Web Conference/Conference Call

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Members Attending: Michele Mount, Mike James, Tess Benham, Marilyn Bull, MD, FAAP, Janet Brooks, Tracey Hewitt, Kerry Chausmer, Wanda Vazquez, Jeanne Johnson, Amy Edwards, Thomas Vilt, Diana Dias, Bob Wall, Sherri Cannon, Lorrie Walker, Barbara Birkenshaw, Carol Helminski

Members Not Present: Carole Guzzetta, Kathleen Studnicka, Tim Murphy, Lynn Ware

Welcome and Introductions

Board Chair Michele Mount welcomed the board members and introduced Tess Benham, National Safety Council as the new secretariat.

Overview of Members' Role Representing Constituencies/Organizations

Mike James, Membership Committee Leader, discussed a renewed focus for Board members to create action items to communicate with constituencies they represent in their Board positions. Mike is also working with Bill Hall to update the Bylaws with motions passed since 2003 that are not in the current Bylaws. Deb Trombley provided the most current version of the Bylaws and will ask Bill Hall to post this version on the web site.

Update: Certification

Kerry Chausmer reported. Approximately, 627 technician courses have been conducted to date, on pace for 800 courses in 2009. Renewal is slow but steady. The recertification rate is 54.9%.

New certification fees are effective today, October 1, 2009.

• Technician Certification: $75
• Technician Recertification: $50
• Instructor Candidates: $50

Technicians can recertify up to 4 months before their certification expires. Early recertification does not change the certification term or month that their new certification expires.

Almost 1,600 people have been audited. The majority (81%) of technicians audited pass. Fewer than 1% of technicians audited receive a conditional pass. Conditional pass recipients will automatically be audited the next time they renew their certification. The audit process can be lengthy as it may take 2 to 3 months for all requested documentation to be submitted.

Customer service has received almost 11,000 phone calls. The call volume is seasonal following the certification course trend. Majority of questions are to request user name/ password or assistance with course registration.

Three webinars are available at www.safekidswebinars.org.

• Transportation of Children in Vehicles Other Than Cars (1 CEU)
• Tech's Guide to Recalls (1 CEU)
• School Bus Module (2 CEUs)

The monthly CPS Express included regular article submissions from CPS board members.

Technicians and Instructors can now purchase CPS gear in an online store with some proceeds supporting Safe Kids Certification Program.

Update: NHTSA

Michele Mount reported that Carole Guzzetta is unable to join today's call. Carole will email board members a NHTSA update.

Sherri Cannon reported on NHTSA Region activity. CPS week activities went well. All 50 states and District of Columbia conducted at least one event for CPS Week. All regional coordinators worked to get States signed up and information posted on State websites.

Regional coordinators are working to keep the inspection station list up to date. Please forward changes to inspection stations to your regional coordinators. If you don't know your regional coordinator, please forward this information to Judy Hammond or Carole Guzzetta.

Board asked if dates for 2010 CPS week and Seat Check Saturday have been finalized; members stressed the importance of knowing the dates in advance for organizational planning. Many organizations are now finalizing printed CPS promotional materials for 2010. Sherri reported that NHTSA has discussed changing date for CPS week to later in September next year and to keep the dates of CPS week consistently later in September. As soon as a firm decision is announced, the 2010 dates will be emailed to board members.

Committee Reports

Certification/Recertification

Bob Wall reported. Certification and recertification numbers were included in the Certifying Body update.

Discussion/Action Items:

Board discussed having people sign up for recertification classes by region. Diana Dias reported that Region 1 will hold a recertification class in Rhode Island on October 19th. Class registration looks good. She also reported that many CPS technicians in RI are police officers. Due to economy, there is less support to pay for the recertification costs by the department.

Due to time limit for today's call, the Certification/Recertification committee will schedule a conference call prior to next board meeting to identify recertification action items.

