Migration 2011 Plans

B. Stephens/SFEI DirectorN. Williams/Policies and Procedures

April 2011

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Agenda

Schedule Migration 2011 Plans FAQ

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Migration Schedule

Present Plan to BOD: April 2011 Provide Enrolled Children with Placement: May 2011 Initiate Wait List Offers: May/June 2011 First Transition (some room 6/7 children): July 5, 2011 School Starts (second transition): August 22, 2011

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Migration 2011 Plans School year 2011-12 will be the second year the JSC CCC is without

Kindergarten. The migration plan is being tweaked based on lessons learned from 2010 and recommendations from new director on improved methodology.

Key Adjustments:

1. Teacher changes will occur in many of the rooms. Teacher movement allows director to balance hours/capability/teacher age range

preferences/and other center needs. Teachers will make the transition the same day the children move to keep consistency

through the summer.

2. Rooms 1-3 will have the age ranges modified in order to meet the developmental stages of the younger children. Children beginning in August will fall into the age ranges for each room:

Room 1- 6 wks-7 months Room 2- 8 months-14 months Room 3- 15 months-23 months

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Migration 2011 Plans Cont.2. Placement in Rooms 6/7 will include a mixing of children coming from Rooms 4/5.

Placement in Rooms 8/9 will include a mixing of children coming from Rooms 6/7. Having and “older/younger” classroom of each age range is not desirable. A mixing of the children

will allow: Developmentally:

Having a mixed range of children together permits the younger children a graded series of models for imitation, and the older ones an opportunity to reinforce their own knowledge by helping the younger ones. In the case older children can be useful and helpful to the younger ones. The younger children, in turn, have role models to follow and help them to integrate into the classroom. Both rooms to be deemed to have equal educational capability (“older/younger” provides

impression of lesser capability in the younger room). Will allow children the social development of meeting new friends each year, while

keeping some of the same friends. Allows older children ability to teach new children and allows younger children ability to

see older children do new skills. Allows director flexibility to balance boy/girls, personalities, challenges, etc.

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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

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What if I have a special need and would like a certain teacher?

All rooms will be providing quality care for your child. Children will be placed based on director/teacher discretion and appeals will only be considered if there are (1) spaces available (without moving already placed children) and (2) the director can ensure the change will not negatively affect the school. In many age ranges there will be little or no availability to accommodate requests. As an example, next year Pre-K is projected to be filled with enrolled children (without pulling in wait list children). So, in a case like that, all spots are filled and room requests cannot be honored. Teacher placements are not guaranteed and are subject to change.

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What if I feel my child is developmentally ready for an older age range classroom?

If you feel as though your child should “skip a year” please contact the director. This will only be accommodated if the school (teachers/director) feel your child is academically or socially prepared.

If the school agrees to the acceleration, you will be required to sign a form indicating you understand your child is now with this older age group and will “graduate” from the center with this group. In other words, your child will leave the center before they are ready for public kindergarten. The reason for this is that many rooms are full or nearly full each year (before we offer

wait list spots). If we have a practice of allowing families to jump ahead and then jump back, we will end up having to “save spots” to accommodate that. This is a financial impact to the center.

The only request for acceleration should be purely developmental and in cases where the child is very clearly ready for the acceleration. This should not ever be done to get a certain teacher or be with a certain set of friends. Teachers move and friends can leave, so those would not be appropriate reasons for acceleration.

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How will my child be transitioned to the new room/teachers? Transition will take place the week before the students move into the

new room. Students will visit for 30 minutes the new room and new teachers

each day. This will vary for each room with the ages and needs of the classroom.

The easiest part is when a majority of the children transition on the same day and time allowing each child to have their classmates as a security.

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Will my child remain with friends?

Children associate daily with many different classroom children while in common spaces such as cafeteria, playroom and playground. These association allows the children to have a large group of friends throughout the school.

Your child will be with some of the children he/she is currently in class with and with some new children.

Each year the groups blend in the new class allowing the children more opportunities to add friends.

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Wait List – What room am I on the list for?

The wait list currently posted is the list SFEI would fill from if a spot opened today. For migration in August 2011, all kids at the center move up to the next age range and all kids on the wait list do the same. In the summer 2011, two wait lists will be posted: one for if an opening occurs at present time and one for next year of migration in 2012 (ie August migration and beyond).

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Wait list: How do I know if I will have a spot? Availability is based on:

1) The placement of enrolled kids 2) Withdrawal between now and then 3) Wait list changes between now and then (someone being

elected BOD and getting points, miscarriages, adoptions, enrolled status changing, etc.)

Once all of these items are finalized and we know the openings in each room, offers will be made (summer). Early Pre-K will pull in some wait list families (May notification) for July start.

It is next to impossible to guarantee anyone a spot. You need to have alternative plans.

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