Elkhart and St. Joseph Counties Head Start Consortium

March 19, 2008

The Joint Board of Directors of the Elkhart and St. Joseph Counties Head Start Consortium met in a regular session on Wednesday, March 19, 2008 in the Board Room at the Head Start Office, 245 N. Lombardy Drive, South Bend, IN  46619.

            I.          Call to Order

President of the Consortium Board, Mark Mow, called the meeting to order at 9:30 a.m.

            II.        Roll Call

                        President Mark Mow called for the roll call. 

                        Jim Connor                              Middlebury Community Schools

                        Jerry Cook                               Baugo Community Schools

                        Dick Reese                              John Glenn School Corporation

                        Dr. Robert Zimmerman           South Bend Community School Corporation

                        Kathy Guajardo                      Executive Director, Head Start

                        Mark Mow                              Elkhart Community Schools

                        Dr. Bruce Stahly                     Goshen Community Schools

                        George Dyer                           Concord Community Schools

                        Joe Sabo                                  Wa-Nee Community Schools

                        Dr. Jerry Thacker                    Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation

Steven Mills, School City of Mishawaka and Larry Phillips, Union-North United School Corporation were absent from the meeting.

            III.       Public Speakers

Mark Mow asked if anyone from the public wished to speak. 

Gayle Garrage asked the Board that since the Executive Director’s report is enclosed in their packets, is it necessary to retype the report in the Board minutes?  Also, would it be possible to just state that a motion was made and seconded or that there were comments or questions concerning the report?

Mr. Mow acknowledged that the Board was showing approval of the suggestion.  Mrs. Garrage thanked the Board for their consideration.

            IV.       Adoption of the Agenda

Mr. Mow asked for a motion for approval of the adoption of the agenda.  Jerry Cook made the motion for approval and it was seconded by Dr. Jerry Thacker.  All were in favor.

            V.        Approval of Minutes

Mr. Mow asked for a motion for the approval of the minutes for the January 16, 2008 Board meeting.  A motion was made by Jerry Cook and seconded by Dr. Robert Zimmerman to approve the minutes.  All were in favor.

            VI.       Communication

                        A.)  Executive Director’s Report/Website Presentation

Kathy presented the MRSA policy to the Board during her report.   Dr. Zimmerman stated the difficulty his corporation is having in getting medical verification from a physician when a student is suspected of having MRSA.  He stated doctors are more apt to state it is a staff infection than to admit it is MERSA.  He further stated that South Bend has had 10 cases but was not able to get medical verification on any of these cases.  Also, once the doctor begins treating the patient and then a test is run, it will not show as MERSA.  Dr. Stahly commented that often the doctor prescribes medication over the phone without seeing the student so there is no medical verification; the parent denies that it is MERSA, so our hands are tied also.  Mr. Mow stated he has found the Health Department reluctant to get involved.  Kathy asked if this was because of the HIPPA violations or confidentiality.  Dr. Zimmerman again stated it was difficult to get a medical professional to give a definite answer.  He did add that even if a medical person would not verify that it was MERSA for sure; precautions are taken such as cleaning equipment, etc.

Kathy offered to take their concerns back to the Health Advisory Committee.  It was stated that was not necessary. 

Mr. Mow asked Kathy how the self-assessment was going.  Kathy stated it was going very well.  She said we had collected over 14,000 pieces of information.  Mr. Johnson added that when looking at the amount of data collected that we had some very high percentages of success.  Kathy informed the Board that her team had also given her a list of the strengths and weaknesses and by May she would provide the Board with all that information.

Kathy then introduced Mr. Regan Johnson, Data Management Consultant, who had redesigned the web site for Head Start.  Mr. Johnson presented the new website to the Board.

He explained that it is not only parent-friendly, but also staff-functional.  He had made the site very user-friendly for parents along with being more attractive by adding pictures and colors.

On the web site parents will be able to access:  the parent handbook, e-mail the director and other management, training videos regarding transportation and health, an on-line application in both English and Spanish (by county), school web-sites, by-laws, Board meeting minutes, calendars, employment opportunities, and the National Head Start Parent’s page. 

The entire website is also provided in Spanish.

Mr. Johnson said the web site should be in place in the next two weeks.

Mr. Mow asked if it could be monitored how many hits were made to the site.  Mr. Johnson said he could install a web hit counter.    Mr. Mow asked if each school should be linking the site to their schools.  Mr. Johnson said that would be excellent.

Mr. Johnson will send each corporation an e-mail and then said it will be just a matter of cut and paste to add the link.

Dr. Stahly raised the question as to why we were not collecting the e-mail address of those applying for Head Start over the site.  Mr. Johnson thought even though we would not be corresponding back through e-mail, it would still be good information to have and was an excellent suggestion.

