Policy Council Elections Presented by Karen Johnson and Sara Schumacher

 Parent of a Head Start/Early Head Start child  Guardian of a HS/EHS child  Able to attend once a month evening meetings  Wednesday evenings (usually the 2 nd or 3 rd Wednesday of the month)  Meetings are from 6:00PM—8:00PM  Meeting located at the Beloit Head Start Center  1221 Henry Ave.

 “Grantee Agencies (that’s us), and Delegate Agencies must establish and maintain a formal structure through which parents can participate in policy making, or in other decisions about the program.” Hiring Committee Recruitment Committee Review, Revise, and Vote on agency Policies and Procedures

Each Head Start and Early Head Start agency must consist of: A Policy Council at the Grantee level Parent Center Committee (this includes ALL Head Start/EHS Parents at a HS/EHS Center)

WE ARE HERE TONIGHT TO ELECT POLICY COUNCIL REPRESENTATIVES FOR GOOD SHEPHERD HEAD START AND EARLY HEAD START

Federally Funded Families: 355 Families State of Wisconsin Funded Families: 25 Families Federally Funded Early Head Start Families 120 Families Total: 500 Funded Families

ROCK COUNTY SITESWALWORTH COUNTY SITES

Early Head Start: Good Shepherd— Beloit: 17 Community Kids— Beloit: 19 Janesville Little Tree House: 24 Rock County Expansion: 20 Walworth County Expansion: 40

How Many Policy Council Representatives Do We Need? Walworth County:Rock County: Delavan : 1Beloit Center: 3 Sharon: 1Good Shepherd: 1 Lake Geneva: 1St. Peter’s: 1 Whitewater: 1Jefferson: 1 Elkhorn: 1 Early Head Start: Little Tree House: 1 Good Shepherd: 1 Community Kids: 1 Walworth County: 1 TOTAL: 17 Policy Council Representatives!

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT STATE OF WISCONSIN $ 3 MILLION $160,000 CFS HEADSTART Grant dollars travel through several departments before reaching: Rock-Walworth Head Start and Early Head Start

 Board of Directors  To oversee legal and fiscal operations  Executive Director (Connie Robers)  To oversee program operations  Parent Policy Council  To help plan, approve decisions, participate in hiring, and a variety of decisions that affect our enrolled children and families

 Our agency must have an ACTIVE Parent Policy Council!  Meet Regulations:  FEDERAL PERFORMANCE STANDARDS  State of WI Child Care licensing regulations  Dept. of Transportation regulations  HS/EHS Agency Policy and Procedures  IN-KIND’s completed and matched by all of our volunteers!!

In order to be a Policy Council Representative for your child’s center, you should know:  You must be the parent or legal guardian of a HS/EHS child  You cannot be related to any HS/EHS staff  You cannot be a HS/EHS staff  You must be free of convictions of any crime against a child.  Background disclosure— information will be kept confidential!

Be respected as a HS/EHS parent and an important member of a decision making team Need to attend a mandatory Policy Council training for PC members— THIS IS FOR ADULTS ONLY! Receive travel dollars from your home to meetings and back (37.5 cents per mile) Receive $1 per hour/per child to help with babysitting costs Receive a healthy dinner at the monthly meeting

 CAN YOU????  Commit to a once a month meeting held in Beloit?  Commit to attending the mandatory Policy Council Training? DATE: WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 16 TH 5:00PM—8:00PM

WHAT CAN YOU EXPECT WHILE SERVING ON POLICY COUNCIL?

 SHARE with the council the parent involvement activities at your child’s center  APPROVE or disapprove policies brought to the Policy Council  HAVE input on hiring staff, designing new program options, evaluating the program and so much more  TRAVEL as a representative of HS/EHS parents and the agency to trainings or events  Madison Capitol  Wisconsin Dells

YOU WILL LEARN MORE THAN YOU WOULD EVER IMAGINE AND YOU CAN AND WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE!!!

 You may nominate yourself  You may nominate another parent  If you are interested you will be asked to tell the group why they should vote for you  If you are nominated you may decline the nomination  Each parent/guardian in the group votes for the person of their choice. Highest vote wins  We will only have the representative—there will NOT be an alternate or shared membership.

REMEMBER Good Shepherd HS/EHS Needs : 1 Representative for HS AND 1 Representative for EHS

IF YOU ARE ELECTED…. You will receive a letter from Cheryl Hutchison with the information in regards to your first training and meeting! Further questions: Call Cheryl at Ext 13 Leave a message on her voic .