April 2011
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School Readiness Provider Updates
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Infant Toddler Lending Library & Resource Room
The Early Learning Coalition of Pinellas County is proud to announce the grand opening of the Mary K. Bennett Infant Toddler Lending Library and Resource Room.
The Coalition will host a celebration to unveil its new lending library on Thursday, April 21, 2011 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. The first 100 child care providers will receive a special gift for attending. All providers in attendance will be entered to win valuable door prizes.
The Infant Toddler Lending Library gives child care providers the opportunity to borrow educational items for up to two months in order to enhance the quality of their early educational programs. The library features over 1,500 unique items such as children's books, educational toys, and musical instruments focused on infants, toddlers and two year olds. The resource room is equipped with a laminator, book binder, die cut machine and resource books for child care providers.
The Coalition offers this free service to all School Readiness providers in Pinellas County. The lending library and resource room is open Monday – Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Additional hours will be available prior to select meetings and trainings hosted at the Coalition office.
For more information please contact Angela Loring, Infant/Toddler Specialist, at (727) 548-1439 ext. 250. |
FFCCHA Conference Scholarships
The Florida Family Child Care Home Association, Inc. will host its 19th Annual Conference, “Enhancing Our Minds…in 2011” on June 23-26, 2011 with pre-conference trainings June 21-23 at the Sheraton Sand Key Resort in Clearwater Beach, Florida. Click here to view FFCCHA Conference brochure.
Don’t miss out on this great professional development opportunity!
- 18 Workshops Topics
- Opening Keynote Speaker: Beth Butler – Founder of the Boca Beth Program
- Closing Keynote Speaker: Patricia Dischler – Author of Teaching the 3 Cs: Creativity, Curiosity, and Courtesy.
- Continuing Education Units (CEU) available
- “Boca Beth Live!” Children’s Concert with mascot BOCA
- Provider Celebration Dance Party
- Lots of Great Prizes
For more information about the FFCCHA Conference, please visit www.familychildcare.org.
The first ten eligible FCCH providers to respond to this email will receive a scholarship from the Early Learning Coalition to attend the FFCCHA Conference. |
School Readiness Agreement Renewal
School Readiness Agreement renewals are in full swing! The Early Learning Coalition of Pinellas County is currently renewing Agreements for child care centers. School Readiness Agreement renewals for Informal and School Age child care providers ended on March 31, 2011.
Child care providers are invited to attend School Readiness Provider Agreement renewal meetings in April. While these meetings are not required, they offer providers the opportunity to hear the latest program updates and ask questions.
School Readiness Provider Agreement renewal meeting dates:
- Thursday, April 28, 2011 at 2:00 p.m.
- Thursday, April 28, 2011 at 6:30 p.m.
New School Readiness provider certification is now closed. Learn more about New Provider Certification Periods.
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Click here to register for this meeting
Click here for VPK Provider Certification Information |
School Readiness Provider Manual
The School Readiness Provider Manual is now available online! This electronic manual is easy to navigate using the bookmarks on the left side of your screen. This helpful resource includes all the details on:
- Provider Certification
- Program Operations
- Finance
- Child Eligibility & Enrollment
- Forms
- Policies
- Resources
Click here or visit www.elcpinellas.net for the School Readiness Provider Manual. |
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In-Service Training Hours Reminder
The training year for all providers ends on June 30, 2011. The In-service Training Record for Family Child Care Homes and Centers must be submitted to your assigned Program Support Specialist no later than July 30, 2011, as stated in the Training Requirements for School Readiness Providers. If you need assistance in searching for training, please visit Training Times.
If you have any questions regarding the requirements in compliance with the School Readiness Provider Agreement, please call (727) 548-1439 ext. 259 to speak with your Program Support Specialist or contact Carrie Culbertson, Director of Program Services directly at (727) 548-1439 ext. 233.
Q: Is there a requirement or limit on how many hours of training a provider can take online?
A: Providers may take required training through online sources that meet the requirement in the Training Requirements for School Readiness Providers. |
Parent Sign In/Out Policy
The School Readiness program requires all children must be signed in and out of care by their parent/guardian every day they attend. The signatures must be full signatures in ink and include the arrival time and departure time. Parents/guardians are notified of this requirement in the Parent Rights and Responsibilities that they sign at eligibility determination. It is the child care provider's responsibility to make certain that parents are completing this requirement to ensure payment.
School age children may be signed into care after school by the provider if this occurs during hours that the parent is working or in school; the parent must sign the child out. It is not otherwise acceptable for providers to sign children in and out of care or for there to be no signature. Anything less than a parent/guardians full signature (first initial and full last name is acceptable) in ink with the time in and out of care are considered non-reimbursable days. This is being strictly enforced.
Click here for a Sample Sign In/Out Form |
New ASQ Screening Process
The state of Florida has purchased an online ASQ database for all Early Learning Coaliti ons to use to complete developmental screenings. While the database is an excellent tool for completing and storing accurate ASQ information, it requires more tweaks to accommodate all child care providers using it in Pinellas County. It remains the goal of our county and the state to use the online database to complete all ASQ’s by July 2012.
In the meantime, the Coalition is beginning a new ASQ screening process for all School Readiness providers. All active School Readiness providers will receive an ASQ kit in the mail by April 30, 2011. The kit will contain the ASQ’s that are used in Pinellas County to screen children in your care and include the original paper ASQ for the following ages:
6 months 12 months 18 months 24 months 30 months 36 months 48 months 60 months
The Coalition will continue to mail out a cover sheet to providers for every School Readiness child in their care who is due to have an ASQ completed that month, along with return postage-paid envelopes. The provider will be responsible to make copies of the appropriate ASQ, complete the ASQ for the child indicated on the cover sheet, and return it to the Coalition for processing.
If you do not receive your ASQ kit by April 30, 2011, please contact the Coalition to either have it re-sent or to make arrangements to pick one up at the Coalition office in Clearwater. For more information or questions, please call 548-1439 ext 251.
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