B.)  Policy Council Chairperson’s Report

Mr. Darling presented a packet to each Board member.  He explained that what the Policy Council is trying to do is make things more accessible to parents, get parents involved, and try to think of ideas of how to do that.  He stated they are working on helping to get current Head Start students enrolled in Kindergarten for next year and making sure the process goes smoothly.  They are also working on the Advisory Committee to see how they can get the word of Head Start out there in order to get students enrolled for next year.  In the packet was a letter Mr. Darling had written to the Policy Council members regarding the site meetings asking how the meetings could be improved, technology (which has already been addressed), and any suggestions that might make things go more smoothly.

Mr. Mow asked Mr. Darling if people were getting pretty involved.

Kathy and Mr. Darling said that at the last meeting there was over 90% participation.

Mr. Connor thanked Richard for coming and for the information he shared with the Board.  He stated that in past years the Board did not have this type of information from the Council shared with them and he wanted Mr. Darling to know how much it was appreciated.

Mr. Mow thanked Mr. Darling for a good report.

                        C.)  Board Member’s Communication

Dr. Stahly asked if we are limited to 1020 forever or is there a demand for higher numbers?  Kathy stated that we are limited that we are held to 1020 because that is what we are funded for.  If we have capacity for more children, then we have to let HHS know that and let them know how we will fund them.  That will be another fiscal line item we would have to deal with.  If agencies like United Way wanted to fund a couple of slots, we could write a grant for that.  We can look at the census data such as in Elkhart with the gas prices and the RV industry going down, the economy can warrant more students that would be eligible.  Dr. Stahly asked that even if we showed a need it would not necessarily mean we would be granted funding.  Kathy answered that’s correct, not through HHS. 

Kathy explained that the original grant was funded for 900 children.  When the agency was defunded, the Board decided to bump up the figure to 1020 when it was started up again.  It is now less money per child.  We are funding 1020 children on monies for 900 children.  Mr. Sabo asked if funding was based on census data.  Mr. Sabo asked if we are locked into the 1020 forever.  Kathy answered that we are locked into the 1020 pretty much forever.  However, a few years ago there were expansion grants offered.  It was asked how you get ready for an expansion grant if one was to be offered.  Kathy stated that they would give us a timeline, we would do research again from the community assessment, census data, and all the other information we gathered, we show need, and then how many we plan to ask for funded allotment and where those funded slots would go.  Mr. Sabo asked if we had a waiting list at this point.  Kathy stated that at last count we had 179 eligible (both age and income) children on the waiting list.

Mr. Conner asked if In-kind were provided in areas of most need such as Goshen, Elkhart and South Bend, could that fund more children in those areas over the 1020?  Kathy answered that yes we could by using in-kind or funding from other organizations.  She said that if this is the desire of the Consortium Board, she will do research as soon as possible. Mr. Connor stated that possible, if it were legal and acceptable, maybe schools could look into their school budgets to see if there were any monies to help.  Kathy stated that it would cost about $25,000 for equipment and supplies to start a classroom and $60,000 for employees including fringes for 34 students.

Kathy explained that when she came to the Consortium there were 12 different enrollment plans.  She consolidated them down to one.  In South Bend we have what is called a variance class.  It is a half day class of 17 children.  The other half day that team covers lunch duty, substitutes, etc.  Those 17 students are always available and then if we have a student shortage in one of the outlying areas we know to keep that class full.  If we see someone has dropped a couple of kids and there is no one on the waiting list that is eligible we make sure that class stays up or if you have full enrollment and a child drops out of the 17 then we don’t fill that spot for a little while until we see how it goes.  It is like playing a numbers game here, but it is our cushion.  If we didn’t have a cushion it would be difficult.  For instance, for an area like LaVille where most of the clientele are over income, we have to watch that we remain 10% or under in over income enrollment.  Mr. Mow stated that it helps to know that Kathy is being creative in protecting them with the class in South Bend.

 Kathy said she would work with HHS, her Head Start Team, etc. to see if she can come up with some strategies.

            VII.     Action Agenda

08-0319-01      Approval of Personnel Actions included in Human Resources Report

                        Dr. Stahly made a motion and it was seconded by Joe Sabo to approve the personnel actions.  All were in favor.

08-0319-02      Approval of Distribution of Payroll, Summary of Actual Expenditures

Dick Reese made a motion and it was seconded by Jim Connor to approve the distribution of payroll, summary of actual expenditures.  All were in favor.

            VIII.    Adjournment

A motion was made by Jim Connor and seconded by Joe

Sabo to adjourn the meeting.  All were in favor.

            Next Board Meeting:

            May 21, 2008

            9:30 a.m.

            Respectfully submitted by:

            Gayle Garrage