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NCACDSS Professional Capacity Committee
Meeting Minutes
September 8, 2004
Members Present: Sarah Bradshaw , Laura O'Neal, Karen Hoyle, Larry Johnson, Jay Burrus, Jack Jones, Earl Marret, Lee Quick Staff Present: Donna Pygott and Keri McManus
Co-chair Sarah Bradshaw called the meeting to order at 10:10AM in the NC Room of the Albert Coates Building and welcomed the district representatives that were present.
Conference(s) Report – Donna Pygott & Keri McManus
Ms Pygott started by reminding the committee that the Social Service Institute is right around the corner and everyone has been involved with preparations. Ms Pygott and Ms McManus announced that the Fiscal Conference will be on Thursday and Friday, February 17& 18, 2005 (Which has now changed to Feb 16-18, 2005 , Wednesday-Friday). Also, it was stated that the Fiscal Conference now has Personnel and Technology components. The conference will focus on fiscal issues, but will add in NCFAST and other personnel issues such as CPS turnover. Mr. Burrus suggested that we include the topic of imaging and record retention. Ms Bradshaw suggested that we have a panel of experts such as McRae Imaging Solutions or Parker-Lowe and someone from the Archives Department. It was further stated that discussion could include answering questions such as what is necessary to be recorded, how long hard copies should be maintained, and if there is a backup to the electronic system in case something happens to electronic files.
On the topic of Personnel Issues, Ms Hoyle suggested management training. It was suggested to get information from MRS training, Patrick McCoy 's turnover survey, and Annette Cobb, who coordinates training at OSP, has a basic supervisory training which Ms Bradshaw has an email about the training that Ms Cobb does. It was also suggested to request information from Mecklenburg County who also has a good program to train supervisors on personnel issues.
DSS Board Member Training (Discussion ) – Sarah Bradshaw & Larry Johnson
Ms Bradshaw and Mr Johnson had a lunch meeting with John Saxon on September 1, 2004 in Chapel Hill in regards to the DSS Board Member training. There has been discussion in past Professional Capacity Committee meetings over some of the ideas and John Carver philosophies that have been presented in previous DSS Board Member trainings. Mr Saxon gave Ms Bradshaw and Mr Johnson and outline of the trainings and cleared up some ideas that had been misinterpreted by some various board members.
The dates for future DSS Board Member Trainings were given as October 6 in Asheville , October 12 in Chapel Hill, and October 14 in Kinston . It was suggested that a veteran director present at the end of these meeting to give the board member a perspective of the director. It was noted that General Willis, president of the Boards Association has been invited for a 10-15 minute discussion/presentation on Leading By Results. The Professional Capacity Committee identified some directors who should attend or may already be attending to share the DSS Director's perspective. Some suggested speakers were Jack Jones, Millie Brown , or Ed Garrison for the Kinston training, Sammy Haithcock for the Asheville training, and Larry Johnson for the Chapel Hill training. Emails will be sent out to encourage directors to attend the trainings.
IOG Legal Training for DSS/Health Directors
Directors have received a brochure in regards to the registration for the IOG legal training for DSS/Health Directors on December 7&8, 2004. Sarah presented her brochure and it was noted that registration is $125.00 for both days which includes lunch and a break. Only 80 participants will be accepted and preference will be given to DSS and Health Directors, but the training is open to others. Ms Bradshaw and Mr Johnson have sent information on the training through the listserv since that time.
Child Welfare Training Centers (Follow-up Discussion)
This topic is a follow-up to the August discussion with Sherry Bradshaw and Teresa Turner with the NC Division of Social Services. Ideas from the August meeting were reviewed. We want to make sure no cuts are made to the training centers. Ms. Bradshaw stated June Koenig had contacted Representative Edd Nye and he does not foresee cuts being made to the Cumberland training center. The Professional Capacity Committee also gave Ms Bradsher two or three names to help redesign the Child Welfare Training, due to funding cuts. The Children's Services Committee will also be providing Ms Bradsher with a couple more names to assist with this. Their work will include redesigning some parts of the training for more veteran workers by exploring the use of interactive CDs.
Mentor Assignments
A mentor evaluation was presented to the committee by Ms McManus in following-up on an August committee request. Suggestions were made to improve the form. Keri McManus was recognized for her good work on developing this document.
Director Certification Program
An emphasis was put on the Director Certification Program as one of the priorities for the year. It was decided that the program should be voluntary and the recommendation was made that it be referred to as the “Director Professional Development Program.” General discussion pursued regarding ‘beginning steps' and a possible framework. Discussion included – needing to identify the number of hours needed per year for professional development, credit could be earned through the Social Services Institute, the Fiscal Conference, IOG training, etc., need to discuss defining, outlining, monitoring and operating program. It was suggested that we have a place on the website with a user id where directors can see available trainings and amount of credits available for trainings. A suggested path for keeping up with credits could be register for training, report back upon completion and the Professional Capacity could review each month. Mr. Jones stated he has old IOG course outline to use as guideline for building the program, and Ms Bradshaw has more information and models where the committee can get ideas. The Director Professional Development Program will be discussed at the October and November Committee meetings with those meetings being extended and devoted to this discussion. It was noted that, due to the IOG Legal Issues Training, there will not be a Professional Capacity Committee meeting in December.
Next Meeting
The next meeting will be held October 13 from 9:00 to 11:00 in the NC Room of the Albert Coates Building .
With no further business to discuss the committee adjourned at 11:20am.
Respectfully submitted by:
Keri McManus
Communications Coordinator, NCACDSS
