January 18, 2001 Work Group Meeting Minutes
The William S. Cohen Community Center, Hallowell, Maine

Present: Chris Zukas-Lessard, Chandra Murphy, Dixie Leavitt, Alice Conway, Drew Bolduc, John Baillargeon, Donna Lerman (staff, Muskie), Tracy Piantoni, Tonya Labbe, Deb Parker Wolfenden, Christine Bartlett, Lora Perry, Kathryn Kazenski, Eileen Griffin (staff, Muskie), Stuart Bratesman (staff, Muskie)

Not Present: Jane O’Loughlin French, Margaret Forbes, Stephanie Crystal, Deborah Williams, Helen Bailey, Cynthia Sudheimer, John Shattuck, Ron Welch, Nat Hussey, Kat Douin, Susan Wygal, Jane Gallivan, Tom Bancroft

This meeting was a make-up of the December 20 meeting which was cancelled due to bad weather. Donna Lerman facilitated and chaired the meeting.

1. Check-in and Introductions

2. Vision Statement
Donna Lerman read the Vision Statement: "All of us together, in community, happy, fulfilled, and equal in dignity and rights."

3. Minutes
The minutes of the November 29^th meeting were approved.

4. SNOW
The Work Group completed the last two stages of the SNOW analysis. With respect to the task of "developing a coherent plan, across departments and programs, to make certain that the State is providing services to people with disabilities in the most integrated setting appropriate to the needs and preferences of each individual" members were asked to identify the Opportunities that exist and their Worries. Are there any unique factors coming together to make change possible? Are there any resources or allies that have not been used yet? What are members’ fears? What are members worried will go wrong? The results of these last two stages are available upon request.

In addition, members were asked whether any of the Needs that had been identified at the last meeting needed to be clarified. Members were asked whether any of the Needs could be consolidated because they were very similar.

5. Values and Principles
The Work Group was asked to review the revised Values and Principles. A subgroup of Helen Bailey, Deb Parker Wolfenden, Donna Lerman and Eileen Griffin had revised the Values and Principles based on the input of Work Group members at the November 29 meeting. The Work Group did not have time to review the revised Values and Principles.

6. Next Meeting
The agenda for the January 24 meeting (the regular January meeting) will be devoted to deciding on the top three Needs that the Work Group will focus on for the remainder of the planning process. The January meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, January 24th from 1:00-to-4:00pm at the Cohen Center. The Work Group discussed the best policy for deciding when to cancel meetings. It was agreed that when SAD 47 cancelled school, Work Group meetings would be cancelled. (It was felt that Augusta, with fewer students traveling by bus, was slow to cancel school and that it would be best to follow a school system that had to deal with traveling in the snow.) Drew Bolduc also offered the 1-800 number at the Maine Parents Federation as a back-up resource for people who were unable to find out about SAD 47 in their area. Eileen will post the snow cancellation policy by e-mail to make sure everyone knows about it.