News You Can Use Week of December 16, 2011
28th Annual Parent Training Conference a Success
Last week in New Orleans, more than 1,500 Head Start parents, staff and advocates from across the country gathered for learning and dialogue about early development and education. For those of you who missed it, take a look at the wonderful welcome we got from the local community! If you attended and haven't printed your certificate of participation or continuing education credits, you can do so here.
For Directors: Speaking Up and Speaking Out
The McCormick Center for Early Childhood Leadership is conducting a national study of the issues that are important to early childhood directors. If you are the director of an early childhood program, we encourage you to take 10 minutes by Monday, December 19th to share your experiences about the early childhood issues that are important to you. Your responses to this survey are anonymous and confidential. Your responses, and those of other early childhood directors across the country, will be compiled, analyzed, and published in a forthcoming McCormick Center Research Note. Those who complete the survey will be eligible for a raffle drawing of a Kaplan Early Learning Company gift certificate.
10,000 Letters Sent to Congress!
In less than 2 weeks, supporters of Head Start have written their Members of Congress with one message: protect Head Start. Funding for 2012 is still undecided, so now is the time to make Congress aware of the power of Head Start for children, families and communities. If you haven't taken time to send an email, do it now! Encourage families and Head Start supporters in your communities to do so as well.
Registration is Open for the 2012 Winter Leadership Institute
The 2012 Winter Leadership Institute will be held from January 23-26 in Washington DC. Learn about immigration issues, Head Start monitoring, Designation Renewal and more--and take the opportunity to meet your Members of Congress in person to share the value of what you do! Explore the schedule-at-a-glance and register here.
Annual Conference
What comes to mind when you think of Nashville, Tennessee? Soon it will be Head Start! Our 39th Annual Head Start Conference will be held in Nashville April 16-21, 2012. Find out more here.
MLK Drum Majors for Service
Who among your volunteers goes above and beyond? The Corporation for National and Community Service recently announced its new Drum Major Service Award, which is intended to recognize someone who partakes in "extraordinary acts of community service without recognition." This can be anyone with long term sustained commitment serving the community-- whether it be cooking, teaching, bus driving, or any form of helping people in need. Recipients receive a letter from the President. Find out more about the awards and nominate members of your community here.
Happy Holidays from SafeLink
SafeLink is a government supported program that provides a FREE prepaid cell phone and FREE monthly minutes to eligible low-income individuals. The program has no cost and provides individuals with a way to stay connected, whether it is to search for employment or to seek help during an emergency. Additionally, your office can earn grants and donations by enrolling people in the SafeLink program. If you would like partner information or are interested in participating, visit www.safelinkagencies.com or contact Nadia Arroyo atNARROYO@tracfone.com or 305-715-6500.
Final Regulations for Family Education Rights and Privacy Act
The Secretary of Education has amended the regulations implementing section 444 of the General Education Provisions Act (GEPA), which is commonly referred to as the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). These amendments are needed to ensure that the U.S. Department of Education continues to implement FERPA in a way that protects the privacy of education records while allowing for the effective use of data. Protecting student privacy helps achieve a number of important goals, including avoiding discrimination, identity theft, as well as other malicious and damaging criminal acts. These regulations are effective January 3, 2012. For the complete Federal notice, please go to: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2011-12-02/pdf/2011-30683.pdf.
Upcoming Legal Advisory Service Trainings
If you missed our recent Legal Advisory Service webinar on Recompetition, join Zoë Beckerman and Ted Waters for a repeat on January 9th, 2011. We'll cover the new rule from the lawyer's perspective. In addition, don't forget to join Ted on January 11th, 2011 for a webinar on What You Need to Know about Procurements. The Head Start Legal Advisory Service, a collaboration between Feldesman Tucker Leifer Fidell LLP and the National Head Start Association, has developed these topics, as well as other new offerings designed with programs like yours in mind. Don't miss out on these upcoming, cost effective training webinars. You can register at: http://headstart.peachnewmedia.com/store/provider/provider09.php
The Recompetition Rule - A Late Breaking Head Start Webinar (REPEAT)
Mon, 1/9/2012 - 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm eastern time
Join Ted Waters and Zoë Beckerman, the nation's leading Head Start attorneys, to hear preliminary analysis of the recent Recompetition rule and what it means for your program. With this rule, all Head Start and Early Head Start programs will be moved onto a 5-year grant cycle. Based on current data, ACF has stated that roughly one-third of programs will need to compete for their next grant. On this webinar, we'll discuss:
- changes made from the draft NPRM to the final rule;
- the seven triggering events for Recompetition; and
- timelines for each.
You'll have an opportunity to ask questions from noted Head Start lawyers and develop a better understanding of how this new process will affect you.
Who Should Attend: Executive Directors, Head Start/EHS Directors, Compliance Officers, Other Senior Management, and Board Members, but all are welcome.
Procurements - What You Need to Know
Wed, 1/11/12 - 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm eastern time
Procurements with Federal grant funds come with specific requirements to ensure that contracting costs are not disallowed. Some of the key elements are conducting competitive procurements, performing cost and price analyses, and avoiding conflicts of interest. On this webinar, we'll discuss:
- Review the processes involved in procuring goods and services with federal funds;
- Items for inclusion in your procurement policies and procedures; and
- Specifics needed for Codes of Conduct.
Who Should Attend: Executive Directors, Head Start Directors, CFOs and Fiscal Staff, other senior staff, but all are welcome.
Governance Boot Camp (2 webinar series; On-Demand)
Every Board and Policy Council meeting is chock full of work to be done - ranging from developing goals, to approving grant renewals and policies, to ensuring fiscal and programmatic oversight. Despite the time crunch, both bodies still need regular training. Because we kept hearing from programs across the country how hard it is to fit in governance training into busy Board and Policy Council schedules, we've designed our Governance Boot Camp just for you!
This series is designed to ensure that you can provide cutting-edge governance training to both your Board and your Policy Council - in short segments that can fit into their regular meetings. Each of these two webinars is comprised of discrete, short topics of 20-30 minutes in duration. So you can show one segment at one Board or Policy Council meeting, and another segment at the next. The presentations are "on-demand" so that they can be watched at your Board or Policy Council's convenience. You can also use the same training segments for both your Board and your Policy Council -so you get multiple trainings for one low price. And, importantly, you'll have an extended time (6 months) to use each webinar, comprised of multiple segments.
Segments for Part 1: Governance Essentials
- Shared Governance
- Roles of Board and Policy Council
- General Responsibilities of Board and Policy Council
- Specific Responsibilities of Board and Policy Council
- Composition Requirements of Both Bodies
- How to Handle Potential Conflicts of Interest
Segments for Part 2: Process Tools
- Board/Policy Council Self Evaluation
- Why it matters and how to do it
- Considerations for whether your Policy Council should do this as well
- How best to conduct Board or Policy council meetings;
- Including tips on process; and
- When and how to use Executive Sessions
- Best Practices for Meeting Minutes
- Creating an Annual Board or Policy Council Work Plan
The Head Start Legal Advisory Service, a collaboration between Feldesman Tucker Leifer Fidell LLP and the National Head Start Association, has this topic, as well as other new offerings on topics designed with programs like yours in mind. To register or see the full list of this season's trainings, please go to: http://headstart.peachnewmedia.com/store/provider/provider09.php.