DECAL Download

Send us Fan Mail In August, DECAL introduced a new group of Family Ambassadors to help promote school readiness among the vulnerable and underserved populations in their communities.  Today we have 42 ambassadors representing 27 counties across the state.  Here to talk about the Family Ambassadors is Bridget Ratajczak, Child and Family Development Supervisor; and Ann Panzica, Child and Family Deve...

Send us Fan Mail For child care providers in Georgia receiving CAPS funding, its crunch time!  In order to continue to receive CAPS payments for your children and families served, you must be Quality Rated by December 31, 2020.  Right now, around 54-percent of the programs receiving CAPS have been Quality Rated, and about 67-percent of children receiving CAPS are enrolled with a Quality Rated Prov...

Send us Fan Mail A special holiday episode featuring DECAL employees sharing their favorite traditions and wishes for 2020. Nutrition Health Educator Diana Meyers has suggestions on how to eat healthy through those holiday parties and dinners! Support the show

Send us Fan Mail When’s the last time you went to your local library?  If it’s been awhile, you’re missing out on some great resources and, even better, in today’s digital world, you don’t even have to leave your home to visit a library.  Joining us is Wendy Cornelisen, Assistant State Librarian with the Georgia Public Library Service.   Support the show

Send us Fan Mail In September, Commissioner Jacobs presented the Second Annual Baby Golden Radish Award to the Baldwin County School District for creating an innovative and successful Farm to Early Care & Education Program that advances the learning and development of its Pre-K and Head Start students.  Joining us to talk about Nutrition in the Baldwin County Schools and the Farm to ECE effort...

Send us Fan Mail In June 2017, a new Georgia center with a mission to improve reading skills among young children officially opened at Georgia College and State University in Milledgeville.  This was a $5.1 million initiative of former Governor Nathan Deal and named after his wife, Sandra Deal, who is a former schoolteacher and advocate for quality early learning.  We’re joined today by Dr. Theres...

Send us Fan Mail A chat with Coy Bowles, lead guitarist for the Grammy Award winning Zac Brown Band, author of children’s books, and a member of the Board of Directors for the Georgia Foundation for Early Care and Learning. Coy joins us on the podcast after speaking to more than 700 DECAL employees at an All Staff Meeting held at the Georgia International Convention Center in College Park.   Suppo...

Send us Fan Mail From Criminal Background Checks to Open Records Requests, the DECAL Legal Unit stays busy supporting our departments as well as working with other state and federal agencies, and the general public.  Leading that team of 27 staff members is Chief Legal Officer Ira Sudman.  We are also joined by Greg Brown, Legal Services Officer with DECAL.  Support the show

Send us Fan Mail It's almost time for Open Enrollment for State of Georgia employees, including all of us here at DECAL.  This year Open Enrollment is October 21 through November 8.  Our guest this week is Sabrina Henry, Human Resources Operations Supervisor.   Support the show

Send us Fan Mail In 1996, the Georgia General Assembly created the Office of School Readiness to administer Georgia’s Pre-K Program, license child care centers participating in the Pre-K Program, administer federal nutrition programs and provide early intervention services. Eight years later, in 2004, Governor Sonny Perdue and the Georgia General Assembly created Bright from the Start: Georgia Dep...

Send us Fan Mail With an annual budget of over $847 million, DECAL’s Finance and Administration Divisions play an important role in the success of our agency.  Supervising these important areas, as well as the Nutrition Division, is Rian Ringsrud, Deputy Commissioner for Finance and Administration.  Today we chat with Rian and then check in on our new 2019-2020 Georgia's Pre-K Program Teacher...

Send us Fan Mail It was December, 2013, when the US Department of Education and the US Department of Health and Human Services awarded Georgia the Race to the Top – Early Learning Challenge Grant, totaling $51.7 million over four years.  This week, we look back at all that was accomplished in Georgia as a result of the grant.  Joining us are three key people in the project: Susan Adams, Deputy Com...

