On May 29 more than 70 Meriden parent and community leaders gathered to discuss the preliminary findings for the Meriden Early Childhood Blueprint project. For an overview of Meriden's Blueprint project and pictures from this meeting visit the Meriden Children First website at [1] http://www.meridenchildrenfirst.org/
The final Blueprint plan will be unveiled at an Early Childhood Summit on Wednesday, September 24, 6:00 p.m. at John Barry Elementary School at 124 Columbia Street in Meriden. Sen. Tom Gaffey, Representative Majority Leader Chris Donovan, Mayor Mike Rohde and other key elected and civic leaders, school officials and parents will discuss final Blueprint findings and to endorse priorities and action steps.
All are welcome to attend. For more information visit the Meriden Children First website at [2] http://www.meridenchildrenfirst.org/ or e-mail David Radcliffe at [3] dwradcliffe@juno.com
[4] The Connecticut Governor's Forum: Linking Ready Kids to Ready Schools will be held on Monday, September 22, 2008 from 9:00-12:30 in Room 2C of the Legislative Office Building in Hartford. This forum will provide an opportunity for leaders in K-12, early childhood, higher education and key members of the business, philanthropic and legislative communities to learn about “what makes a ready school” from a state and national perspective. Participants will learn about national and federal trends/research and community efforts in Connecticut to increase early school success among young children.
Forum speakers include Governor Rell; Sterling Speirn, President and CEO of W.K. Kellogg Foundation; Dr. Mark McQuillan, Commissioner and Secretary to the State Board of Education; Roger Sampson, President of the Education Commission of the States; Dr. Robert Pianta, Dean of the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia and Director of its Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning (keynote speaker); Dr. Andrew Lachman, the Director of the Connecticut Center for School Change; Dr. David Title, Superintendent of Schools of the Bloomfield, Connecticut school district; and Fasaha Traylor, Senior Program Officer of the Foundation for Child Development.
Public participation will follow a panel discussion moderated by Tony Berkley, Deputy Director at the Kellogg Foundation. The audience for the Forum will be 150 – 200 education stakeholders, including legislators, educators, school administrators, parents, teachers, principals, early childhood practitioners, business leaders, and policymakers from across the state.
The Forum sponsors have invited United States Senator Christopher Dodd, Chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Children and Families, and senior Senator from Connecticut, to attend and give the federal view on policies that can prepare children for school and schools for children.
Registration for this forum will close later today. To register, please visit [5] http://www.ccmc.org/spark/forums/ct_rsvp.html Overflow crowds will watch the forum via streaming video.
For registration and other information, please contact Marcus E. Rivera, Education Consultant at the Office of the Early Childhood Education Cabinet: 860.713.6547 or [6] marcus.rivera@ct.gov.
[1]: http://www.meridenchildrenfirst.org/
[2]: http://www.meridenchildrenfirst.org/
[3]: mailto:dwradcliffe@juno.com
[4]: http://www.ccmc.org/spark/forums/ct_invite_morning.html
[5]: http://www.ccmc.org/spark/forums/ct_rsvp.html
[6]: mailto:marcus.rivera@ct.gov