Hello all:
Thanks for a great meeting this morning. As we talked about, this e-mail is the start of a log that we will be keeping regarding the CT accreditation process. As Peter mentioned, he will get this into a format with password access to committee members. Since we will need to give a detailed report to the Board on the CT experience, including what we think it will realistically cost to do these accreditations, and to list all unanticipated issues and challenges, it is important that we keep a good record. I am also attaching the three main documents relating the accreditation process: the Standards, the manual that is provided to the site to guide their participation in the accreditation process, and the manual that the auditors will use when conducting audits. Another part of what we need to be recording is any suggested changes to these documents based upon our experiences in Connecticut. Also, since we do not yet have the infrastructure described in these materials (i.e., an Accreditation Office, with paid staff), the committee is acting as the office staff. We are going to have to be able to tell the Board what size of staff and level of expertise would be needed for an Accreditation Office. We understand that the Board is making no commitment on continuing with accreditation past CT, but we need to make sure that they can make their decision based on the best information.
So let's start off our log with a summary of our discussions this morning.
Date: 9/6/13 Log Entry By: John
We expect that the contract between CT and NAPSA will be executed in the next few days. Once it is executed, Connecticut will move from Stage 1, the Applicant Stage, to Stage 2, the Correspondent Stage. At that point, they are required to designate an Accreditation Coordinator. That coordinator is responsible for several tasks during this stage, including: conducting an orientation for the entire staff on the accreditation process; developing a work plan for providing the necessary documentation, and then pulling those materials together, conducting a self-evaluation, and then submitting the self-evaluation and supporting materials to the committee for review.
Our responsibility during this stage is to assign an Accreditation Specialist, who will be the point of contact with the Accreditation Coordinator and will answer any questions and provide assistance in pulling together the necessary materials. Peter volunteered to take on this role and Shawn volunteered to assist him. They will both be recording the time and effort involved in performing these duties.
Once the site has completed and submitted the Self-Evaluation and supporting materials to the committee, we will divide the review work into four sections: one for each of the four sections of the Accreditation Standards, with at least two committee members reviewing each section. If one or both committee members reviewing a particular standard section feel that there may be deficiencies in the material presented, the deficiencies will be presented to the full committee. If the committee agrees that there are deficiencies that must be addressed before the site can advance to Stage 3, the Audit Visit, we will give them an opportunity to respond to our concerns. No audit team site visit will be scheduled until the committee is confident that they have all the right materials together, and that those materials, at least on paper, support compliance with the standards.
As for Stage 3, the Audit Team visit, we have discussed the need to visit all of the offices out of which pretrial services is run in CT to verify that each office is following the standards. But not all Standards need to be verified through in person visits to each office. So each committee member will be reviewing the Standards independently and identify which ones that member believes requires a personal visit. The members will submit their thoughts on this within the next month - at which time we will see where the areas of consensus and disagreement are. While we understand the need to visit each office, we want to make sure that we are doing so in an efficient manner.
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John Clark
Pretrial Justice Institute
1101 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
John Clark
Pretrial Justice Institute
1101 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
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