20212022 ANNUAL BOARD UPDATE DIRECTORS' OVERVIEW ADULT AND COMMUNITY EDUCATION By late spring, this division had managed to fill all of its full-time staff vacancies and only continued to seek part-time GED and ESL teachers. Finding qualified staff and those who are trained in virtual instruction has been an ongoing challenge during the pandemic, as has filling seats in our JFES- and WIOA-funded employment and training programs; more and more adults have found new jobs (unemployment is at historic lows), and customer experiences throughout the pandemic have impacted customer preferences for service delivery. However, Adult & Community Programs staff continued to expand their virtual courses and services, as it has become clear that virtual instruction, which requires no travel, is easier for many adults to access. For example, our virtual basic skills remediation workshops have proved so successful that we are now partnering with workforce boards throughout the state to offer these opportunities. Adult education staff have continued to creatively use online platforms like Google Classroom to transfer excellent pedagogy to adult customers. One of EASTCONN's adult education students was named Learner of the Year by Connecticut's statewide CAACE organization. Overall, Adult Education enrollments are not as robust as they were pre-pandemic, but registration numbers have been trending upward, and year-over-year, enrollment is improving. Counter to the pandemic-related drop in adult customer enrollments, our Summer Youth Employment Program has been so successful that it's now being offered all year round. Each year, even during the pandemic, this EWIB-funded, EASTCONN-designed, managed and delivered employmentand-training program for youth, ages 17 to 21, has provided job training and summer paychecks to hundreds of eastern Connecticut youth; virtual EASTCONN classes, as well as valued partnerships and internships with area businesses, have made it remarkably popular. Compared to April 2021, online youth inquiries were already up by 25%, and as pandemic restrictions ease, Youth Employment staff were expecting to have a recordbreaking summer. Our American Job Center services also EASTCONN Annual Board Update 2021-2022 | OVERVIEW
now provide both virtual and in-person services including job search skills and computer basics workshops for job seekers and recruitment opportunities for employers. Additionally, our staff are addressing the new and emerging demands of the local job market, including understanding new challenges for those experiencing employment impacts after long-haul COVID symptoms. EARLY CHILDHOOD INITIATIVES (ECI) Overall, the agency's Early Childhood Initiatives group continues to gain momentum, as its expertise in systems thinking, organization and professional development is recognized by the state Office of Early Childhood. Once again, the state is relying on EASTCONN staff to help plan for the future of early childhood education statewide by securing the GEER contract on behalf of the RESC Alliance. EASTCONN staff also continue to engage in planning for the future of its own early childhood programs. For example, to help children regain the social skills and executive function proficiencies they may have lost during the pandemic, staff have begun redesigning their work in those two areas across all EASTCONN ECI programs. Staff are also working to encourage school districts to create new opportunities for purposeful play, which can support children's learning, help build social skills and self-control, and enhance their ability to focus on tasks and engage with one another. ECI teams are addressing issues like children's pandemic-related language loss, already a concern for children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, as well as focusing on ways to combat the concerns around increased screen time for young children, which can affect their development. This year, because programs finally returned to full-day classrooms, there were more challenges around classroom closures due to COVID-19, since young students were not vaccinated, and coronavirus exposure meant school doors had to temporarily close. ECI leadership also continued to identify effective ways to support staff mental health and wellness, which has challenged all schools and programs during 1.
