|
|
|
September 2011 Newsletter - Fall Edition |
Letter from the CT After School Network Board Chair, Kimberley Russo:
I sincerely hope that all of you have safely come through the effects and aftermath of Hurricane Irene. After school programs are a much needed component in our communities and it is times such as this that we truly appreciate our families, friends, and neighborhood assets. Thank you for all your efforts to support families and children during this difficult challenge.
And now, we turn to another school year! After school programming is critical to supporting the academic achievement of youth, developing future leaders and keeping kids safe. Families depend on quality after school programs being available in their communities. With so much in flux with state and federal budgets, continuing high unemployment rates and families needing more support than ever, after school programming is a critical component in the fabric of a family’s life. Parents who are concerned about their children’s afterschool care miss an average of eight days of work per year. Decreased worker productivity related to parental concerns about after school care costs businesses up to $300 billion per year. (Brandeis University, Community, Families and Work Program, 2006). As the new school year begins, let’s celebrate and shout from the rooftops the amazing accomplishments of the after school field in contributing in multiple ways to the success and well being of the families in our communities.
Remember what Margaret Mead said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
|
|
After the Bell: Leadership Makes the Difference |
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Four Points Sheraton Hotel, 275 Research Pkwy
Meriden CT
Registration opens at 10:30
Keynote, panel, and buffet lunch – 11:00am to 1:30pm
The Connecticut After School Network’s mission is to lead, educate and advocate for excellence in the after school field by building professionalism, strengthening program quality and increasing availability and affordability. This 2nd annual symposium is for leaders in school and after school will increase the partnerships, leadership, and collaboration needed to achieve these goals. Stronger, more successful programs benefit both children and the working parents who depend on them for safe and enriching programming.
The symposium will feature a keynote and panel discussions that provide the tools and practical solutions to working together in true partnerships.
Participating in this year’s symposium is Dr. Paul G. Young, current president of the National Afterschool Association (NAA) and past president of the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP). He has a strong passion for mentoring a new generation of school principals and afterschool program leaders and is the author of “Principal Matters: 101 Tips for Creating Collaborative Relationships between Afterschool Programs and School Leaders.”
Register online by October 7, 2011 at www.ctafterschoolnetwork.org. The cost is $45.00 per person and includes buffet lunch. The first 100 to register will receive a free copy of Dr. Young’s book, “Principal Matters.”
|
Nominate your school principal for the
"My Principal Matters!" Award |
|
 When principals and after school providers work together to improve and connect learning, the children, their families, and neighborhoods benefit. The Connecticut After School Network is proud to sponsor the “My Principal Matters” award program to honor a Connecticut principal who has shown exceptional commitment to students and staff and their contributions to afterschool programs.
We are asking after school program directors to nominate exceptional principals who they believe should be honored at our upcoming symposium “After the Bell: Leadership Makes the Difference” on October 19, 2011. Details and registration for this event can be found online at www.ctafterschoolnetwork.org.
All nominated principals will receive a framed certificate. The person selected as Outstanding Principal for 2011 will be introduced at the event to receive his or her award. Additionally, both the winning principal and the person who placed the nomination will receive free admission to this event.
Please show your support and appreciation for their effort by submitting your nomination by Monday, October 3, 2011 to rdugas@ctafterschoolnetwork.org
You may also mail to:Connecticut After School Network, 12 Melrose Avenue, Branford, CT 06405 or Fax to: 860-783-5800
|
|
Light Up A Landmark for Lights On Afterschool! |
|
We've seen the Empire State Building, LA's Lindbergh Beacon and Mt Rushmore lit up for Lights On Afterschool, the nation's celebration of afterschool programs. What are your plans to shine a spotlight on the importance of afterschool in your community?
Tell us what landmark you can light up for Lights On Afterschool, and you may win up to $5,000 from longtime afterschool champion JCPenney. Eleven (11) winners will be selected nationwide:
One Megawatt award winner: $5,000
Ten Spotlight award winners: $1,000
You must enter by September 23, 2011.
Winners will be selected by October 1, 2011.
