Denver, CO

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November 9, 2004: Day One

Members Attending: Holly Billie, Marilyn Bull, Ann Burton, Kerry Chausmer, Carole Guzzetta, Carol Helminski, Kacey Hansen, Susan Helms, Lorrie Laing, Arturo Lopez, Artie Martin, Melissa Miles, Cathy Morris, Michelle Mount, Angela Osterhuber, Lisa Pardi, Susan Quintas, and Lorrie Walker.

Members Not Present: Irene Rodriquez and Rick Larson.

Others Attending: Steve Hartley (Safe Kids).

Welcome and Introductions: Introductions and thank you to Vera Fullaway for organizing the Denver meeting. Welcome new members Michelle Mount (AAA), Lorrie Walker, (Safe Kids), and Kerry Chausmer (Safe Kids).

Web site Overview and Management: Bill Hall Presentation NC Highway Research Group (hand out) Attachment One

Monthly total and “hit.” Top 20 URL’s arranged by “hit.” Table 3 is CPS list serve sign ups. 3500 people are members of the list serve.

Recent additions and improvements: Technician Manual download file, Susan Quintas’s email has been added to the site for additional information on the Board, and the Restricted Access section.

Restricted Access Section: 3 Choices
Enter the CPS Board Forum: Separate program on the server. Requires password.
Features Include: Creating a poll for voting, send emails to the group, upload large files, delete most recent posts.

Look for ways to archive for historical purposes. Virus protection from shared documents.

Enter the CPS Board File library: Large document sharing; review files, share files, or submit a file.

Enter Curriculum Suggestions: Submit or review suggestions for the future curriculum. The suggestion will be dated with name, and to what unit and page this is effecting. Action taken will also be reflected.

Chair suggestions: Restricted access for non-members should go thru Susan Quintas. This “restricted access” section will only be used for meetings that contain information that has not been finalized by the Board. Non-traditional member access needs to be addressed if needed in the future.

Format Issues: All official board documents must follow a standard template. Artie Martin will send sample template to Susan Quintas.

Set a standard process on handling questions on the Web site. Required field for Tech number and/or instructor number must be presented upon posting. Kacey Hansen will create the disclaimer for the Web site. Link from Safe Kids possibly to the Board Web site.

Membership Candidates: Susan presented the slate of recommended new members for the following positions: CPS Advocate, Injury Prevention, Diversity and Emergency Nurses. The Quality Assurance Committee will write up a policy on selecting members, and a procedure on references and notification. Susan Quintas will call at least one reference from selected application. Susan Quintas will come up with standard questions to ask references.

Co-Chair selection to finish out term of Matthew Young. Co-Chair also chairs the Membership Committee. Lisa, Carol H, Susan Helms, Melissa, Artie and Irene. Susan Quintas will present the slate tomorrow morning.

Letterhead Designs: Susan Quintas tabled the Board letterhead discussion until after the Communications Committee meeting.

Kerry discussed the new Safe Kids letterhead for Certification. The Board will vote on day 2 of the Board meeting on language for the letterhead.

Policies and Procedures Update: Melissa Miles discussed the following revisions to the bylaws. (See Handout)

Section 2.02 Role
Renamed this section as Statement of Intent and provided further clarification the Board’s role and its relationship with NHTSA and the Certifying Body. Communications Committee will discuss this at their Committee meeting.

Communications Committee to post Board Brochure on the Board Web site.

Section 3.01 Membership
Terms “underserved population” and “diversity” have been used interchangeably. This needs to be consistent language. The Board voted to use “Diverse and Underserved Populations” together.

The Board discussed adding an additional position to the Board, but after discussion and vote, decided this was not necessary at this time.

Section 3.03 Member Service Terms
Added the Board Chairperson/Committee Leader responsibility to inform guests of their responsibilities and terms of involvement.

Section 4.01 Responsibilities
Addition of Statement of Disclosure to be signed by Board applicants and guests.

Section 4.04 Attendance
Renamed to Meeting Participation.

Section 5.05 Office Service Terms
New section that defines the responsibilities of committee leaders.

Section 5.09 Unplanned Vacancies
New section that discusses processes for filling Board and officer vacancies.

Section 5.10 Rules of Order
Angela donated a copy of Robert’s Revised Rules of Order. This will be brought to each meeting by the Quality Assurance committee Leader.

Policies and Procedures work group can be abolished as they have completed their goals. Tomorrow we will vote on this issue.

Reference Guide, containing Board’s bylaws and NSCPSTP Policies and Procedures, was distributed. This document could be added to the Instructor Manual as a reference.

NHTSA Report: Carole Guzzetta reporting. Side impact air bag NHTSA section has been updated on NHTSA’s Web site. (www.safercars.org)

Curriculum has gone out, and there have been a few revisions made to the Instructor Manual. TSI has sent this out, another minor revision was required. A packet of information should be going to every instructor on these changes that have been made. Instructors need to be notified better about updates. Revised dates need to be placed on the new document.

The CPS Transportation Safety Tips have been updated and they will be up on the Web site soon.

Spanish Curriculum Pilot in Chicago occurred. Gina Espinosa-Salcedo will report on this tomorrow.

Renewal Course is complete, and Safe Kids is committing to have in place by first quarter 05’. Any currently, certified instructor can teach this course. There will be a link to a demo test on the Safe Kids Web site.