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the pandemic. Coaching staff are considering new ways to design professional development to meet learners' needs, since many educators have come to rely on logging in, as opposed to traveling to, in-person trainings. Experience shows that in-person sessions may be more beneficial. With that in mind, EASTCONN staff are researching ways to combine in-person and remote PD in order to produce the best educational outcomes for earlyeducation professionals. K-12 SCHOOLS & PROGRAMS Magnet High Schools: Arts at the Capitol Theater (ACT) & Quinebaug Middle College (QMC) For EASTCONN's two magnet schools, the return to full-day, in-person classes has proven to be extremely beneficial for students. Staff have noted a significant difference at both schools, as students seemed to be regaining their pre-COVID-19 energy and optimism as Connecticut moves into a new phase of the pandemic. At ACT, being able to collaborate in person, practice one-on-one and perform together in front of live audiences has dramatically improved school life. And at QMC, students returned to accessing the QVCC campus and attended their first Model UN experiences — just two of many positive developments that have moved students toward a more normal school life. Prior to and during the pandemic, both magnets were focused on advancing a personalized, competency model of learning. Now, more than ever, student voice and choice and building student agency are key to renewing student motivation. It has also been important to provide a sense of normalcy for students who missed their first year of in-person high school, which was very disruptive for them. Being able to restore students' sense of community has continued to be a focus in both schools. The continued emphasis on reconnecting through relationships and routines is foundational for social-emotional learning (SEL), and the magnets are integrating SEL with academics (SEAD) in everything they do. Currently, both magnets are working to implement signature and restorative practices, with the goal of connecting with families and developing internships and mentorships aligned with students' different learning pathways. One challenge this year has been to rebuild enrollment numbers at the magnets, as a number of families continued to keep their children home. K-12 Special Education: 2 CDT Schools, Bridges, Regional Transition Services As educators continue to manage the ups and downs of school life during the pandemic, our special education group has leaned on its strong, collaborative leadership team, who are focused on both student outcomes and promoting a positive work environment for staff. For K-12 students enrolled in the Clinical, Developmental, and Therapeutic (CDT) programs, the Multi2.
OVERVIEW Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) approach to student learning has resulted in significant drops in both restraints and seclusions. Reports of student behavior issues decreased across the board. Overall, the CDTs are working well, in spite of the fact that some facility challenges remain at the NRP site. One challenge, which has become especially pronounced during the pandemic, is the need to support students' families, many of whom need wrap-around services that are hard to obtain in northeastern Connecticut. Staff are proactively connecting with students and families to find them the resources they need. While salaries and staff turnover continued to blunt recruitment efforts, especially early last year, staff retention has steadily improved, and many special education staff have said they are feeling more positive, overall, about their workplace. For example, a new program director at the agency's Bridges Community School (previously known as EASTCONN’s Autism Program) has created a new optimism among staff. Referrals to EASTCONN's Bridges program have continued to grow. As a result, plans are underway to broaden the Bridges program and increase its capacity. A new challenge facing staff is the transition from the current IEP system to CT-SEDS, a new, online, standardized state system. However, EASTCONN's on-staff IEP specialist has already begun building the agency's expertise in the use of CT-SEDS; she’s providing staff with training and support, ensuring that student IEPs align with the new system. Across the agency's special education programs, staff wellness is always a focus, but particularly so since the pandemic. An online wellness dashboard is helping to identify staff health concerns. Staff are also being given more free time for activities that support their sense of well-being. LEADING & LEARNING With a focus on providing equity through personalized learning and the integration of social-emotional learning and academics (SEAD), L&L's professional staff continued to provide coaching to teachers in EASTCONN's magnet high schools. That same work has also been deeply embedded in all L&L external district contracts and professional development. Thought leaders in this division have been recognized at the state level, as L&L continues to collaborate with CSDE officials and RESC colleagues to roll out new approaches to professional learning — of indisputable importance during the pandemic. This year, the L&L group has seen their revenue and their district contracts double, as many school districts have used their ESSER funds to seek L&L guidance on developing coherence and systemic practices, which are critical to having sustainable, positive impacts on students' success. L&L has also been able to expand its number of external contracts beyond the EASTCONN region, and statewide. L&L's certified, in-demand trainers in IIRP Restorative Practices and project-based learning from the Buck Institute have proven to be important assets, both in EASTCONN magnets and districts EASTCONN Annual Board Update 2021-2022 | OVERVIEW
