Head Start Council seeks community representatives

The Head Start Program is actively seeking one representative each from Saipan, Tinian, and Rota to serve as a Community Representative for the school year 2014-2015 Head Start Policy Council.

Qualification requirements

• Community representatives must come from the local community who are familiar with resources and services for low-income children and families;
• Cannot be an employee or immediate relative of an employee for the CNMI Public School System; and
• May not have already served three terms on the Head Start Policy Council.

Duties and responsibilities
The Policy Councils must work in partnership with key management staff and the governing body to develop, review, and approve or disapprove the following policies and procedures:

• All funding applications and amendments to funding applications Head Start, including administrative services, prior to the submission of such applications to the Department of Health and Human Services;
• Procedures describing how the governing body and the appropriate policy group will implement shared decision-making;
• Procedures for program planning in accordance with this part and the requirements of 45 CFR 1305.3;
• The program’s philosophy and long- and short-range program goals and objectives;
• The composition of the Policy Council and the procedures by which policy group members are chosen;
• Criteria for defining recruitment, selection, and enrollment priorities, in accordance with the requirements of 45 CFR part 1305;
• The annual self-assessment of the grantee or delegate agency’s progress in carrying out the programmatic and fiscal intent of its grant application, including planning or other actions that may result from the review of the annual audit and findings from the Federal monitoring review (see 45 CFR 1304.51(i)(1) for additional requirements about the annual self-assessment);
• Program personnel policies and subsequent changes to those policies, in accordance with 45 CFR 1301.31, including standards of conduct for program staff, consultants, and volunteers;
• Decisions to hire or terminate the Head Start director of the grantee agency; and
• Decisions to hire or terminate any person who works primarily for the Head Start program of the grantee agency.

In addition, Policy Councils must perform the following functions directly:

• Serve as a link to the Parent Committees, grantee agency governing bodies, public and private organizations, and the communities they serve;
• Assist Parent Committees in communicating with parents enrolled in all program options to ensure that they understand their rights, responsibilities, and opportunities in Head Start and to encourage their participation in the program;
• Assist Parent Committees in planning, coordinating, and organizing program activities for parents with the assistance of staff, and ensuring that funds set aside from program budgets are used to support parent activities;
• Assist in recruiting volunteer services from parents, community residents, and community organizations, and assist in the mobilization of community resources to meet identified needs; and
• Establish and maintain procedures for working with the grantee or delegate agency to resolve community complaints about the program.

The Head Start Policy Council meets every month. Interested community members should fax or email a brief letter of interest and résumé to 664-3760 or jolene.guerrero@cnmipss.org.

The deadline to express interest is Friday, Nov. 14, 2014. The election of Community Representatives will be held at the regular meeting of the Head Start Policy Council in November.

Should you have any questions or need additional information, contact the program’s Family & Community Partnership Manager, Jolene Guerrero, at jolene.guerrero@cnmipss.org or call 323-7446/7447/664-3751. (Head Start)