Don't be daunted if you don't have an obvious landmark in your community -- creativity and the potential reach of your event will be taken into consideration. We are looking for geographic diversity, including representation from urban, suburban and rural communities.
http://www.afterschoolalliance.org/loalandmark.cfm
|
Many Faces of After School
Fall Conference |
Please join us for the Connecticut After School Network
Many Faces of After School
Fall Conference!
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Farmington Marriott
The conference offers 33 workshops including a Leadership and Middle/High School track. Ezra Holland presents a funny, high energy motivational keynote "Leadership -Life Lessons Learned Along the Way."
This is a wonderful chance to network with others in your profession.
To register or for more information go to:
http://www.ctafterschoolnetwork.org/training/2011_Fall_conference.html
|
|
Calling All HEROES: Serve and Fight Obesity! |
|
The United Health HEROES program is a service-learning, health literacy initiative developed by United Healthcare and Youth Service America (YSA). The program awards grants to help youth, ages 5-25, create and implement local, hands-on programs to fight childhood obesity.
Each grant engages participating youth in service-learning, an effective teaching and learning strategy that supports student learning, academic achievement, and workplace readiness. The grants encourage semester-long projects that launch on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service (January 16, 2012) and culminate on Global Youth Service Day (April 20-22, 2012).
Schools, service-learning coordinators, non-profits, and students in the health professions located in all 50 states and the District of Columbia are eligible to apply for the $500-$1,000 grants.
Applications must be submitted online before midnight October 22, 2011. To obtain an application, visit www.YSA.org/HEROES.
CT After School
Network Webinar Series |
We have an exciting series of webinars planned for this calendar year! Experts from around the Northeast will be presenting on topics of interest to program leaders. This exciting series starts on October 11 with "Making Summer Count: Year Long Strategies for Summer Learning" with panelists from the Rand Corportation and the Wallace Foundation. Additional topics include:
November 8, 2011 –
Writing Small Grants for Special Projects - Michelle Doucette Cunningham
December 13, 2011 – Common Core Standards: Connecting Schools and ELO’s - CSSSO, Highlight NJ, and Dr. Paul Young
January 10, 2012 – Children and Nature: Connecting to the Natural/Biological Science Aspect of STEM, Diane Genco (NJSACC), Bruce Crawford, Rutgers, and the Children & Nature Network
For more information visit our website at www.ctafterschoolnetwork.org or contact Ken Anthony at kanthony@ctafterschoolnetwork.org
|
Supporting Students with Special Needs |
|
What are the legal requirements for including children with special needs in OST programs? How do we handle challenging behaviors? What types of accommodations are needed to support children with differences? How can we train all staff on inclusion?
Join us for an interactive discussion designed to answer YOUR questions on inclusion. We'll share stories and learn about resources to create a welcoming place for all children.
Our speaker, Jane Sharp of Sharp Ideas Consulting (www.sharp-ideas.org), worked as coordinator of the Map to Inclusive Child Care Team in New Jersey, after school grants manager, and as a YMCA director. Her knowledge of inclusion and her experience in after school makes her an excellent resource and we are very excited to have her come to CT.
Join us on December 8, 2011 for this informative seminar.
Information will be announced soon on our website at:
www.ctafterschoolnetwork.org
|
PEARLS - Peer Education Afterschool
Regional Leadership System |
Webster’s defines a network as a supportive system of sharing information and services among individuals having a common interest. The CT After School Network has taken the proactive step of fostering networking opportunities for after school program directors who want to enhance both their programs and their profession. PEARLS - Peer Education Afterschool Regional Leadership System – is a peer networking system designed to help you network most effectively. Informal regional meetings that are coordinated through regional peer contacts are now taking place across the state at coffee shops and other local meeting spots. The contact information for the four current regional peer leaders is below. More leaders will be added as interest in this new program grows!
