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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 04042006 - C.102 -` Contra TO: BOARD OF SUPERVISORS ��� �� FROM: John Cullen, County Administrator rias Costa .�4 County DATE: April 4, 2006 SUBJECT: Community Services Department Monthly Update e ID ;L_ SPECIFIC REQUEST(S)OR RECOMMENDATION(S)&BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION RECOMMENDATION: ACCEPT monthly update on the operations of the Community Services Department. FISCAL IMPACT: No impact from this update. BACKGROUND: To enhance oversight of the Community Services Department the County Administrator is conducting monthly meetings with the department to receive updates on program issues and to plan and/or authorize actions that may be needed. To ensure they remain updated regarding the status of the program, the Board of Supervisors directed the County Administrator, or his designee, to provide them with a monthly status report. Attached is the regular monthly report on the operations of the Community Services Department. This report includes updates on the activities of the Policy Council, personnel issues, fiscal and audit reports and other programmatic issues. CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENT: NO YES SI ATURE: J� RECOMMENDATION OF COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE APPROVE OTHER SIGNATURE(S): ACTION OF BOA D N APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED (� OT VOTE OF SUPERVISORS I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A TRUE AND CORRECT COPY OF AN ACTION TAKEN AND ENTERED ON MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS ON THE DATE SHOWN. UNANIMOUS(ABSENT ,. ) AYES: NOES: ABSENT; ABSTAIN: Contact: Dorothy Sansoe(5-1009) cc: Community Services Department ATTESTED County Administration JOHNACULLEN,CLERK OF THE BOARD OFSUPERVISORS BY: DEPUTY _OMMUNITY SERVICES DEPARTMENT Ice Valentine To: John Cullen, County Administrator Executive Director From: Joe Valentine, Executive Director Patricia Stroh,PhD Subject: Monthly Report Program Services Date: March 17, 2006 Director I am submitting the following report to ensure ongoing communication with the County Administrator regarding all issues pertaining to the Head Start program and the Community Services Department(CSD). A. Policy Council 1. One of the most important responsibilities of the Head Start Policy Council is conducting the Annual Self Assessment. Using the same guidelines and checklists used by the Federal reviewers, Policy Council members and staff conduct an intensive review of all aspects of our Head Start program. This I year, over 30 parents and staff were involved and the draft report is being completed. Once the report goes out, a corrective action plan will be drafted to ensure that any areas of non-compliance are addressed and corrected. This will ensure that we are well prepared for the Triennial Federal Review scheduled for next year. B. Personnel Report 1. The Department conducted a successful recruitment fair at the "RichmondWORKS" One-Stop Center on February 28. Fifteen persons I attended and twelve job applications were received. RichmondWORKS has agreed to continue to assist us with teacher recruitment efforts. 2. Three key representative from Local One spoke at our February 28 All-Staff Summit: Rollie Katz, Arlyn Erdman, and Stacy Allen. While talking about their ongoing advocacy for staff, they also supported our message that all staff need to be vigilant with regard to child safety and supervision. 3. Current Staffing Activities: • After months of recruiting, the department was successful in hiring an Executive Secretary, Sue Pfister. Ms. Pfister joined us on February 27th • The Department is in the process of hiring 2 management level positions (Personnel Analyst III and Administrative Services Analyst III) and 25 teaching line staff. • The Mental Health Consultant and Home Visitor contracts funded through First Five will expire in June 2006. The department is in the f; ' E process of establishing these as permanent positions. 4. Labor Relations: X • The first meeting of our newly formed Labor/Management Problem Solving <611 Committee is scheduled for March 31 St, 2006. • Negotiations for the Local One Unit Table have been scheduled for March 31St - • Seven (7) grievances were heard during the month of February at the 2nd 3rd and 4th levels. John Cullen Page 2 March 17,2006 C. Fiscal and Audit Reports 1. As a result of recent Congressional action which reduced our current 2006 funding for the Head Start and Early Head Start programs by 1%,we submitted a revised grant application to the Administration for Children & Families. The total reduction to this year's Head Start grant will be $162,251 and to the Early Head Start grant $19,589. We will achieve these reductions by reducing budgeted expenditures for travel, supplies, occupancy costs, contractual services, and equipment maintenance. There will be no reduction in services to children. These revised grant application were presented to and approved by the Head Start Executive Board on February 28, 2006 and by the Board of Supervisors on March 14, 2006. 