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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1989-08-07-HSC-min.pdf Human Services Committee Minutes , 8/7/89 Present Renee Cochin and Bob Cushman Co-Chairmen ; Leonora Feeney, Ann Irving, Seymour Mandel , Richard Dougherty, Human Services Committee ; Judy Zabin , RePlace ; Dave Wilson, Assistant Superintendent, School Department ; Nancy Adler and Donna Popkin Candidates for Human Services Committee ; and Steve Baran, Human Services Coordinator 1 Minutes of 8/7/89 The Minutes were accepted 2 Report of Human Services Coordinator Steve informed the Committee that the Enablement Committee was prepared to report to the Human Services Committee Their Charge was in draft form and would be distributed with the next set at Minutes A meeting has been scheduled to discuss planning for a federally funded Juvenile Justice Partnership Project so that status offenders could be kept in juvenile shelters rather than in a police lock-ups Steve C ) explained that at the Lexington police station status offenders were kept in a locked room with curtains and a bed and dresser rather than in an ordinary cell Steve had a talk with Bill Chrisemer , assistant administrator of Community Human Services , which is planning to open an adult day activity program at 186 'edt . - %ei4 new ExeLuLive Dlre'tur , 'laf'K ,i=n, will begin after Labor Day Steve suggested that he meet with the Committee The total budget for CHS is 2 4 million dollars The Upen Table in concord is beginning tree-once-a-week meals with a bag of groceries beginning 9/27 at the First Parish Church, Concord Funding is from the Concord Community Chest and Project Bread The meals and groceries are open to all ( "no questions asked" ) 3 Life Skills Presentation (Dave Wilson) students ) has been working on a curriculum for a Life Skills program to begin February 1 with three-year funding through a health education grant The program U will be mandatory for all 11th grade students Next year the program will be extended to 9th grade students Human Services Committee Minutes, 8/7/89, p 2 \ / 40 topics were initially under consideration including AIDS and issues of sexuality, substance abuse, how to deal with stereotypes, how to assess one' s own strengths and weaknesses , and citizenship responsibilities Subcommittees have looked at topics grouped under the environment , sexuality, and relationships Life Skills , to date, has been available on a once-a- week basis in the 6th and 8th grades By the end of the year this will be extended to the 7th grade with meetings in all three grades twice a week Topics include learning why we are different, pre-dating, consumerism and substance abuse In the ' 89~' 90 academic year the program will be available to the 6th, 7th, 8th and llth grades and in ' 90 - ' 91 to the 6th, 7th and 8th grades and 9th, 10th and llth grades Overall goals are to help students assess their own strengths and weaknesses understand relationships mechahisms to make decisions, and the problems which will eventually confront them (I ) Life Skills is to be a K- 12 program, but it is not - being immediately initiated in the elementary school because of the large number of changes recently undertaken in that area It remains to be seen whether or not the community will approve the plans Present funding sources include $48, 800 from the health education grant , $ 12, 030 from the Governor ' s Alliance Against Drugs , and a third source from which several thousand dollars will be allocated to materials Strategies have been developed to market the project to corporations Savings are being realized in the School budget by not proceeding to hire new department heads for science and social studies or a coordinator for L^ fe S1, 111 - As part of the Life Skills program an outreach/crisis counselor will be hired to be funded 50% by the School ~ ^ ` supervision by Peter Burke, Director of Guidance The other 50% will be funded by Carlisle Services Inc The total salary will be around $29, 000 The worker / ` is to be at both the high school and RePlace and �~/ essentially will be working for both systems This will permit RePlace to have greater access to the Human Services Committee Minutes, 8/7/89, p 3 schools The counselor will help with curriculum c development, group process strategy development, and be a resource for teachers A committee is being constituted to screen candidates Dave Wilson is giving up the Life Skills Coordinator position A new person has yet to be named 4 Substance Abuse Forum Panelists interviewed and committed to assist ( if the Committee so desires ) Deborah Rimpas, Mt Auburn Prevention Center--school - based counseling models ; Richie Mahoney, Northeastern Family Institute Shelter Facility--dramatic presentations with "Kids Care" group, will tell about experiences as a dealer, eager to overcome community denial of problem; Paul Gerson, Ph D Psychologist Northeastern Family :enter Director of Clinic--expert on program design including residential treatment drop - in centers, hot lines C1 Bill Stover , M S W , Clinical Director , NFC-- authoritative on school -based programs (as team with Paul ) ; Ran Morin, founder of NUVA, Gloucester--administrator , develops programs, knows about political process ; set t e ' _cry- , . u g a f- _ I w r e n 'Jr a J d i u L e d parents , and drop- in center for post detox Potential panelists Emily Bergson; Jack Sarmanian It was agreed to further discuss the substance abuse form approach and target audience at the text 'fleeting 5 Interviews Nancy Adler felt there was a need to more fully publicize what human services was ,all about She said she had always been interested in quality of life and, / therefore, would be appropriate fur an umbrella-type t J group like the Human Services Committee She is particularly interested in youth and building bridges / Human Services Committee Minutes, 8/7/89, p 4 / -) to the school system Her strengths were to keep (PM people positively focused on goals and understanding the Town process She had concerns about not having a professional background and was assured that this was not a prerequisite Nancy felt that her job search might prevent her from joining the Committee and promised to make a decision about whether or not she could continue as a candidate Donna Popkin said that she expected to have a Heller School Master ' s degree by December Although expert in the area of elderly she believed her interests in human services were broad and, therefore, she would be an appropriate candidate for the Committee She thought the Committee would benefit from more visibility, saw her strengths as being idealistic and yet interested in increasing human services efficiency Positive comments were made about Nancy Adler ' s broadness of background in the community and her energy Reservations were expressed about whether Donna might be overly focused in just one area Respectfully Submitted /77 / \ \ / Stephen Bran, Human Services Coordinator / �