Northwest/Southwest –
Tracey Lay (lay@educationconnection.org)
Sarah Moran (moran@educationconnection.org)
North Central –
Claire Hall (Claire@erfc.org)
South Central –
Arnaldo Perez (aperez@bridgefamilycenter.org)
Karen Thompson (kthompson@ywcanewbritain.org)
Northeast/Northwest -
Joan O’Donnell (joan@castlekids.org)
Program Coordinator
Ken Anthony (kanthony@ctafterschoolnetwork.org)
Your regional contact as well as the Connecticut After School Network website will have updates and information on how you could become more involved with building the networking system in Connecticut.
|
|
Additional News and Resources |
|
Day of the Girl
Join the movement and help bring girls' issues to the forefront of policy and influence positive change! On September 22, communities across the country will be celebrating the Day of the Girl, highlighting, celebrating, discussing and advancing girls' lives and opportunities across the globe.
This campaign is a project of School Girls Unite, an organization of students and young women leaders in the United States and in Mali working to advance the United Nations Millennium Development Goals related to gender equality and universal basic education, as well as child marriage prevention and other human rights issues.
The Day of the Girl is inviting girls everywhere to participate. The campaign includes a design competitionfor Day of the Girl t-shirts. For more information, go to: http://dayofthegirl.org/
New 'You for Youth' Website
The “You for Youth” website is an online tool for professional development, targeted specifically for afterschool providers. It has everything from discussion boards to webinars to online courses for afterschool providers. It addresses topics such as project based learning, aligning with the school day, science, technology, engineering and math, and strengthening partnerships between community based organizations and schools. The site’s coaching models help providers develop skilled staff members and the site offers tips on how best practices can be incorporated into existing programs.
http://y4y.ed.gov/y4y-pdm/
Amazing STEM Professionals!
The Afterschool Alliance is looking for stories of amazing STEM professionals who volunteer their time in afterschool STEM programs. We are compiling profiles of such individuals for our STEM website to serve as guidance and encouragement for others to get involved in afterschool programs in their community. These profiles will be similar to our Storybook project profiles that can be found at http://www.afterschoolalliance.org/storybook/gallery.cfm.
If you are working with STEM professionals in your program or know of such professionals involved in afterschool programs in your area (or have questions!) please contact Ramya Sankar at rsankar@afterschoolalliance.org.
Explore! - A Great Resource for STEM Curriculum
Everything a facilitator needs to conduct a science program, FREE for educational use athttp://www.lpi.usra.edu/explore:
The Lunar and Planetary Institute’s Explore! program is designed to engage children, ages 8-13 years, in space and planetary science in libraries and other out-of-classroom environments. Explore! investigations encompass lunar exploration; the planets Earth, Jupiter, and Mars; rockets; health in space; and more. Since its inception over a decade ago, the Explore! program has grown to support a community of more than 600 individuals in 28 states – all trained to bring space and planetary science to their children’s and youth programs. Modules, workshops, and webinars are funded by the National Science Foundation and NASA.
New Science Train-the-trainer Opportunity
The National Partnerships for After School Science (NPASS and NPASS2), based at EDC in Newton Mass., www.edc.org, is building on existing state-based out of school time professional development infrastructures to create new, state-based cadres of professional Science Trainers who can provide long-term training and technical assistance to the afterschool field.
Over 500 NPASS afterschool agencies in seven NPASS states (CA, MD, MN, MO, NH, NJ, OH) now send their staff six times a year to NPASS professional development workshops and are delivering extended, research-based, hands-on science and engineering projects to their students every week during the school year. NPASS students are mostly elementary school age but with a significant participation of middle and high school students in some states.
NPASS is demonstrating the benefits of intense and continuous training and programming, and that the afterschool field has the capacity to grow a new stratum of out of school time workers who are accomplished and effective informal science leaders.
|
|
CT DPH Head Teacher Certification |
|
As of December 1, 2010 individuals seeking Head Teacher Approval by the Department of Public Health must submit their application and supporting documentation directly to Connecticut Charts-A-Course (CCAC) through the Early Childhood Professional Registry. To begin the process, go to the CCAC web site at www.ccacregistry.org to set up a Registry account and then click on the Head Teacher Approval tab.
Charts-A-Course will review each request and documentation. A report on each application will be sent to the Department of Public Health. DPH will conduct a final review of the application and approve or not approve the request. If approved, the applicant will be sent an email by Charts-A-Course and will be able to download the personalized head teacher certificate. If an application is not approved, the applicant will also be notified by email.
http://www.ctcharts-a-course.org/index.cfm?module=105##
|
|
