Minutes of the Skagit Children’s Council – January 9th, 2008
Welcome & Opening of Meeting – Barbara Smith
Lead Agency Report – Pat Holloran: SPARC had 89 active cases for December 2007 &
6 new IFSPs.
Lead Family Resources Coordinator – Cindy Hubert: Infant/Toddler Program in WA
State is gearing up to meet Federal guidelines for the new Child Outcome Summary
Forms. The deadline for reporting is next Monday (Jan 14 th) – forms will be backfiled to July
1st of 2007.
Public Awareness, Child Find, & Recruitment – Cindy: February 11th will be the next
Family Resource Coordinators meeting. The theme will be the WA State Performance
Plan - & how Skagit County fits in.
Child Find & Children’s Council Recruitment sheets were explained, & passed around the
table.
Skagit County State Performance measures the success of Child Find. The Executive
Council of the Skagit Children’s Council has identified some current gaps, particularly
in early intervention for children birth to 12 months.
Child Care Liaison Report – Annette Driscoll: 1 referral from a child care provider &
1 observation in a child care center, reported for the month.
Family Focus Tip – Barbara: Tip sheet from Born Learning on the importance of
libraries for babies & young families.
Monthly Tip: “Homelessness in Skagit County” – Diane Clark, Prevention Center
Coordinator, NWESD 189. e-mail: dclark@esd189.org
Pamphlets, posters, materials are available from WA state to help with Homelessness info.
Homeless education liaison is mandated by the WA Legislature, & by State law – but is
largely unfunded. WA is broken up into several districts. Individual School Districts are
encouraged to provide liaisons to serve homeless students & families. Skagit County has
several hundred children & teens recently identified as homeless (maybe under reported).
Statistically, for every move a student makes, 4 to 6 months of educational services could
potentially be lost. Schools are mandated to provide transportation to a homeless student’s
school of origin. The McKinney Vento Act does have some grant money available to
provide awareness activities to agencies needing assistance or information. Foster kids can
be a grey area for services – they can be either permanently placed (not eligible), or
temporary (eligible). Schools are mandated to have formal policies in place to provide
services for homeless youth. Homeless students cannot be denied entrance to school
because of lack of school records, immunizations, or residency requirements. Schools
cannot segregate homeless students, & must offer services like homework help, or sports
(if they are offered to other students), without fees. Some disparity exists around terms in
Skagit County, i.e. the County doesn’t count students as homeless if the student has a roof
over their head; the McKinney Vento Act has a much broader application. The recent flooding
in Southwest WA is a good example of unexpected homelessness. There is also a brandnew Head Start bill just signed by President Bush, December 12th, 2007that will have a direct
impact on local services being provided.
Parent to Parent - Heather Milliren: Recent Buddy Walk was very successful, & even though
fundraising was not a primary function – they did raise some funds. A 4 part workshop in
January is being sponsored by P to P on Child Sign Language, & is proving popular.
Tuesday, February 5th, will be the Hispanic Outreach night with Kelly Pingree @ the Family
Resource Center, from 6 to 8 pm. Dinner will be served.
Skagit Early Learning – Barbara presented brief report. Vote was called to authorize a
grant application from the DEL for coordination monies. Jane Hohne moved; Marty Adams
seconded. Unanimous yes vote to apply for a Skagit County grant.
Reading Readiness Grant – Barbara: the MV & Burlington School Districts are currently
identifying Latino families that could participate in the MotherRead/FatherRead program.
The MV & Burlington City Libraries are also participating in this grant program. Training
Day for this grant will be held on February 7th &/or February 8th.
Connections Conference & Resource Fair – Marty Adams: January 15th @ the Family
Resource Center is the next meeting, 10 am. For the first time, the Resource Fair will be
held as part of the one-day Connections Conference @ Skagit Valley College. The date will
be Saturday, March 22nd.
Therapeutic Child Care – discussion postponed.
Public Awareness/Communications Committee – Cindy: The next meeting will be January
16th @ the Family Resource Center (small conference room), 9:30 am.
Kathy Powell, current webmaster will be leaving for Australia at the end of January.
The committee is looking at placing flat screens w/DVD players (in them) at several local
pediatricians’ offices (the DVD would be from the Children’s Council). Also currently revising
the Children’s Council brochure.
The Children’s Council Co-President, Kathy Powell, is leaving. Motion placed by Kelly
Pingree to nominate Karen Rose as new Co-Chair for 2008. Second by Jennifer Walton.
Vote to accept was unanimous.
Announcements:
DEL Parent Support Grant has been recently announced (& will close soon).
The Sedro-Woolley School District will be beginning a MotherRead/FatherRead on Friday.
Skagit Island Head Start is sponsoring their annual Community Training Day, other folks
are welcome to join. “Children & Poverty …” presented by Theressa Lenear, January
25th, 2008 at the Cotton Tree in Mount Vernon.
Burlington Little School Auction will be held Feb 2 nd at the Skagit Valley Casino, 5:30 pm.
They are also having several training & educational events – details available at
www.burlingtonlittleschool.com.
Community Crossroads Church is nearly ready to open their Early Learning Center – soon.
The new Thrift & Professional Clothing Store is open in Burlington.
The VOA of WWA has a Scholastic Book Fair program to distribute books to children fitting
their new grant parameters. PH: 360 416-8299 for details.
Local Cable Channel 26 is offering local input in Spanish for children & families.
Sedro-Woolley School District is offering a Developing Capable Young People class
beginning January 16th, with Kay Walter.
The Sedro-Woolley Public Library & the Sedro-Woolley School District are beginning their
Parent support classes in January, using Kennewick’s Ready! for Kindergarten Program.
The Mount Vernon City Library is continuing their free Storytimes & Book Activities for
children, call the Library for details & times: (360) 336-6209.
Attendance:
Annette Driscoll – SPARC
Barbara Andrews – TRIP
onedayatatime2001@msn.com
Curtis Dennis – TRIP
curtisctrip@ns.com
Shirley Chu – YMCA
Julie Silva – MV SD
Barbara Smith – SVC
Lisa Dills – Burlington P Library
Linda Allen – MT City Library
Diane Clark – NWESD 189
dclark@esd189.org or (360) 299-4029
Pat Holloran - SPARC
Charlene McPherson – P-CAP
charlene@skagitrc.com
Annette McDonald – SCCAA
Joey Wasson – Crossroads Covenant ELC
Gretchen Garman – P-CAP
maldayne@yahoo.com
Kelly Pingree – NWESD
Marlys Vollegraf – Burlington Little School
G. X. (?)
Heather Milliren – P to P
p2p@sparckids.org
Maria Valerio – WSMC
Gail Noble Sanderson - SVH
Ray Soriano – S/I Head Start
Caniece Romar – Upper Skagit
Cynthia Hubert – SPARC
Janet Simpson – CCS
Julia James – ESD
Wende Dolstad – SCCAA
Wenda Cross - SIHS
Becky Richter - SIHS
Tracy Donovan – SCPHD
Debra Peterson – S-W Library
Carol Thomas - ESD
Robert McCauley - SCYFS
Kay Walter - SWSD
Jennifer Walton - SCPHD
Marty Adams – VOA CCR&R
Joan Youngquist – SI HS
Jane Hohne – SVC
jjames@esd189.org
wcross@skagit.edu
rrichter@skagit.edu
ddpeters@fidalgo.net
cthomas@esd189.org