2. CSD received a$2,000 grant from the Contra Costa County Community Alert Emergency Response Group. The grant will fund the creation of "We're Here"booklets that will be provided to the first responder fire departments associated with each center we operate. These booklets include vital information on emergency procedures, evacuation routes,number of children enrolled, number of staff employed, and other vital information. In addition, CSD will launch a parent awareness campaign to assure parents that the best place for their child and themselves is in a secured setting. Hopefully, this will reduce the number of incidents in which parents come to I our centers during shelter-in-place emergencies and insist on the release of their children into a potentially harmful environment. D. LicensingIssues 1. San Pablo International Market Place received an unannounced visit from Community Care Licensing on March 3, 2006. The center received two citations in the infant toddler program. The program was cited for the lack of an airtight diaper pail and for a changing table near the toddler room that was not in arm's reach from a sink. Both citations have been corrected. Two other citations were issued to the program related to food service preparation. We were cited for not providing a mid-morning snack and for not posting proper permits and not storing food in dated containers. In fact we serve a full breakfast in lieu of a morning snack. The proper permits are posted in our kitchen where the food is prepared and Licensing regulations do not require the use of dated containers. We will appeal both of these citations. 2. On February 24 a Community Care Licensing Analyst visited our George Miller site in Concord and issued 3 citations. Two were related to an incident which occurred back in November in which a child was inadvertently left inside napping for a 3-5 minute period of time while the other children in the classroom were taken out onto the playground. There was a second citation for failure to report this incident. We originally did not report it, because the Site Supervisor was only a few feet away from the child, and there was a teacher in an adjoining kitchen area. If the child had woken up, the Site Supervisor assured us that she would have immediately noticed her. The third citation alleged that a teacher's fingerprint clearance was inactive. However, we have appealed this citation,because we did in fact send in verification of the teacher's clearances in a timely fashion. I have contacted Fred Gill, Regional Manager " John Cullen Page 3 March 17, 2006 for Community Care Licensing, regarding the first two citations and have requested a meeting with him to discuss the circumstances. 3. On March 8, one of children enrolled at our Los Arboles center in Oakley was injured when she stepped in front of another child on a bicycle. The incident was reported to Community Care Licensing. E. Special Projects/Activities 1. The February 28 "All-Staff Summit"referenced in our February 15 CAO Report was a huge success. Almost all of our 314 staff members attended. The key message of the conference was the need for all of them to be committed to ensuring child safety at our centers. We made it clear that our program can not withstand continued incidents related to unsupervised children. Representatives from Local One attended and reinforced this message. There were also displays from each of the sites on some of the creative work being done in early childhood education, and several afternoon training sessions that re-energized staff. Morale seemed to be very high at the end of the day. 2. Pat Stroh and I had a follow up meeting with Joe Ovick and County Office of Education staff on March 8 regarding collaborations related to teacher recruitment and professional development. He has indicated he would like us to be one of the key stakeholders in the planning process for implementation of preschool for all in Contra Costa County. 3. Al Prince and I met with the Department of Emergency Services to develop a plan to send out disaster preparedness information to the families we serve. They will be producing enough brochures in English and Spanish for us to distribute to all of our Head Start families. They have also agreed to provide family emergency preparedness training at some of our local parent meetings. 4. The front page of the March 14 edition of the Contra Costa Times featured a two page article on the proposed universal preschool plan that included photographs of teachers and children from our Martinez Head Start site. It also included a quote from me and the Site Supervisor, Kathy McKeever, on the positive impact Head Start has on preparing children for school. Cc: Pat Stroh, Program Services Director Policy Council Family&Human Services Committee Maria Fort, ACF II