Comments entered by Debbie Ellis into the official record at the requested DHS Child Care Payment Policies Manual Public Hearing 8/29/19:
Narcissistic Manner!
According to Forbes magazine, ‘When leadership behaves in a narcissistic manner, and see themselves as superior with overwhelming contempt for others, they are following a hubristic path.’
The Hubris Syndrome often leads to disaster through incompetent behavior and the mistreatment of people brought on by arrogance and self-delusion.
Hubris Syndrome, in this case, is compounded by DHS staff members and SECAC members carrying out everything the Program micro-managers suggest, without question, whether it be the “influence” of SECAC Executive Director Laurie Smith or SECAC President Mimmo Parisi, both of whom are positioned to benefit greatly from this plan long after this governor’s term expires (just as previous Councils have somewhat done).
The mistreatment of low-income parents and the child care providers serving them is demonstrated by policy makers in the blanket announcement, via memo, of ever reduced monthly “accounts receivable/reimbursements” – already in effect – when, in fact, it is a significant amendment which automatically triggers a public hearing and an economic impact statement and requires specific redress in the Child Care Payment Program Manuel.
Disgraceful administrative behavior is demonstrated through a 32 months long attempt to trick this state’s work force support system, child care providers, into required Q.R.I.S. through very costly National Standards – the NAEYC self-assessment that makes up the Standard Application – and by denying the long term intent of the tool, refusing to publically propose the rules for adoption, foregoing the legally required public hearing through a play of Administrative Procedures Law wording – primarily led by Laurie Smith and Mimmo Parisi – suggesting this plan for quality is required by federal guidelines when the basis of their manipulation is not recognized as the official needs assessment required by the CCDF, but rather, an unofficial SECAC Q.R.I.S. listening session “survey” designed by NSparc to conclude only need for a new and improved Q.R.I.S. of their design which takes out the stigma by not assigning stars, says it is not Q.R.I.S. and calls for CCDF Program debarment instead!
Such bizarre rationale, the rules, economic impact statements (preferably not conducted by NSparc due to the conflict of interest), type specific scales and the SECAC Long Range Strategic Plan also require specific APL redress including a public hearing and inclusion in the Child Care Payment Program Manuel.
To have put child care providers through the mental anguish and this Epic Fail known as theyears long and ongoing initial launch of the Standard Application without proper adoption and redress demonstrates abuse of power or incapacity…or both.
And to those practicing narcissistic leadership style including members of SECAC, you are not the victim outlined in my reports of misconduct.
You are the individuals who are responsible, complicit and accountable.
Like CCPP Providers, your work and actions, both individually and collectively, are also up for judgment.
All are free to resign.
I object to this adoption of the Child Care Payment Policies Manual as I believe it, like the previous adoptions, is morally, ethically and legally wrong and most deceptive and unfair to the child care infrastructure recruited and developed over decades to accept and serve low income children in Mississippi.
I also believe the SECAC plan vaguely mentioned in its pages is unsustainable without serving fewer disadvantaged children in the state holding the national record for the highest number of children and families living in extreme poverty who need work force support – child care – in order to maintain employment and just maybe, break the cycle.
Your silence and/or treatment of CCPP Providers and that impact on the innocent, low-income babies we willingly serve (the weakest and most expendable in your scheme) and your management of CCDF and TANF funds is predatory and shameful!
Perhaps, more so than preschool, what we really need is universal Sunday School!
Is Q.R.I.S. Technical Assistance Primarily to Degrade and Cause Licensing Inspections and Fines?
At least two African-American child care providers, who will not be named here, reported last week that after allowing technical assistance coaches into their facilities to work with staff – just as the CCDF State Plan calls for – their small businesses were met by child care licensing officials at the start of the following business day and excessive fines were imposed.
Since that time, it has been alleged that technical assistance coaches have been instructed by agencies to report all observations and anything caregivers might be doing incorrectly to licensing officials.
Keep in mind that many of the former, unsuccessful Q.R.I.S. coaches are now with MDHS technical assistance sub-contractors and I suppose still enjoying the open fault they find with you as a quality measure – however misguided and counterproductive.
