it isn’t funded.  This process is continuously evolving.  We want it to be user friendly and accessible.  We will announce the 3 and will do a press release. 

o   Discussion about workforce job board.  Developing this has filled a large void to fix the shortage issue; but more work needs to be done to recruit and fill the positions. 

·       Janell Wheat:  Career Tech.  To help meet industry needs, Tammy Maus has developed an online course, through the scholar’s program to help meet the master teachers’ program.   We have 55 enrolled and more coming every day.  I have 42 enrolled from my program.  To keep and sustain them is another challenge. 

o   Scholars Program is also sponsoring the CCP; in the past we have only done CDA. 

·       OSDE is using some of our covid recovery funds for the Dolly Parton Imagination Library Program.  Mails books every month from birth to their 5^th birthday, age appropriate.  Local affiliate is a 501c3 program to fund a local program (school district, zip, county) all children within that particular determined area.  Providing cost $2.10/month/child which is an incredible cost due to negotiations through Dolly Parton.  OSDE will use their funds to offer a match to a local funding affiliate.  This is viewed as a covid recover due to children having a learning gap.  This is good through 12/2024.  Want to move as quickly as we can.  We will look for long haul funding to sustain.  Our goal is to implement this in all 77 counties; if we do, Dolly will come!  We will help local programs to secure the programs. We would love to enroll children when they enroll in your program. Director of Imagination Library Laura Sikes;  go to: OSDE.  We have over 7,000 children enrolled.

·       Brittany Lee:  I wanted to say a few things, saving it for the end.  Tammy, yes, we all have the desire to be thoughtful and intentional with our use of time together with this committee.  We are intentional with who is in this committee.  We are team of people, I have to go through policy, finance, legal before taking a full action from any action item is a part.  Workforce is a perfect example in taking an idea from our meetings and taking action to make an impact.  It takes time to do things, but it starts from hearing from you here. 

o   Terri asked how many providers have spent their Lakeshore money.  Brittany:  we have received a lot of positive feedback, pics, etc, but do not know specific numbers.

o   Someone stating the monthly newsletter and email with working links is imperative and super helpful.

o   Discussion on the EBT App issues and concerns.  

o   Can we track the number of star applications registered, applied, etc.  We expect many questions coming very soon.  Brittany:  they can call the call center for assistance to see where they are in the process.  We have 600+ have applied as of yesterday. 

Public Comment:

·       Tammy Maus discussed active shooter training being offered in Norman as well as virtual for those interested. 

Next Meetings:

·       Wednesday, September 14, 2022 at the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation.

·       Wednesday, December 14, 2022 at the Sequoyah Building

 

Meeting adjourned at 11:35 am