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beyond our region's borders. All L&L work continued to support student voice and choice, as staff helped schools engage their students in authentic projects. L&L coaches continued supporting educators' efforts to meet students' social-emotional needs, provide personalized instruction and help students develop new skills for personal success. This year, the L&L division successfully continued to maintain the overlap between its external work and its support for EASTCONN's magnet schools. As always, L&L staff were focused on thinking systemically about their work. Looking ahead, L&L leaders are seeking to build more national partnerships that will benefit EASTCONN, its member districts, and those districts who secure EASTCONN's L&L expertise, statewide. ORGANIZATIONAL SUPPORT SERVICES EASTCONN Health Insurance Administration: ECHIP In support of the agency, ECHIP remained busy throughout the pandemic. In partnership with Cigna, the health collaborative has been able to provide employer groups with aggregated data on ECHIP's costs for COVID-19-related employee testing, treatments, inpatient and outpatient services, as well as data regarding pharmacy costs. For example, between January 2021 and March 2022, 2,241 ECHIP members were tested, and 401 were diagnosed with COVID-19. Of those diagnosed, 58% were female and 42% were male. Data like this enables ECHIP to better prepare for future, potential spending related to COVID-19. The pandemic's financial impact on ECHIP’s overall health insurance renewal, to date, is $457,000.00, which equates to $13.45 per member, per month. However, those costs notwithstanding, ECHIP’s stop loss renewal increase is projected to come in at 6%, which is much lower than the original projection of 15%. Among ECHIP's other successes this year are its continuation of free staff wellness-program options, including a second year of CIMT screenings for 256 employees, courtesy of the ECHIP Wellness Committee. The Committee will also offer its first eight-day Virtual Health Fair for employees at the end of May, featuring live presentations with wellness professionals and interactive exhibit booths; recordings will be available on demand. Facilities The transition to new leadership in this department has gone smoothly this past year, as they've continued to successfully manage day-to-day maintenance for EASTCONN's schools and facilities. Staff are also anticipating a smooth transition when a long-time support staff member retires and a well-regarded internal candidate takes the reins. Food Services "Extraordinary staff" are cause for celebration in this division, as their dedication and energy have continued to support EASTCONN Annual Board Update 2021-2022 | OVERVIEW
OVERVIEW EASTCONN's work to feed students and families. Throughout the pandemic, food service staff have made it possible to prepare and distribute thousands of meals to students and families in need, not only in EASTCONN schools, but across the eight school districts whose student food programs EASTCONN manages. Ongoing challenges continued to revolve around food supply-chain issues, as well as increasing food costs. Looking ahead, this division will continue to find creative, sustainable ways to improve child nutritional outcomes, while also focusing on building a range of vocational opportunities for EASTCONN's special education students. Once perfected, that vocational job-training and employment model will be shared with districts across the EASTCONN region. Finance/Business Office EASTCONN's financial health is stable and essentially equivalent to pre-COVID-19 measurables, in part because of pandemicrelated state and federal funding. The agency also anticipates an increase in revenue as the fiscal year comes to a close, as schools spend down their budgets and purchase agency services. Additionally, because there are fewer COVID-19 restrictions, there are notable revenue up-ticks in divisions across the agency, including Early Childhood Initiatives, Technology Solutions, Leading & Learning, Special Education (K-12) and Transportation. The recent implementation of division variance reports has provided new insights into the agency's forecasting of actual financial results compared to budgeted financial projections. This new reporting has provided valuable insight as inflation began posing a new concern for the agency this winter and the cost of fuel and other supplies continued to increase. The over-arching goal is to build a new, five-year financial history that will enable the agency to track financial trends and anticipate future agency needs. Lastly, prior to this spring, staffing had posed a big challenge for the Business Office, as pandemic-related absences or departures created gaps that were not easy to fill, such as the loss of historical knowledge. As a result, managers began cross-training staff and are currently creating a new office manual that will codify job descriptions, processes and procedures for easy reference. An important goal was reached this spring, when all open positions were filled for the first time in several years, returning Business Office life to business as usual. Human Resources Throughout the pandemic, HR has done an outstanding job of championing the needs of the agency and the well-being of its staff, as it managed EASTCONN's compliance with COVID-19 mandates, benefits administration, compensation issues, recruitment efforts, personnel administration and work for external customers. For example, in spite of school and building closures, HR continued to meet its compensation obligation to employees, while also regularly providing them with health-and-