If these allegations are founded, and I believe they are, then I am sorry your staff was not coached, guided and “improved” in a safe space, but rather, unwittingly inspected.
Under such circumstances, the attitude of purported help does not foster learning or training for anyone but rather, only more degradation, so perhaps you should wait to accept technical assistance after Standard and Comprehensive Center criteria and scoring scales are defined.
Sadly, such technical assistance is just what we have expected.
March 11, 2016, the United States Commission on Civil Rights investigated the application of Q.R.I.S. in Mississippi and stated in a letter to Mr. Eric Blanchette of the Office of Child Care, Region IV: “The Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS) program which is purported to promote higher quality child care appears to instead penalize and costs so much that it excludes the participation of African-American owned and operated child care facilities.”
Recommendations included allocating funding to support child care facilities in low-income areas, and reviewing the effectiveness of evaluation criteriafor child care facilities and its ability to predict improved developmental outcomes for childrenof diverse communities; and creating written policies and guidelines regarding factors that define quality in child care.
Regardless, Dec. 7, 2016, SECAC presented a very rigorous process of maximizing funding and services to families and child care programs by utilizing a Family-Based Unified and Integrated Early Childhood System:
“Each year centers will go through an initial eligibility process and subsequent annual redetermination processes. Any center that fails to meet the basic requirements for its designation will be given six months to successfully implement a corrective action plan. The corrective action plan will be developed by an external evaluator in consultation with the child care center director and technical assistance coach. Failing to reach goals outlined in a corrective action plan will result in loss of designation at the end of the current annual eligibility term.”
“Once eligible, centers must engage in continuous quality improvement based on a scale that assesses the extent to which a center should engage in additional technical assistance for maintaining and improving quality”.
“Scale scores willhelp centers maintain eligibility to redeem vouchers.”
Unfortunately, the scale to maintain eligibility to continue to serve low-income children has not yet been identified or provided by SECAC.
SECAC has explained that because HHS has required quality, the proper Administrative Procedures Law to adopt and implement a Family-Based Unified and Integrated Early Childhood System is not required.
The Mississippi State Department of Health (also funded in part by the CCDF) has a long history of implementing Q.R.I.S. standards by circumventing Administrative Procedures Law which are most punitive and possibly financially devastating to a particular type and class of child care provider.
Providers began to report MDHS system failure again just one day after DECCD issued new deadlines for uploading data to complete the required online Standard Child Care Center Application.
At the Child Care Academy Curriculum Training Session held today in Hinds County, the CCA trainer explained that DECCD had acknowledged problems with uploading data and that DECCD described such system failure as a computer ”glitch”.
Regardless, today, DECCD continued to issue redetermination deadlines and NSparc continued to contact providers directly to encourage them to submit their data.
There has been no known courtesy call, notice or explanation of any system failure or computer glitch from DECCD or NSparc to any affected provider who may be working in vain to submit their data at this time.
If you experience problems and fear missing your deadline, call DECCD or the Office of the Governor for assistance.
Following weeks long crashes, data dumps and a suspension in ”Provider Redeterminations”, MDHS has reinstated redetermination deadlines for all affected child care providers. Check your Email so that you will not be eliminated by made up rules that have never before received public comment or rules that may still be a secret, raising questions such as, ”What is a Comprehensive Center and how should we know if we would like to be one?”
I guess the rules of Administrative Procedures do not apply to powerful/advantaged state actors who are making up the rules governing service providers as they go or are allowing their associates to make up the rules as they go…all without public notice.
Brace for Economic and Disparate Impact!
Buckle those seatbelts, providers!
Rise above this severe child care industry turbulence and submit your data into unknown stratospheres!
Arrive on time!
”Laugh, Live, and Love” in the knowledge that together, we are flying united…United that is!
Enjoy this viral video clip from Jimmy Kimmel Live which was featured on Fox, CNN and most major news networks. (Warning: Strong and insinuated language may be as offensive to some as the state actor contempt for disadvantaged small businesses is to us…but it is well deserved, best describes the obvious attitude of policy makers who should know that they are violating APL and it fits my theme!) (We have just got to lighten up if we are to survive this flight!)