Kerry reminded board members that there is no secret recipe to get higher recertification rates. It really varies by state. Recertification is strongly associated with technician support on the job (if people in law enforcement get agency support, they're more likely to recertify). Please email Kerry for CPS quick sheets and tips on how to people can get CEUs.

Communication

Tess Benham reported. Committee met by conference call in September 2009. Action items completed include board articles in CPS Express and rear facing quotes for technicians. A technician download area was added to the CPS board website restricted access area so that technicians can download the community outreach kit published last month. A report of web activity was forwarded to board members from Bill Hall. It is impressive that the community outreach kit is already a top 35 page after being online for only a few days.

Discussion/Action Items:

At September meeting, committee discussed inconsistency in messaging provided to parents from pediatricians about rear facing child seats and possible letter to AAP. Committee decided not to take action on a possible letter to AAP.

Dr. Bull, who was not present at Communications committee meeting, clarified that the letter to AAP would not be from the CPS board but from Safe Kids. Lorrie Walker drafted a letter from Safe Kids that Dr. Bull reviewed. She also reported on her recent AAP activity.

1. The AAP policy "Selecting and Using the Most Appropriate Car Safety Seats for Growing Children: Guidelines for Counseling Parents" is under revision. This policy will become a clinical guideline.
2. Dr. Joe O'Neal has been appointed to Committee on Injury, Violence, and Poison Prevention. He will have significant say on wording of the clinical guidelines.
3. Dr. Bull will be AAP board reviewer of AAP publication "Car Safety Seats a Guide for Families." She is working with AAP staff to revise publication and rear facing messages. This publication is scheduled for printing in January 2010.

Dr. Bull will discuss letter with AAP staff to determine if a letter would be helpful.

Board agreed it will continue to monitor messaging before taking further action. It is important to inform current instructors and technicians that rear facing longer is recommended and a CPS best practice.

Curriculum

Lorrie Walker reported.

Discussion/Action Items:

Committee members received proposed revisions for the instructors CD for the 32 hour certification course. Four committee members have provided comment. She would like confirmation from remaining committee members by October 7th that they have no comments. NHTSA has approved the changes. The committee will complete work by end of October and submit changes to Bill Hall to develop the Instructors CD.

Diversity

Wanda Vasquez reported. She provided a presentation on new child restraints in Spanish in PA. The Spanish speaking technicians in attendance provided a lot of feed back. Puerto Rico CPS representatives requested a copy of the presentation to present it to their technicians.

Discussion/Action Items:

A survey is being developed to seek feedback from CPS technicians that have English as a second language. A draft of the survey was sent to board members for review. Please email your suggestions to Wanda.

Discussion/Action Items:

A plan is being developed to increase involvement of technicians that have English as a second language — especially Spanish.

Membership

Mike James reported. He thanked everyone who helped on Membership Committee. There were four board positions open for 2010: Diversity, At Large, National Nursing and Injury Prevention/Emergency Services. Seven applications were received for three open positions. No one applied for the National Nursing board position. One applicant whose paperwork was received after the deadline was not considered. Committee members reviewed candidate applications and references. The committee interviewed candidates during a September conference call.

Discussion/Action Items:

The board discussed membership process, qualifications of board applicants and number of applications for the board.

Mike James moved to accept the following candidates for the board. Lorrie Walker seconded the motion. Motion approved.

Discussion/Action Items:

Board discussed lack of applicants for national nursing board position. Membership committee recommended extending the term of current board member Tim Murphy until 2010. Board discussed recommendations and requested a clarification of the by-laws. Janet Brooks, Quality Assurance Chairperson will review by-laws and email board members. Board took no action on committee recommendation for the national nursing open board position.

Discussion/Action Items:

Board discussed new board member notification and announcement of new board members. Mike James will inform new board members immediately of their selection to the board. New board members will also receive a formal welcome letter. A letter will be mailed to candidates not selected for the board to notify them of the board decision and to encourage them to apply for future board positions.

Discussion/Action Items:

Board discussed communications and posting on CPS board website an announcement of new board members to encourage interest in board and possibly increase number of applicants for open board positions. Secretariat will review past board announcements of new board members and develop communication to announce new board members.