Send us Fan Mail As we’re teaching Georgia’s youngest learners the importance of language, literacy, math, and social skills, it’s also important to help them develop healthy habits in eating and physical activity early on.  Joining us to talk about developing and maintaining healthy habits is Diana Myers, our new Nutrition Health Educator here at DECAL.   Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Community members and leaders from around the state are going back to school as part of Georgia Pre-K Week, an annual event to celebrate Georgia’s nationally recognized Pre-K program and other quality early learning centers.  This is our ninth year partnering with Voices for Georgia’s Children and the dates are October 7-11.  Joining us to talk about Georgia Pre-K Week and how you...

Send us Fan Mail In 2011, the Georgia General Assembly authorized a longitudinal study of Georgia’s Pre-K Program to examine children’s learning outcomes and the quality of their classroom experiences.  This study is currently following over 1,100 children from Pre-K through the fifth grade.  Here to talk about the latest results is Susan Adams, Deputy Commissioner for Georgia’s Pre-K Program and...

Send us Fan Mail One of our strongest supporters and child advocates is GEEARS, the Georgia Early Education Alliance for Ready Students.  On this episode of DECAL Download, we take a closer look at GEEARS and its work here in Georgia with Executive Director Mindy Binderman. Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Research shows the more words you speak, sing, or read to your baby has an impact on how fast your child will learn to speak and read.  On this episode, we learn more about Project LITTLE for Lifting Infants and Toddlers Through Language-rich Environments.  Our guests are Nicole Wilson, Infant Toddler Program Manager for DECAL, and Bobbie Dent, Executive Director for The Phoenix S...

Send us Fan Mail After 26 years of administering Georgia’s Pre-K Program, we all know that students are better prepared for Kindergarten and excel in math, language, and literacy.  But how are those same students doing four years later, when they are tested at the end of third grade? DECAL Deputy Commissioners Susan Adams and Dr. Bentley Ponder discuss a recent Pre-K Study that looked at the relat...

Send us Fan Mail Commissioner Amy M. Jacobs responds to your questions from social media. Support the show

Send us Fan Mail All across Georgia, it’s Back to School time and that can have an impact on your whole family’s schedule and routine.  On this special edition of DECAL Download, we’re going to try and cover all of your questions for Back to School from starting Georgia’s Pre-K Program, to Before and After School care at your child care program, to how this impacts your CAPS scholarship.   Support...

Send us Fan Mail A conversation with Dennis Brice, our new Chief Information Officer for DECAL.  Most recently Dennis was VP of Technology at McKesson and brings more than 25 years of engineering, strategic thinking, and broad IT experience to DECAL.  Support the show

Send us Fan Mail When you think about child care outside the home, you might think about infants, toddlers, or Pre-K students…but for many families it also includes after-school care for children ages five and up.  In Georgia, over 2,700 licensed child care programs offer after-school care, and over 45-percent of our CAPS scholarships help pay for it. Here to talk about school-age programs in Geor...

Send us Fan Mail Each year, Bright from the Start administers the USDA’s Summer Food Service Program, created to ensure that children 18 and under can continue to receive nutritious meals during long school vacations, when they don’t have access to lunch or breakfast at school.  Here to talk about this effort in Georgia is Cindy Kicklighter, Nutrition Marketing and Outreach Manager, and Phyllis Ol...

Send us Fan Mail Back in the Spring, we told you about the Path from Pre-K to College Sweepstakes where four students in Georgia's Pre-K Program received scholarships of $1,529 from Path2College 529 Plan.  This summer, four more children will have a chance at one of those scholarships in the We Care Child Care Sweepstakes.  Here to talk about the sweepstakes is Mitch Seabaugh, Executive Direc...

Send us Fan Mail School’s out for summer….but beware the Summer Brain Drain!  That’s when many children experience learning loss because they’re not engaged in educational activities during the summer. Joining us to talk about DIY Summer School is Faith Duncan, Field Operations Director for Georgia’s Pre-K Program, and Demetria Joyce, Instructional Learning Manager. Support the show