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June 1, 2006: Day One

Members Attending: Kristen Allen, Sharon Bilbrey, Marilyn Bull, Vicky Cassabaum, Kerry Chausmer, Sharon Conrad, Emilie Crown, Carole Guzzetta, Lori Haskett, Carol Helminski, Pam Holt, Jeanne Johnson, Artie Martin, Marilu Montalvo, Michele Mount, Paul Rizzo, Deb Trombley, Lorrie Walker, Eleanor Walters.

Members Not Present: Yvonne Holguin-Duran.

Guests Present: Delora Shedrick.

Welcome and Introductions: Pam Holt, Board Chair, welcomed the Board. Current and new Board members introduced themselves.

Certifying Body Report: Kerry Chausmer shared that 2005 recertification is at 44%, exceeding the goal of 40%. This is due to the Board and others being strong ambassadors for CPS, and to a makeover of the recertification process that improves communication. Cert/recert statistics are available at www.safekids.org/certification.

State Farm has agreed to sponsor the certification program for the next three years. This is a significant financial commitment which will allow Safe Kids to further enhance services. This partnership will be officially announced in early July. Some State Farm materials will accompany course materials, and Safe Kids will be working with local State Farm offices. The Board will be expressing its appreciation to State Farm for this support.

Beverly Farinelli, Safe Kids Worldwide Chief Operating Officer, wasn't able to attend the meeting today, but she wanted to say thank you to the Board for its work in CPS.

The curriculum letterhead has been revised to say “National Child Passenger Safety Program” (deleted words "Standardized" and "Training") and to add State Farm as a partner. The Board approved the new letterhead.

Kerry noted that at this year's Lifesavers, she heard fewer complaints about certification. The Board had a stronger presence at Lifesavers, including ribbons worn by all Board members, a presence in the exhibit hall, and participation in sessions. There are extra ribbons for future Lifesavers attendees. Current Board members will have blue ribbons & ex officio members will have yellow ribbons.

Future Development Issues: Sharon Bilbrey led discussion about changes to the Board's mission. Sharon proposed to change the Future Development's designation from a Task Force under Curriculum Committee to a freestanding Future Development Committee. This would allow Future Development to address issues beyond Curriculum.

The Board discussed positioning CPS within occupant protection issues to broaden the focus beyond child safety seats.

Regarding corporate sponsorships, the Board discussed its proper role. Our mission does not include running funded programs, so it was proposed that the Board could serve as link or coordinator between those needing funding in CPS and potential funders. In addition corporate funding might require 501(c)3 status which is a significant undertaking.

The Board discussed proposed mission language that would alter Board roles. There was concern that this is a voluntary Board and we need to be careful to ensure our mission can be accomplished successfully. Initially the Board was formed to deal with the curriculum. NHTSA is the primary current funder which also shapes our mission. Vicky said the proposed modified mission would require a total rewrite of the bylaws. A committee would need to rewrite the bylaws before we could do anything.

Pam led discussion regarding the future of the Board. This is an issue to address now. There's opportunity with the new curriculum roll-out because it's a new paradigm for child passenger safety.

The Board agreed there is current need for a marketing plan for the next 6 months, to coordinate the curriculum rollout. This is in keeping with our mission to guard integrity of the curriculum.

The Board's charge to address quality assurance was discussed. QA currently cannot be measured, so there is room for improvement. The strongest point of the Board is assuring quality of the curriculum and certification/recertification, which is not a program-driven process. The new curriculum does fit under QA responsibilities.

The Board discussed ideas to encourage more interactive communications and dialogue with the CPS community, such as an online chat, or a blog. Make the website more user-friendly. People should know who to direct questions & comments to online. Define Board positions and have them listed on the website. Increase Board presence at national, regional & local conferences. The peer review of curriculum is a grassroots involvement with the Board where reviewers will be paired with a Board member.

In the past NHTSA funded a professional facilitator to conduct a strategic planning meeting. Carole offered this as an option for the Board which might help focus the Board, with an objective third party asking the questions.

The Board discussed Sharon's proposal to move Future Development from a Task Force under Curriculum to a freestanding Committee. The Board would like to see a definition for a Future Development Committee. A motion was proposed that the Future Development Task Force develop a scope of work and propose a committee change along with bylaw section language at the next Board meeting. Motion passed.

Membership Issues: Michele Mount described the roll-out plan for moving from two-year to three-year terms. New Board members whose terms begin January 2007 would serve three years. Current Board members would serve two years.

The Board discussed whether to consider regional distribution when reviewing applications. The Board decided to not pursue this, as we did not think regional location should take priority above other factors when choosing new Board members, and there currently is no clear problem identified.