April SECAC Meeting Cancelled; Two Autism Screening Sites Relocated
The scheduled April 27, 2017, meeting of the Governor’s SECAC ( State Early Childhood Advisory Council) has been cancelled. (Click here.)
SECAC has adopted a plan to requireQRIS (in what amounts to having and maintaining a costly star level of 3 or above as outlined in the former quality rating Program … and more) for all providers serving children receiving child care assistance Certificates of Payment through a simple play of words. That is to say, instead of calling it a quality “rating”, SECAC calls it an environmental quality “assessment score” to be determined annually, regardless of the recommendation of every three years put forth in the Frank-Porter Graham evaluation of Mississippi’s former program or the ongoing concern for potential disparate impact presented by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.
Despite valid objections and questions that were raised by providers and advocates at the March 23, 2017, SECAC meeting, DHS Executive Director John Davis, who serves at the pleasure of the Governor and whose agency is given the responsibility to implement the SECAC plan, filed proposed amendments to adopt the plan on April 12, 2017.
No economic impact statement including the impact to small business was included and no public hearing was scheduled.
Cancellation of the April 27, 2017, SECAC meeting means stakeholders will not have an opportunity to redress their concerns directly with the policy makers – members of SECAC – prior to the 30 days the proposed rules are scheduled to be in effect.
Further, contact information for individual members of SECAC and identity of the SECAC Committees on which they serve are also no longer available or accessible on the DHS (or new SECAC) website as they were throughout previous administrations.
However, child care providers and organizations are making written request to DHS Executive Director John Davis to ask that the agency provide a public hearing. Such requests must be mailed and/or attached by Email on an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper and submitted by May 1, 2017.They must include the name, address, telephone number and Email address for individuals making the requests. APL (Administrative Procedures Law) requires a public hearing be held if ten persons make a written request for a public hearing within twenty days of an agency’s filing with the Secretary of State. Click here for more information and instructions for requesting a public hearing which is published on the NOTICE FILING.
Please note the changes in previously scheduled site locations for Autism Screenings in this updated MECIC flyer and share as needed.
The State Early Childhood Advisory Council will meet on Thursday to further report its plans to implement these changes in approximately three months. There will be an opportunity for you to ask questions regarding the plan or to enter comments into the minutes just before adjournment.
If you have questions or concerns about the impact this plan will have on your small business, you should attend.
The Mississippi Low Income Child Care Initiative Commends DHS
The Mississippi Low Income Child Care Initiative would like to commend DHS for adopting the provider recommendation that TANF families retain services for an entire year.
“This is a great example of how provider input can be adopted and indicates that providers who rely on CCDF have important and useful feedback to share about CCDF. Soliciting and using provider input can enhance the relationship between DHS and the effectiveness of CCDF for working parents. This change is good for both parents and providers.”
The Child Care and Development Block Grant is not fully funded on a federal level, and Burnett and her group plan to push the Legislature to increase funding for early childhood care in the upcoming session.
“We’re making progress, but there is clearly more work to be done.”
Last week, at the State Early Childhood Advisory Council, MLICCI Executive Director Carol Burnett, representing the results of a survey of more than 200 child care providers, called for the elimination of Q.R.I.S.
DHS Executive Director John Davis: “contract with MSU Extension Services will be terminated Dec. 31.”
Clarion -Ledger reports MDHS might end contract with MSU child-care program
Jimmie E. Gates, The Clarion-Ledger 3:23 p.m. CDT September 21, 2016
Today, the Clarion-Ledger has reported ”a meeting was convened Sept. 13 of all technical assistance employees under the Early Years Network. They were informed at the meeting of a letter from DHS Executive Director John Davis that the contract with MSU Extension Services would be terminated Dec. 31. No reason was given.”
‘“The funding contract between the MSU Extension Service and the Mississippi Department of Human Services is under review by that agency’s leadership and advisors to the Governor’s Office, which appoints the leadership at DHS,” a statement issued by MSU spokesman Sid Salter said.’
Promoting business-friendly public policies that support parental employment with quality early learning opportunities for the Delta's childcare-age population.
They’re Up for Now!
Delta Licensed Providers 
Recent Comments