ISSUE 3 September 2009 VOLUME 7

NOT TURNING IN VPK

COES WILL COST YOU

MONEY, FIND OUT WHY ...2

BIRTH-TO-THREE

ASSESSMENTS START SOON

FIND OUT MORE ………….2 For Your information KEEPING YOUR BUSINESS CONNECTED

WITH THE COALITION.

You have heard it from the state (from Pat Weyer at the August

Coalition Connection Face-to-Face meeting), now you will hear

it directly from the Coalition- EXACTLY how School Readi-

ness attendance must be kept beginning October 1, 2009. On

Wednesday, September 23, 2009 the Coalition will hold Reim-

bursement training at Gulf Coast Community College, in the

Sarzin Lecture Hall located in the Language and Literature

building beginning at 9:00 AM. If you have a School Readiness contract and operate any one or more of the following types of

programs:

Private Child Care Program

Private School-Age or After School Program

School Based VPK

School Based After School Program

Head Start Program

Family Child Care Home

VPK Only Program

you are STRONGLY encouraged to attend this training. All pro-

viders will be responsible for implementing all new processes

and procedures regardless of whether you personally attended,

sent another individual in your place, or chose not to attend.

To register for this training go to the Coalition website

www.elcofnwflorida.org/educator and complete a registration

for each individual who will be attending.

Here are a few questions that have

been asked by providers about

this training:

Q. I have multiple sites; does

each site need a representative at the training?

A. It is your call, but this is a great opportunity to have site managers

hear the information first hand.

Q. I absolutely can not send anyone to this training- what will

happen to me? A. You are responsible for all information discussed at this

meeting whether you or a representative are there or not. The

bottom line is if you submit incorrect paperwork you will not get

paid for children whose attendance cannot be verified using

approved Coalition processes and procedures.

Q. I still have a few questions about attendance and

reimbursement - who do I contact? A. A lot of information will be discussed September 23. If at all

possible, hold your questions until then chances are others will

have similar questions and they will be answered during the

training. If you absolutely cannot wait, the quickest method would be to email the Finance Director or reimbursement staff.

You work hard at what you do for children and families… make sure you get accurately reimbursed. Read below for important information about reimbursement.

New Reimbursement Processes

To Go Into Effect October 2009

ATTENDANCE TRAINING

SEPTEMBER 23, 2009. BE

SURE TO REGISTER .......1

www.elcofnwflorida.org

2

You Asked... We answered!

Early Learning Symposium Coalition Connection

More information to follow soon… keep on the look-out!

Mark your calendar...

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Fall VPK…

It is your responsibility to

submit completed COEs to the Coalition in order to be paid for VPK services for that child. YOU CANNOT BE PAID FOR CHILDREN WHO ARE NOT OFFICALLY ENROLLED IN YOUR VPK PROGRAM. The only way a child can be enrolled is with a completed COE for that child. Once the Coalition has the

completed COE they are en-tered into the EFS system. If you are holding any completed COEs for children who are in your VPK program turn them in ASAP! Additional VPK questions can be answered by Vanessa Hadley. She can be reached at vanessa.hadley@elcofnwflorida.org

or (850) 747-5400 ext. 105.

In order to be paid for children you provide VPK services

for, the children must have Certificates of Eligibility on file.

with the Coalition.

Question: Help! I am confused about Swine Flu and what it could mean for my program, who can I contact to get more in-formation?

-A provider in Franklin County

Answer: You are right to be concerned about any infection or disease that could be spread at your center. To help provid-ers with their child health ques-tions and health assessments the Coalition has two Health Literacy Specialists on staff who can offer assistance. To reach either Health Literacy Specialist please contact the Warm Line at 1-866-269-3022. All calls will be returned in a timely manner. As always , both directors AND teachers are encouraged to call the Warm Line if there are any con-cerns about a child.

Birth-to-Three Child Assessments 2009-10

Ongoing assessments of the children in your program will help you build the

trusting, responsive relationships that are important to your work with young children. The Coalition has adopted an assessment system- The Creative Curriculum for Infants, Toddlers & Twos Developmental Continuum Assessment

that will help you measure and track children's progress so you can make good decisions about how to support their continued learning. As you learn about each child's strengths, interests, and development, you can then use the information to plan appropriate experiences that promote each child's development and learning. Providers can register for training on this assessment by going online to the

Coalition website www.elcofnwflorida.org and select the training time and

location that is most convenient. ALL contracted providers who serve SR

children ages birth-to-three will need to attend at least one training. At this

training attendees will learn how to complete the assessment, how to record and

submit assessment information to the Coalition, and receive a kit (one per

provider) that contains all the materials needed to observe and assess a group

of infants, toddlers, and twos for a full program year.

Spaces are filling up quickly, register on-line today!

3

GONE GREEN

For Your Information Published monthly by the

Early Learning Coalition of

Northwest Florida

703 West 15th Street, Suite A

Panama City, FL 32401

Phone (850) 747-5400

Fax (850) 747-5450

Inquiries and Subscription information should be

addressed to

suzan.gage@elcofnwflorida.org

Focus on Families...

“They may forget what you said, but they never will forget how you made them feel.”

-Carol Buchner

Last month, providers were asked to share stories of how they are “going green” at their program. Ami Whittington, Director of Imagination Station and A Step Ahead in Washington County sent in these activities she and her staff at A Step Ahead have completed with the children and their families. Thanks for sharing your activities with us Ami! Things we’ve done... 1. Dirty trash water- The class made trash water to see the effects of littering. 2. Paper towel rolls- made rain sticks 3. Recycle wind socks- made with used newspapers 4. Collected - aluminum. plastic and paper and took a trip to deliver what was collected to be recycled. Another valuable resource for “going green” with young children is the book Learn and Play the Green Way: Fun Activities with Reusable Materials, by Rhoda Redleaf ISBN: ISBN: 978-1-933653-70-9 and is available through Redleaf Press on their website www.redleafpress.org or can be ordered through your local bookstore.

The Coalition is always interested in what’s going on in your programs. Next month we want to spotlight programs (both center based and family child care homes) who have gone the extra mile with Emergency Preparedness. Email your stories to suzan.gage@elcofnwflorida.org and we will share them in next month’s FYI.

Telephone Troubles!

We have discovered that a telephone line we

thought was inactive has actually been receiving voice messages for several weeks. We have called Information Technology support in to pull the messages off this line.

We are currently in process of going through each message and accessing the EFS system to see which parents have been served. Please help us by letting parents know that if they have called the Coalition’s 747-5400 number in the last three weeks and have not received a call back, that we are working on resolving

the issue. At this time, it would not be necessary for them to call again, as it would only add to the time it will take us to serve those who have already called. I want to keep you informed about any information that would impact you as providers and I appreciate your help in letting parents know

that we are working on this issue. Thank you in advance for your support and assistance. It really does take a whole village to raise a child and we appreciate your help.

Thanks

Again,

Lynne