The Board discussed whether the Law Enforcement position should be “national.” The purpose of national involvement is the access to the network that this position can use to deliver services and information to people across the entire country. The person in this position should be able to activate national delivery.

The Board discussed changes to the membership application, including new questions to better assess what candidates can bring to the Board, and requesting that a resume be attached with the application.

NHTSA Report: Carole Guzzetta shared that on May 26, Nicole Nason was confirmed as the new NHTSA Administrator. The new Administrator is interested in teen driving issues. She most recently served as assistant secretary for governmental affairs for the U.S. Department of Transportation.

NHTSA plans to update all their other curricula. The plan is for those updates to follow the CPS curriculum update. Carole is responsible for the school bus curriculum which will be updated. Some Board members have backgrounds in school bus issues and might want to be involved. Carole is now the point person for school bus.

It was discussed that NHTSA's help is needed in communicating to parents that child passenger safety is a process from when they get pregnant until their child is in college. The issue moves from car seat to booster seat to tween/teen safety belts.

Curriculum Revision Update: Lorrie Walker reported that on Monday all curriculum update chapters will be given to the curriculum consultant. We have met our deadline!

The 15 chapters include a complete paradigm shift. It’s the paradigm shift that we need to sell. The new curriculum intentionally looks very different from the previous curriculum. It is user-friendly and written on a lower reading level. Throughout development the guiding question was “Is this something the technician needs to know curbside.” “Nice to know” doesn’t necessarily pass criteria of curbside need.

There will not be a 100-question multiple choice test. A new process for assessing knowledge and skill is being developed. It will be called an assessment instead of a test.

The Board would like the state CPS contacts to be responsible for strategizing rollout of new curriculum in their state. Board members could serve as liaisons to coordinate with the states. Each Board member could adopt a few states to be liaison with state CPS contacts. Our rollout plan has to be done in a manner that distributes the curriculum to everybody.

The Board discussed a national meeting to bring all state CPS coordinators together in one meeting, similar to a meeting NHTSA sponsored two years ago. Carole and Kristen will look into this. Also Kristen will be responsible for coordinating rollout, as NHTSA Regional representative.

We discussed Appendix materials. The Appendix will be extensive for Instructors who want to know additional technical information, but Appendix material will not be taught in class.

Committee Breakout Meetings #1
These committees met for one hour: Communication, Special Needs, Quality Assurance

Committee Breakout Meetings #2
These committees met for one hour: Diversity, Membership

Membership Issues
Michele proposed adding a Selection Sub-committee to the Board's committee structure, under Membership Committee. The Selection Sub-committee would consist of five voting Board members (in accordance with the Bylaws) chosen by the Membership Committee Leader. The Selection Sub-committee would make annual recommendations to the Board regarding filling Board vacancies. This allows the Membership Committee to maintain more breadth of membership. Motion passed to add a Selection Sub-committee. Specific bylaw language was voted on in Day Two.

The Board discussed changes to Board positions. The Insurance position has been vacant for many terms and has been difficult to fill. Rather than have a vacant seat on the Board, a motion was proposed to change the Insurance position to an At-Large position. Motion passed.

The Board discussed whether we need three Injury Prevention/Public Health positions. Expanding the scope of these positions would give the Board more diversity. A motion was proposed to change one Injury Prevention/Public Health position to Injury Prevention/Emergency Services. Motion passed.

A motion was proposed to change one Injury Prevention/Public Health position to Injury Prevention. Motion passed.

Vicky Cassabaum presented new language for the Bylaws to reflect the above membership changes, Section 3.01c. A motion was proposed to accept new language for Section 3.01C. Motion passed.

Michele presented new language for Section 3.03 which specifies that Board members will serve three-year terms, beginning with Board members whose terms start January 1, 2007. A motion was proposed to accept new language for Section 3.03. Motion passed.

Meeting Adjourned: The meeting adjourned at 5:00 p.m.

June 2, 2006: Day Two

Members Attending: Kristen Allen, Sharon Bilbrey, Marilyn Bull, Kerry Chausmer, Sharon Conrad, Emilie Crown, Carole Guzzetta, Lori Haskett, Carol Helminski, Pam Holt, Jeanne Johnson, Artie Martin, Marilu Montalvo, Michele Mount, Paul Rizzo, Deb Trombley, Eleanor Walters.

Members Not Present: Vicky Cassabaum, Yvonne Holguin-Duran, Lorrie Walker.

Welcome: Pam Holt recapped where the discussion ended on Day One and described the agenda for Day Two.

