Education Department
Early Childhood Development
Programs
(Head Start, Early Head Start and CCDF Programs)
Lapwai PHONE:
208-843-7330
FAX: 208-843-7383
Kamiah PHONE: 208-935-2888
FAX: 208-935-2882
Parents are the first and most important influence on a child's development.
It is our goal is to provide quality, comprehensive early childhood education
and child care programs in a "one-stop" model, birth to five (5) years of age.
Parents are the first and most important influence on a child's development.
ECDP is a program to assist families and their children during the first years
of the child's life, birth to five years of age. The primary goals for
ECDP are:
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Meet and exceed the
Head Start Performance Standards
and provide quality
early childhood education to children and their parents.
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Develop tracking procedures and program philosophy to meet 85% monthly
attendance requirement;
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Engage in collaborative partnership-building as advocates with parents to
establish trust, identify family goals, strengths, and assist with the
family as identified and needed;
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Provide comprehensive services to pregnant mothers-to-be and
implementation of the home-base option for parents and children;
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Develop an Operating Procedures Manual to guide each division, e.g.,
Education, Health & Safety, Family Services, Early Intervention and
Administration to ensure holistic service delivery approaches for our
families.
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Review yearly, maintain and update Division Plans.
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Identify and refer to CCDF when child care needs are identified from the
Family Partnership Assessment;
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Provide financial assistance to support families for quality child care.
According to the Advisory Committee on Head Start Quality and Expansion's
report, Creating a 21st Century Head Start: "The challenges faced by local Head
Start programs have multiplied in size, scope and complexity in recent years.
Health and Human Services (Head Start Bureau) and local grantees must ensure
that the managers of local Head Start programs have what they need to lead
programs effectively in changing world: knowledge, skills, commitment not
only to children and families but to the complex task of management and
leadership, and the support and infrastructure they need to manage effectively."
"In an effort to provide full-time care to children in Head Start (which
has traditionally been part-day, part-year), states and communities are
fostering new partnerships between child care and Head Start programs."
The Nez Perce Tribe has adopted and implemented this philosophy.
Education Division: Develop early learning plans that includes the
concept of birth to five (5) years of age for social, emotional, physical and
intellectual (cognitive) development. Critical from the 1998 Head Start
legislative, all programs must implement requirements related to the assessment
of children's progress toward specific learning outcomes. The National
Reporting System (NRS) was implemented in the 2003 school year.
Health & Safety Division: Assist parents to ensure each child is
current on the schedule of age appropriate preventive and primary health care;
encourage parents to become active partners in their child's medical and dental
health care; provide opportunities for parent involvement in medical, dental and
nutrition education.
Family Service Division: Encourage parent partnerships in education,
health/nutrition, program planning and operating activities; assist families to
assess their own needs and facilitate services and/or intervention to build upon
individual strengths. Primary contact for referrals from Teachers, and as
Advocates for families.
Early Intervention: Oversee the developmental screening process,
initiate appropriate referrals to outside agencies, perform classroom
observation and collaborate to provide needed services to children and families
with special needs.
Administration Division: Ensure compliance with Performance Standards,
Nez Perce Tribe Human Resources Manual and Finance Manual. Prepare grant
applications, monitor expenditures, collaborate with outside agencies, ensure
best practices for early childhood education and child care.
Child Care Development Fund (CCDP): CCDF is a block-grant program
administered and used to fund child care subsidies for children under age 13 as
well as for quality-building, systems-building, resource and referral
activities. In the wake of welfare reform, federal and state governments
have encouraged collaboration between Head Start program (which have
traditionally operated separately) to ensure that parents have access to
full-day, full-year programs. This program provides child care subsidy for
parent(s) who meet income guidelines and are in training, attending academic or
vocational college. Payments are based on a sliding fee scale. For
the TANF clients, 100% is paid from the program. The program does not fund
long-term foster payments.
State of Idaho TANF Head Start: Provide Head Start services for
children three (3) and four (4) years old from families who receive TANF and/or
low income.
Administration:
Bryan Samuels,
Program Director;
Vacant, Office Assistant I
Jennifer
Oatman, Kamiah Site
Education:
Patricia White
Temple, BS, Education/Child Development Specialist;
Kathy
Scabbyrobe, Education
Trainer
Family Services:
Vacant, Family Services Specialist;
Stacey Kash Kash, BA, Family
Intervention Specialist II;
Christa Sobotta, BA, Family
Intervention Specialist II;
Jonelle Whitman, Family Intervention
Specialist I;
Veda Pfefferkorn, AA, Family Intervention Specialist I;
Jenny Oatman, Family Intervention Specialist I
Health & Safety:
Crystal Rabago,
Health and Safety Specialist
Child Care Development Fund
(CCDF):
Verna Taylor, AA, CCDF Technician
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