blog & news from the Chatham County Partnership for Children
After much discussion the NC Pre-K Advisory Committee approved the allocation of the recently awarded expansion slots. The expansion slots will be placed at Virginia Cross Elementary, Telamon Chatham County Head Start, and Children First Learning Center. The Committee also approved the distribution of the $9000.00 of Start Up funds.
See the full meeting minutes here………………..draft minutes 3-8-2012 NC PK
The Committee was presented with the recent email communications from DCDEE concerning possible one time expansion slots for 2011-2012. Chatham County is slated to receive 27 expansion slots to provide NC Pre-K services for new children from March through July 2012. The Committee decided to survey all currently approved NC Pre-K Sites for the exact number of new children they could serve under these new criteria. Sites have until March 7th to submit their surveys. It is hoped that DCDEE will have final numbers on expansion slots by the next meeting on March 8th and the Commitee will allocate slots at that meeting.
Read the full minutes here…………..2-27-2-012 NCPK Advisory Committee Minutes
The Center for Environmental Health and Susceptibility in the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is pleased to announce the development of its new website (http://www.sph.unc.edu/cehs), featuring innovative interdisciplinary research on emerging environmental health issues and the outreach programming used to inform the public about that research. In addition to the new website, the Center has revised the Sentinel newsletter (http://www.sph.unc.edu/cehs/cehs_sentinel_newsletter_16716_12665.html) format this year, publishing it exclusively online and periodically throughout the year. We hope that you’ll enjoy using this website, as we seek to capture the work and accomplishments of faculty and staff in the UNC Center for Environmental Health and Susceptibility.
The NC Pre-K Advisory Committee approved the purchase of a subscription to Creative Curriculum Gold when funding is available.
To see the full meeting meetings click here……….10-13-11 NCPK Minutes
The Chatham County NC Pre-K Committee approved Children First, a child care center in Siler City as an NC Pre-K site at the September 14th meeting. The Committee withheld approving slots for this new center until such time that DCDEE acts on the recent request for additional NC Pre-K slots.
To see the full minutes go here………9-14-11 NCPK Minutes
Two recent publications are advocating fundamental changes in the nation’s education system. The PEW Center on the States report released in September 201,” Transforming Public Education:Pathway to a Pre-K-12 Future” makes a strong case for why America’s education system should start with high quality preschool and not kindergarten.
To read the full report go here…Pew_PreK_Transforming_Public_Education
And the October 10th edition of Time Magazine featured a story called “Rethinking Pre-K: 5 Ways to Fix Preschool. It reports on the recent trend of budget cuts to Pre-K funding as we have have experienced in North Carolina.
The read the complete article go here……….http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2094847,00.html?artId=2094847?contType=article?chn=us
Yesterday afternoon Governor Perdue submitted to legislative leaders a letter outlining her request for $30 million in funding to serve 6,300 additional at-risk four year old children in NC Pre-K. This letter is the result of the judicial order from Superior Court Judge Howard Manning that requires the state to provide services to all at-risk four year old children. Included with her letter was the compliance plan that was developed by DCDEE-DHHS in accordance with Executive Order 100, as well as the judicial ruling by Judge Manning. In the Governor’s letter is a request for $30 million and the identification of where the money should be re-directed without raising taxes, putting the budget out of balance or adversely impacting other critical priorities. Important points in the Governor’s letter are as follows: • This funding will allow an additional 6,300 children be served for the second half of the 2011-2012 school year • Serving these children will put them in a better position to succeed when they reach elementary school. • Paying for these services would be $27 million from funds that are on the “bottom-line” after the close out of the Fiscal Year 2011 budget and $3 million from the Contingency and Emergency Fund — these funds have not been appropriated, thus legislative action will be needed to direct these funds to NC Pre-K. • The Governor would not support taking funds from any other education sources to pay for these services such as Smart Start, K-12, community colleges, and public universities. • While acknowledging that the Attorney General’s office has notified the court that it intends to file an appeal of Judge Manning’s order, the Governor indicates her position that regardless of that appeal, these children should be served because it is both the right thing to do, and it can be done without raising taxes, without putting the budget out of balance, and without damaging other critical priorities. Click on the following links to read the complete text of the Governors Letter as well as the DHHS NC Pre-K Plan for all the details. At this time the next step is waiting to see the response from the legislative leadership. As we become aware of any updates, we will let you know.
At the September 12, 2011 FOCC meeting it was decided to reschedule the Fall Forum “We’re All on the Same Team” from October 10, 2011 to November 14th due to a conflict with a training that DCDEE Licensing Consultant Leisa Benson is having. Also please note that since this meeting the FOCC has learned that CCCC is not available on the date chosen for the Child Care Spring Conference. The FOCC will decide on either a new date or a new venue at its next meeting.
Go here to see the full minutes ………………..FOCC 9-12-2011 Minutes (draft)
At the September 18th meeting of the Chatham County NC Pre-K Advisory Committee the Committee decided against charging a parent fee to NC Pre-K families.
See the full meeting minutes here……………8-18-11 NCPK Minutes
At the August 8, 2011 Focus on Child Care Committee meeting the members began planning for the next Fall Forum. The Forum is scheduled for October 10, 2011 from 6:30-8:30 pm and the tentative site is Love’s Creek Baptist Church in Siler City.
See the full meeting minutes here………….FOCC 8-8-11 minutes (draft)