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wellness reports, programs and support. With the significant impact on agency-wide staff turnover, employee absences due to exposure or illness, health concerns, childcare issues and other factors, the pandemic posed significant challenges for HR by driving down the number of qualified job applicants for open positions, agency-wide. That, in turn, prompted HR to expand its outreach with new recruitment strategies, including working with non-profits and minority organizations, and turning to the agency's Marketing group to significantly increase the use of radio, mall advertising, print advertising, social media and Google ads to promote job opportunities, whose engagement data are measurable. More recently, HR has also expanded use of online employment platforms like Indeed.com, with positive results. While the agency is not alone in its recruitment challenges, particularly for bus drivers and Special Education support staff, among other positions, increasingly positive recruitment outcomes agency-wide suggest that new online hiring and outreach efforts are working. The agency is also piloting a new employee wellness program to support the health and well-being of employees and their families. With an upgraded all-digital fingerprinting process in place, HR has vastly improved its fingerprinting services for eastern Connecticut school districts and employers. Marketing & Communications This department continues to work in close collaboration with other agency divisions; M&C and K-12 staff, for example, recently rebranded the Autism Program as the EASTCONN Bridges Community School. Staff also produced a series of marketing videos for use on the agency website and on social media; inserted QR-code video links into newsletters and other printed materials; and created fresh, new online content for EASTCONN programs, including a series of promotional videos for Head Start/Early Head Start, ACT and our L&L division. In addition, by expanding the agency’s social media presence, M&C was responsible for a 66% year-over-year increase in online engagement, a nearly 20% jump in individuals following our accounts, and roughly 200,000 total post views overall, resulting in a larger and more diverse statewide population learning about EASTCONN's programs and services. However, after discovering multiple issues with the agency’s current website (including its inability to support a search function), staff rebuilt eastconn. org on a newer platform that more easily supports current tech features and – crucially – has the capability to support future advancements in web technology as it becomes available. Our new, fully-modern website is currently up and running. TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS This year, Tech Solutions has seen positive growth in a number of areas, not only in terms of total contract hours, but also in
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OVERVIEW terms of increased grant work, IT support and online customer support work. Statewide use of the EASTCONN-designed and managed TEAM portal has continued to grow; and the number of programs and schools using the EASTCONN-designed, owned and managed child-assessment platform, CT DOTS, grew significantly after the state Office of Early Childhood decided to purchase thousands of CT DOTS licenses for all Connecticutsupported students, birth to age 5. District IT work beyond the EASTCONN region has also continued to expand, as calls for Tech staff expertise have grown. A recent customer survey proved that external customers are pleased with their service, and internally, staff are working on a specialty project for virtually every EASTCONN division. Tech Solutions has continued to pursue entrepreneurial opportunities, including their work on a data-gathering tool for special education programs, such as the EASTCONN Bridges Community School (formerly EAP). Tech Solutions is also investigating ways to offer affordable, summer technology camps to the region's students that could support their interest in technology, as well as future employment opportunities. After scrambling to replace nearly 40% of its staff, who had either retired or left EASTCONN because of the pandemic, Tech Solutions has successfully filled all but one opening. They are seeking to hire a new programming position to pursue new opportunities. TRANSPORTATION Throughout the pandemic, the dedication and perseverance of core staff have enabled this division to continue transporting students, special needs children and adults to a variety of schools and destinations, in spite of extremely challenging personnel departures and absences. Finding replacement drivers and the uncertainty around Transportation's vehicle replacement schedule continued to be its biggest concerns; the replacement schedule has been paused during the pandemic. Bus driver shortages, which are being experienced statewide, frequently caused gaps for EASTCONN-serviced routes; but thanks to the creative use of routing software, staff were able to maintain services on most bus runs. Core staff "always stepped up," according to Transportation's Director, but often had to work overtime to fill in the driver gaps, causing some morale issues. On the plus side, Transportation experienced an upswing in revenue this year, thanks to long hours worked by many staff. Transportation has also seen positive results from the agency's recent use of indeed.com, which has increased the number of qualified driver applicants; as of early May, there were 20 unfilled driver positions. Transportation is benefiting from the agency's use of an upgraded, all-digital fingerprinting process for driverapplicants, which has greatly improved the speed with which their results are processed and returned. As a result, new drivers can be hired much more quickly than before. EASTCONN Annual Board Update 2021-2022 | OVERVIEW