MINUTES 

SUNNYVALE Child care advisory board

The Child Care Advisory Board met on October 23, 2007, in the West Conference Room, 456 W. Olive Avenue, at 1:09 p.m. Lisa Taiz, Chair, presiding. 

ROLL CALL

Board Members Present:      Carrie Bosco, Manijeh Khazeni, Jacqueline Sell, Maxine Shea, Mary Smith and Lisa Taiz

Board Members Absent:       Kimberly Stewart, unexcused

Staff Present:                     Angela Chan, Youth and Family Resources Manager;  

                                                          Susan Suekawa, Youth, Family and Child Care Resources Program Coordinator; Monica Guerra, Senior Office Assistant

SCHEDULED PRESENTATION   City Clerk, Gail Borkowski, introduced herself to the Child Care Advisory Board.  She gave CCAB a brief overview of her duties as City Clerk and her department staff. 

CONSENT CALENDAR

1. A. Approval of Draft Minutes, 7/24/07 Meeting

CITIZENS TO BE HEARD     None

PUBLIC HEARINGS/GENERAL BUSINESS

Child Care Advisory Board members reviewed the Draft Report to Council: Explore the City’s Options Relative to Supporting Child Care Providers Serving Special Needs Children (Study Issue) and agreed with staff’s recommendation of Alternative No. 1 and Alternative No. 2.

The proposed Study Issues for calendar year 2008 were ranked by the Board.  OCM-03 proposed Study Issue titled: Consider Transitioning the Child Care Advisory Board to a Staff-Advisory Committee and OCM-02 titled: Explore the City’s Role in Supporting Center-based Child Care Programs Seeking Accreditation from the National Association for the Education of Young Children were discussed.  Regarding Study Issue OCM-03, BOARD CHAIR TAIZ suggested that the Child Care Advisory Board explore the idea of being more of an advisory to staff.  In support, Angela Chan mentioned that she would like to keep this board’s expertise and obtain their advise to staff. 

The Child Care Advisory Board discussed the possibility of dropping study issue OCM-02 since a study issue is not needed in order for the City of Sunnyvale  to Support Center-based Child Care Programs Seeking Accreditation from the National Association for the Education of Young Children –( OCM-02). A study issue would not be needed because Council’s current policies allow City staff to pursue the interest of CCAB relative to this matter on an administrative/operational basis and no policy consideration is necessary at this time. Therefore, another option that may be considered is dropping this study issue for 2008 calendar.  After discussion, CCAB voted for the following:

Board members began discussion on a work plan for 2008.  As the calendar was discussed, Susan Suekawa explained the change to the Awards for Excellence in Early Education for 2008.  She explained that after gathering some information from previous years, she noticed that this award was targeted to only a small pool of local child care providers and that it seemed that the same providers and centers would get nominated every year, with hardly any new nominations.  After some research with other local cities such as City of Milpitas and their April recognition, staff would like to recognize and acknowledge all providers and centers and introduced a new recognition activity to CCAB.  A certificate would be mailed with a small recognition gift to all providers and centers in 2008.  Board members made suggestions and mentioned that the City of San Jose has a recognition event for providers on an annual basis.  This event requires no nominations, and all providers are recognized.  However, this event does have a small fee per person but providers did not express any concern regarding the cost.  BOARD CHAIR TAIZ had a concern about the certificates being mailed to Sunnyvale providers and suggested that the Child Care Advisory Board assist or volunteer to help distribute them in person. BOARD MEMBER SHEA suggested a breakfast or dessert reception and BOARD MEMBER KHAZENI commented on the Raising Star, professional development awards.  As a provider herself, she stated that it is always nice to be recognized and to “dress up” for a special event.  BOARD MEMBER SELL commented on a barbeque event or dinner like the County’s Celebration of Providers, which also charges a small fee. Staff thanked CCAB for their assistance and will consider their input.  Due to this new activity, the selection of award recipients in April will no longer be on the work plan for CCAB. 

BOARD CHAIR TAIZ recommended to defer the 2008 Work Plan to the next CCAB meeting in January.  This would allow more time to discuss child care topics and study issues that can potentially be added to the work plan.  It would also be helpful for staff to obtain other work plans from other Board and Commissions to share with CCAB. 

NON-AGENDA ITEMS AND COMMENTS

Susan Suekawa gave a staff quarterly update and distributed the Roster of Elected and Appointed Officials.  She reminded the board that the Study Issue – Explore the City’s Options Relative to Supporting Child Care Providers Serving Special Needs Children will be on the agenda for the upcoming Council meeting on November 27 at 7:00 p.m., and encouraged members to attend.

Susan discussed how staff’s outreach to businesses regarding the City’s Child Care Resources have been unsuccessful.  BOARD MEMBER SHEA suggested staff to contact Agilent Technologies in Santa Clara.

CCAB was informed by Susan that a new version of the Board & Commission Handbook is not ready for distribution.  She thanked those members who brought their handbooks to the meeting and hopes to have the new handbooks available at the January meeting.

INFORMATION ONLY ITEMS

Next Regular Meeting: January 22, 2008, 1:00 -3:00 p.m., West Conference Room, City Hall

ADJOURNMENT:    2:55 p.m.