Committee Breakouts #3
These committees met for one hour: Certification/Recertification, Future Development

Committee Reports/Discussion

Certification/Recertification
The committee proposed a resolution for the Board to support the concept of replacing the current recertification test with a point-based system. Motion passed to approve further discussion. This new system would be effective January 1, 2007. Kerry will develop it, the committee will review and present to Board for final approval.

The board discussed who has responsibility for appeals and audits. Safe Kids has the responsibility, with help from the Board's Certification/Recertification Committee, and assistance of state CPS contacts.


Communication
Deb Trombley reported that the Communication Committee members will review each page on the website to identify needed updates.

The committee brainstormed ideas for a marketing plan for the new curriculum, including audiences, channels of communication, and a Frequently Asked Questions document. It was proposed that Curriculum Chapter Leaders track questions and concerns expressed by curriculum reviewers as they are working through July. These questions and concerns could help inform a FAQ sheet.

The Executive Committee should discuss how relevant committees will coordinate development of the marketing plan, before the August Board Meeting.

Deb shared Bill Hall's proposal for several scenarios of file deletion policies for the Board website Restricted Access area. Currently there are a lot of old files and it is confusing. The Board decided Deb and Bill will have delete capability. Before files are deleted, Deb and Bill will save them so the Board has a permanent record. Bill will be asked if we can set up an Archive folder. File authors will have authority to move their own files to the Archive folder.

Diversity
Marilu Montalvo reported that Kerry will coordinate with Spanish speaking instructors to request information regarding the need to have a Spanish curriculum. Kristen and Jeanne will coordinate with NHTSA Regions and GHSA to determine the need for Spanish classes in the regions.

The committee will wait to see the results of the pilot classes before further discussion on need for translation into Spanish or other languages. This is a national certification and it needs to be available to small communities.

The Board suggested the Diversity committee organize logistics of the pilots. A conference call will be held after the peer review process to plan pilots.

Quality Assurance
The Board needed to re-vote on a Bylaw change regarding product endorsements and Board members, as language from the November 2005 vote is missing. A motion was proposed to vote on modified Board product endorsement Bylaw language for Section 4.05. Motion passed.

The Educator vs Installer statement was discussed. A different format was requested, such as "Fact or Fiction", for the website. A draft statement was passed around and edits were proposed. The Quality Assurance Committee will work with the Communications Committee to complete this document.

Special Needs
Dr. Marilyn Bull reported that she will explore opportunity for advocacy with the medical home and other departments at AAP to ensure access to resources as needed, for special need child restraint systems.

A request was made for Board members to supply detailed vignettes of circumstances when access to appropriate CSS equipment was denied for children with special needs.

NHTSA will be requested to explore opportunities to collaborate with related federal agencies to ensure access for appropriate CSS equipment for children with special health care needs.

Future Development
Sharon Bilbrey reported that Future Development will work with the Communications Committee to develop a strategic marketing plan for the new curriculum rollout. Future Development will work with the Diversity Committee to clearly define selection of pilot locations and participants.

It was recommended that the Board table the future development issues discussed yesterday until after the new curriculum is completed.

Membership
Michele requested a motion to adopt language for Article V, Section 5.06 Officer Service Terms bylaw language change. Motion passed.

Michele requested a motion to adopt language for Article VI, Section 6.06 and 6.06A bylaw language regarding changes to the Membership Committee and addition of the Selection Sub-committee. Motion passed.

Next Meeting Location: The August 21-24, 2006 meeting will be hosted by Sharon Conrad and Marilu Montalvo in Atlanta. Sharon Conrad will contact Deb with a suggested hotel in Atlanta.

August 21-22 will be two full days from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. when Board members will teach the new curriculum as a dry run. The Board meeting will be August 23-24 with August 23 being a full day and August 24 will adjourn at 1:00 p.m.

Final Business/Wrap-up
Pam suggested the Board needs a strategic plan very soon, to outline how we will adhere to the curriculum rollout timeline. A motion was requested to form an Ad Hoc Strategic Planning Sub-committee under the Curriculum Committee. Motion passed. This sub-committee will proceed on a strategic plan with regular updates to the Board. It will develop a timeline and description of how curriculum rollout will proceed. Members include: Sharon Conrad, Pam Holt, Michele Mount, Deb Trombley, Delora Shedrick, Kristen Allen, Kerry Chausmer, Marilu Montalvo. The Board asked, can Delora facilitate this committee? This would involve a revision to her contract, which Carole Guzzetta and Deb Trombley will explore with Delora.

Meeting Adjournment: The meeting adjourned at 1:00 p.m.