ECE Coordinator Update (Notes in lieu of an ECE Steering Committee Meeting this Month) March 1, 2016 Provider Summit- Feb. 25th: We had a successful gathering of 19 people for our 2nd annual Childcare Provider Summit. Detailed notes are attached to the end of this update. Highlights included: –

many new people joined in our discussion, including Carolyn Schmeckel and Donald Ford from the Methodist Church, Lori Valentine and Hayley Riach from Room One, Rebecca Kinney from Meadowlark, Allison Ciancibelli from the Community School, Melinda Boonstra and Brooke Lucy.

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Carolyn Schmeckel shared her perspective about how various arts groups came together to be more coordinated and organized about 20 years ago in the Methow, and now that process is happening for early childhood education and childcare.

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The ongoing need for ALL DAY pre-K care was re-iterated. Head Start and the Twisp programs currently are only ½ day, and licensing requirements make it extremely difficult to retrofit any existing buildings for new all-day programs.

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The ongoing need for funding assistance was also re-iterated. A sliding scale, scholarship assistance via MVEF, and potential grant funding was all mentioned.

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The need for counseling support and coordination of services (medical, food, family support, etc.) was raised as a concern by a MVE Kinder teacher.

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There is a strong desire for this group to continue to meet, on both an informal and a formal (annual) basis. We're planning to get together to “have a beer” on an informal basis sometime in the next month, hopefully to see Anne Anderson's photos of outdoor preschools in Norway. I will make sure the ECE Steering Committee is invited too!

MVE Kindergarten Orientation (March 24th): –

Posters and ads for kindergarten orientation will go out on Friday (¾)

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There will be much more emphasis this year on family engagement, starting with the March orientation for parents, and then leading to classroom visits, a 2-day kindergarten orientation camp in August, and 3 days of family conferencing at the start of the school year.

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Family engagement will also be tied to the new ECE content on the MVE webpage and a hardcopy parent handbook helping those families who don't use computers to access local childcare information and resources.

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I'm collecting responses from parents in a kindergarten orientation survey, to better understand how parents currently like to be engaged, what has been confusing in the past, and how to best build trust and partnerships between MVE teachers and families. –

There is consistent concern about class size, and some concern about student comfort/safety during lunch and recess times. Several parents have emphasized the importance of classroom visits, and one suggested a possibly family buddy-system to help new families adjust. ECE Steering Committee members- please let me know if you have additional ideas along these lines.

Cub Club updates: –

Four winter activity clubs- Ski, Dance, Skate and Horse- are currently either over or about to end (skate never actually started due to the chiller challenges at the Rink).

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Two new spring clubs will start after spring break: Fly-fishing (grades 3-6), Garden (grades K4); four other spring clubs are strong possibilities: cooking, nature/survivor, recycling, drama ECE Steering Committee Members- please let me know if you know of others who might like to be Club Mentors.

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Three clubs are still ongoing: Art, Robotics and Chess.

Summer Camps/Childcare: –

There will be a summer camp calendar on the ECE webpage to help parents see the “big picture” of summer childcare options.

Big Picture Questions: –

Is there a significant need for all-day pre-K care for Head Start students?

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How would an afternoon program for Head Start families be funded? Could it be run through the MVSD?

Next ECE Steering Committee Meeting: Tuesday, April 12th, 3:30-4:30pm in the District Office. ___________________________________________________________________________________ Notes from Provider Summit February 25th, 2016 Present: Katharine Bill, Melinda Boonstra, Dani Reynaud, Rayma Hayes, Elise Knight, Rebecca Kinney, Allison Ciancibelli, Donald Ford, Carolyn Schmeckel, Anne Andersen, Tom Venable, Meridith Dufrense, Cara Christensen, Bob Winters, Brooke Lucy, Summer Treise, Charlotte Wilson, Lori Valentine, Haley Riach The meeting started with introductions and some printed materials were shared– Melinda Boonstra shared a flyer entitled “Education of Homeless Children and Youth”, and encouraged anyone who knows of a homeless student in the MVSD (including Head Start) to contact her (360-4207857). – Katharine shared “The Science of Early Childhood Development”, a summary report from the Harvard Center on the Developing Child highlighting the importance of consistent, caring relationships for children ages 0-5. This “summit” meeting was intended to follow up on the first provider summit, which occurred during the Early Childhood Education and Childcare Needs Assessment, completed in March 2015. An underlying assumption of this meeting is that all childcare providers in the Methow, regardless of whether they receive public or private funds, wish to work together to provide the best possible care and opportunities for young children. This meeting was intended to help to find ways to work together, share ideas and support one another as colleagues. The group discussed many unmet needs for childcare and pre-K education in the Methow Valley: – there is currently NO infant care up to 18 months;

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there is a need for additional all-day pre-school and toddler care and licensing requirements have made it difficult for new programs to get started; transportation is an issue for students who wish to travel between ½ day programs to piece together all-day care in Twisp; there is a need for off-hours care (inservice days, early release days, school holidays, weekends, evenings); there is a need for additional scholarship assistance and possibly a sliding scale system to help cover the cost of childcare; there is a need for counseling for kids (and families) experiencing trauma and neglect, and a need for teacher support/training on how to build trust and relationships with struggling families.

Discussion of these unmet needs led to additional questions: – Why is Head Start only ½ day? Could it go longer? Could the option to ride the bus to Little Star from Head Start be helpful to more families? – Could the Methow Valley Education Foundation extend its scholarship program to pre-K? – Could the Methodist Church and Room One help fire victims pay for childcare? – Could an outdoor classroom, like the ones in Norway, be used for a pre-K program? – Could a parent co-op model be used (or a template shared), where parents care for children on a rotating basis? – Would a Little Star or MVCS bus help ease the transportation issues? (seatbelt/carseat requirements, and the need for young children to be transported by familiar care-givers makes this idea challenging) We also discussed several tangible next steps for Early Childhood Education and Childcare in the Methow: – Little Star has initiated an infant task force and is seriously considering expanding its services to infants ages 12-18 months. This will likely involve a new building, and will also help Little Star expand its existing toddler and pre-K programs; – Methow Valley Elementary is actively partnering with Head Start to provide professional development, mentoring and assistance with family outreach; – Meadowlark and the MV Community School shared that they would like to continue and hopefully expand their existing programs in Twisp. – Methow Valley Elementary is changing how the kindergarten orientation process works this year, and it will involve a kindergarten orientation camp (2-days) before school, and 3 days of family conferences at the start of the school year. The intent is to build strong relationships with families as partners in the educational process, from before day one. – Katharine is working on an Early Childhood Education website (and eventually also a hard-copy handbook) that will serve as an information and resource hub for Methow Valley families and childcare providers. The ECE website will also include a summer calendar, so that parents can find a centralized place for information about summer childcare options. – As a group, there was broad agreement that it'd be great to get together more often in an informal setting and “just have a beer” and compare notes. Katharine will suggest a time/place to get this tradition started. – In addition, we'd like to meet as a group and continue these annual “summits” to intentionally share resources and knowledge. In the meantime, we hope to all use the group email to exchange ideas, resources, training opportunities, and also invite new people in who are involved with early childhood education and childcare in the Methow.