Quality Assurance

Janet Brooks reported.

Discussion/Action Items:

Committee is still meeting to complete 3 month action plan to support and cultivate recent CPS technicians. Committee discussed surveying a sample of new technicians (selected by certification dates) to learn more about their needs. Questions would focus on skill areas to identify where they are the most and least comfortable. These questions will help identify topics that technicians feel they are well and adequately trained in during the technician course.

Discussion/Action Items:

The six month action plan was to conduct a similar course survey of recent instructors. Feedback would provide their assessment of how course went, what went well or poorly and areas for further assistance. Committee discussed desk audits. Kerry clarified that more desk audits of recent courses will be conducted by certifying body.

Committee requested board feedback on priority for technician or instructor survey. Dr. Bull suggested it may be more practical to survey new technicians first as it might impact survey questions for new lead instructors. Board agreed.

Special Needs

Dr. Marilyn Bull reported.

Discussion/Action Items:

The final concluding report by National Center for Safe Transportation of Children with Special Health Needs was presented yesterday. NHTSA funding concludes September 30, 2009. The center has several curricula in development.

1. Durable Medical Equipment provider training, a 3–4 hour module is developed. It has not been piloted.
2. Training module for rehabilitation providers (Occupational Therapists and Physical Therapists) developed and piloted.
3. Premature Infant module for Neonatal Intensive Care Unit staff is completed.
4. Curriculum for Emergency Medical Services providers is in development.

There are also three products that are ready for development but do not have funding. Committee will brainstorm funding possibilities and provide update at next board meeting.

Other Business

Kerry Chausmer requested an update on Instructor Development action items from June board meeting. The two workgroups have not met. Instructor Development Tips workgroup was chaired by Bob Wall. Workgroup members include Carol Helminski, Carole Guzzetta, Barbara Birkenshaw, Diana Dias, Sherri Cannon. Instructor Development PowerPoint workgroup was chaired by Mike James. Workgroup members include Janet Brooks, Kathleen Studnicka, Tim Murphy, Tom Vilt, Tracey Hewitt and Wanda Vasquez.

Janet Brooks asked if technicians have provided feedback about Safe Kids new checklist form for seat checks. Lorrie suggested this is more of a Safe Kids issue than a CPS board issue. Kerry Chausmer mentioned John Drees has a technician evaluation in CPS Express.

Barbara Birkenshaw reported that Chrysler has now converted their owner's manual onto DVD format. In addition to the DVD, a user guide is provided in the vehicle. Unfortunately, child passenger safety information was erroneously omitted in the vehicle user guide. The DVD version still has all CPS information included. Chrysler is rectifying this situation and is hoping to have the CPS information included in the user's guide by January 2010. She will ask the Alliance and AIAM to remind manufacturers to include CPS information on user guide. Board discussed importance making technicians aware of this issue. Barbara will work with Chrysler to write up of an article for November CPS Express. Barbara will send letter on behalf of board regarding about importance of child passenger safety information in all formats of the user guide.

Board discussed the new process for officer elections. At February meeting, Michele will step down from chairperson and Mike from vice-chairperson positions. A list of board members eligible for officer positions was sent in July. Board members interested in officer position must submit statement of interest by second Friday of October (10/9/09) to the Secretariat.

Board members discussed meeting location for February. Board members submitted location suggestions. Board members were polled about their preferences for meeting locations. Deerfied Beach/Ft. Lauderdale, FL (50%) and Washington, DC (28%) received the most votes. The Secretariat will gather preliminary costs and follow up with Carole Guzzetta to determine meeting location. The board discussed possibility that some board member organizations may have instituted travel restrictions. Please submit to the Secretariat an email stating yes/no if your organization has implemented travel restrictions.

Board discussed if budget would permit two in-person board meetings in 2010.

Next Board Meetings:

Next meeting is scheduled for February 2–3, 2010.

Meeting Adjourned at 3:02 pm.