NHTSA Regional Update: Ann Burton reported. NHTSA supports a single national CPS certification system as the most efficient means to achieve many safety objectives supported by both NHTSA and GHSA. Recently, NHTSA sent out a memo addressing its policy regarding the use of Federal funds as they pertain to CPS certification. Specifically: Federal funds shall only be used to support the standardized CPS course for the purpose of national certification; Federal funds shall not be used to underwrite any other training or development of training materials that result in any CPS certification other than the national certification; Federal funds are still permitted to support any NHTSA developed shorted training courses (such as OP KIDS) as they do not result in certification.

Some questions that have occurred from the states:

Testing issues: Why does there have to be a certification test? Why can’t their just be approval? CEUs.

In the future this could be possible, but for now, the system works better as it is in the present.

Safe Kids will develop an FAQ and respond back on a continual basis, and place on the Web site.

Certifying Body Status: Kerry Chausmer. (See handout)

CPS Certification Census

As of November 1st, if there are slots available in a class, students can register up to the day of the class, online, using a credit or debit card. Hopefully, payment by check will be available in the future.

Safe Kids is developing a pilot program to partner with organizations who have on-going participants go through the certification course.

It is nice to be specific for complaints to Safe Kids because it will be easier to address the problem. There is an open communication, and these things are positive.

Two groups are being formed: Operational Group comprised of several technicians and instructors to discuss ways to improve the day to day use of the system and the state CPS Task Force which is being developed to promote and encourage more state partnerships in the nationwide CPS certification program.

Special Needs

To date, 445 technicians have submitted releases of information to the Automotive Safety Program (ASP) permitting contact information to be listed by state on www.preventinjury.org. Ninety technicians were mailed instructor packets with the revised curriculum materials this year.

The committee discussed that the NHTSA had awarded a cooperative agreement to Riley Hospital ASP to establish a National Center for Safe Transportation of Children with Special Needs.

Dr. Marilyn Bull and the Automotive Safety Program staff will be conducting “Safe Travel for All Children: Transporting Children with Special Health Care Needs” as a pre-session at the annual Lifesaver’s Conference, March 11-12, 2005 in Charlotte, NC.

A discussion was conducted regarding the continuing problem of limited availablility of the Spelcast seat and lack of a resource to meet the need of transporting children in casts. Potential options to resolve this problem were discussed.

A discussion regarding development of a certification process for both technicians and instructors of the Special Needs curriculum resulted in the recommendation by committee members that this be explored by the Riley Hospital ASP staff in collaboration with National Safe Kids.

Changes in the administration of the Special Needs Curriculum are under consideration. The committee discussed that specific guidelines should be developed for technicians who are interested in instructing the course. These guidelines should mirror the requirements for becoming an instructor in the standardized NHTSA curriculum and have the added requirement that the candidate have direct training and experience in serving children with special needs. Two letters of reference will be required, one of which should be written by the person who instructed the applicant’s class and the other one by someone who can attest to the applicant’s special needs experience. A fee may need to be charged since the Automotive Safety Program does not have funding specifically to cover instructor packets for new applicants.

Improvements to the curriculum including a lower literacy level and development of validated test questions as a preliminary step toward a certification process were discussed. The committee urged that these changes be implemented in conjunction with the similar processes for the standardized curriculum.

All instructors of the special needs curriculum will be required to teach one class a year to maintain instructor status. As a preliminary step for implementation of this process, it has been suggested that a survey be done of all current instructors.

A refresher course to keep participants current in issues related to special needs transportation has been discussed. It is anticipated, however, that face to face courses may not be the most expedient way to keep technicians informed of advances in the field and that development of a web-based continuing education product warrants further consideration. Additionally, recent funding from the NHTSA will allow the ASP to enhance the website to include an on-line update of special needs recommendations and products. A special needs child passenger safety list serve for technicians will also be implemented.

November 10, 2004: Day Two

Attendees: Holly Billie, Dr. Marilyn Bull, Ann Burton, Kerry Chausmer, Carole Guzzetta, Carol Helminski, Kacey Hansen, Susan Helms, Lorrie Laing, Arturo Lopez, Artie Martin, Melissa Miles, Cathy Morris, Michelle Mount, Angela Osterhuber, Lisa Pardi, Susan Quintas, and Lorrie Walker.

Members Not Present: Irene Rodriquez and Rick Larson.

Guests: Gina Epinosa-Salcedo, Rocky Mountain Region, NHTSA.

Safe Kids Letterhead: The Board voted on day 2 of the Board meeting on language for the letterhead and approved “in collaboration with the National CPS Board”.

Spanish Curriculum Review: Gina Espinoza-Salado reported on the Spanish Pilot course which was conducted in Chicago. The Board would like to thank her for the incredible presentation.

Recommendations: Thorough review of the curriculum in terms of CPS translation, review of the test questions and phrasing.

NHTSA will look into a professional review of the Curriculum.

Next Steps: Cost estimate and NHTSA will pursue.

Policies and Procedures Changes: Kacey Hansen

The Board voted on the final Policies and Procedures changes for the by-laws.

Committee Break Outs

Next Meeting:
Dates: January 28-29, 2005
Washington, DC