2018 Summer Kansas Child

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Creating a Collaborative Setting for Early Childhood Twenty years ago something fantastic happened in Pittsburg, KS. The doors of The Family Resource Center opened for business. It started as an idea that a bunch of people dreamed up. It was meant to be a place for kids and families. To provide a culture of investments of time and money in what brain research told us — that early investments in children pay off. It offers a culture of respect and caring about all different kinds of kids and families, while breaking down barriers and building bridges. It provides a work environment that is based on meaningful work, every day. The hope 20 years ago was that we could stay open for a bit, and that someone would see the benefit. We wanted folks to get the connection between health and education and its effect on some kids. We also wanted to provide a bridge for parents to go to school and work. What we got was all that, plus much more. The Center was founded in 1995 and is supported by USD 250 Pittsburg Community Schools, Pittsburg State University and Via Christi Hospital - Pittsburg. The Center is one of the largest child care centers in the state. It is licensed by KDHE for 338 children ANN ELLIOTT Executive Director, The Family Resource Center Ann has worked at The Family Resource Center since 2000. It’s her job to monitor the quality and appropriateness of new programming and services; to promote the Center for community support and involvement; to implement and oversee policy and procedures; to engage in shortand long-term planning; to secure funding through grant writing and donations; and to act as a liaison to agencies and collaborating organizations. Continued on page 17 Creating Opportunities Through Collaboration: A Community Light The Ell-Saline School District is a rural area west of the city of Salina. The district includes the western area of Saline County and eastern area of Ellsworth County. There are no preschools available within the district for our families and students. This lack of access to high-quality, early learning experiences creates challenges for families living within the district. Parents must have the financial resources, necessary transportation and knowledge of available services to provide preschool programming to their children. Many of our students have benefitted from private preschool programs available in Salina or Ellsworth. However, each year a few of our new kindergartners arrive with no or minimal previous learning experiences. There is a significant gap between their kindergarten readiness and the readiness of their peers who had access to quality preschool. In an effort to fill this void, two years ago Ell-Saline Elementary implemented a preschool day camp program. The day camps provided a monthly, halfday learning experience. The program was funded through grant dollars from community organizations. The money covered the cost of transportation, supplies, snacks, take-home books, and the cost of hiring substitute teachers to cover the classrooms of teachers committed to the day camps. Our future kindergarten students were able to attend the day camp at no cost to their family. The monthly preschool day camps made our preschool planning team aware of the increasing need to provide preschool programming within our district. The area Parents as Teachers program has dissolved because of funding changes made at the state level. Too many of our students were entering kindergarten without early learning experiences and without the opportunity to receive screenings for speech and language, vision and hearing. As a result, the preschool planning team ramped up its efforts. Parent representatives joined the team. Community collaborations and partnerships were formed in an effort to address kindergarten readiness for our students. As we look toward our first year of preschool, the planning team is eager to see the positive changes that this implementation brings. Kindergarten readiness is critical for setting up children for success on their academic journey. We hope to see kindergarten students and their families easily transition into the all-day academic setting, because 10 Kansas Child A Publication of Child Care Aware ® of Kansas
Maximizing the Family Role in School Readiness The overall goal of Parents as Teachers (and many of our early childhood partner programs) is to ensure that every child enters kindergarten on a level playing field with their peers, ready to learn. School readiness often is defined as the child being ready to successfully participate and learn in kindergarten. What we have discovered through observation and research is that parents who are more confident in their parenting and more engaged in their children’s schooling lead to school readiness and achievement. Children who enter kindergarten ready to learn continue to do well in elementary school, and are more likely to graduate from high school and be successful in life. The key factor in the success of a child is having a family that is engaged in their education and overall well-being. By focusing on the role of the family, we can better ensure that children enter kindergarten ready to learn. How can we shift the focus to also highlight that every FAMILY is kindergarten ready? If our families are ready, our health and mental health systems are ready, our early care and education systems are ready, our schools are ready and our community is ready — then ALL of OUR children will be READY! The role of the family is to ensure safe, stable and nurturing environments and to support caregivers with culturally and developmentally appropriate information and education. To maximize the family role we must connect families with community resources to meet basic needs as well as provide supportive systems in which families can thrive. As we continue to effectively work to make children a top priority by supporting families, early childhood development, policies and investments, we focus on the goal that all children entering kindergarten are ready to succeed. To maximize the family role we must build upon parental passion and the assets parents bring, with opportunities CALLIE PEACE Executive Director, Kansas Parents as Teachers Association Callie has been with Parents as Teachers for 18 years — first as a parent, then as a parent educator — and currently as the Executive Director of Kansas Parents as Teachers Association (KPATA). KPATA is a statewide, nonprofit organization that supports early childhood education programs, with a parent education component. She is also a board member of the Paola Rotary Club, USD 368 District Site Council, Linn County Children’s Coalition, and Miami County Connect Kansas. She holds a BA in Family Life and Community Service from Kansas State University. for parents to contribute their talents and resources. Strengthening families means supporting family members close to young children, including grandparents as well as parents, and drawing upon all the resources available to young children. Strong relationships are rooted in trust and comfort, which you can build by being genuine, sincere, curious about them and their goals, and supporting them as they work toward those goals. The research is very clear that the support children receive from their families and communities is key to their growth, development and sustained success. n they will be familiar with our school routines, instructors, and building expectations. We are eager to build, at an early age, the positive family relationships that begin a solid foundation of trust between the parents and educators. Our goal is to build partnerships with parents that will support a team approach in helping all children in our district feel like they have multiple people in our school community supporting them. Because students will be able receive intervention services before entering kindergarten for specific areas, such as speech and language and occupational therapy, our students will get a head start on supports that can have a significant effect on their growth. Kindergarten teachers are eager to see the academic gap close between those students who have had early learning opportunities and those students who simply couldn’t afford the EMILY KOMAREK Kindergarten Teacher, Ell-Saline Elementary School Emily Komarek has taught for nine years, four at Ell-Saline Elementary. She teaches kindergarten, and is a member of the Building Leadership Team. She was a co-lead for the Ell-Saline Preschool Day Camps. Last year, Mrs. Komarek served on the Kansas State Department of Education Kindergarten work group charged with developing a guidance document for developmentally appropriate kindergarten classrooms. opportunities. High-quality, early learning opportunities play a critical role in the academic success of students. While our district is fortunate to have community support and partnerships to provide this opportunity for our students, we want to DANA SPRINKLE Principal, Ell-Saline Elementary School Dana Sprinkle is in her 24th year in education. Mrs. Sprinkle has been the elementary principal at Ell-Saline for 11 years after serving as a classroom teacher for 13 years. Last May, she completed her district level certification through Emporia State University. She was a National Distinguished Principal in 2017 and in October traveled to Washington, D.C., to represent Kansas and Ell-Saline schools, staff, and students. encourage other districts to seek ways to make early learning opportunities available to students and their families. Developing collaborative partnerships, accessing community resources and including passionate patrons in the process makes all the difference. n www.ks.childcareaware.org Kansas Child 11
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2018 Summer Kansas Child

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