CAMP de la Oficina Nacional de Head Start: Sesión 4

(En inglés)

Office of Head Start CAMP: Session Four

Dr. Deborah Bergeron: Good afternoon or good morning, wherever we find you, to everyone joining us for CAMP session number four. This is Dr. B. I'm super excited to be here this week. These CAMP sessions, I think, have been going really well, and our goal is, obviously, to keep everyone up to speed during a really tough time. And so today we have more information for you. We've got lots of folks here with us to answer questions. I just want to remind you of a couple of things. First of all, you'll notice there's a lot of text on these slides; always like to tell people we did that on purpose because these will be available after the fact and that way, you're getting full answers to questions and – and don't have to really take notes.

You should have access to everything you need when this is over. And that we – we put these camps sessions together to empower grantees, so that you can make decisions. We really want you to think about your own situation and critically work through the correct thing to do. We have faith that you can do that. We're going to try to give you all of the foundation upon which to make decisions, you know, explore how meeting requirements might look different. We want to make sure that we're reinforcing that you need to be using local information as guidance, as much as it would be, maybe, easier for The Office of Head Start to make blanket decisions for the nation, we can't do that. Communities look very different and in fact, that's at the core of the way Head Start works anyway. We like to meet the needs of our community.

So, in that spirit, we want you looking at what is your community need? What is the current state of your own community, and how do you make a decision based on that? And then, of course, safety and health are number one. So, those have to be at the center of your decision making, and we believe you can do that. I mean, we do that on a regular basis. So, looking forward to another great discussion today. We're going to focus on family and community engagement. We're going to look at ECLKC during COVID-19 and kind of help you navigate it. I think it's been put together in a really organic way that's super intuitive.

But that being said, it's nice sometimes to have someone click through with you so that you can see how to get through it and get to all that information. One of the things I've noticed during this tough time is, you know, you want to be careful not to overwhelm yourself with so much information that it feels like you have so much, you can't wade through it, so you end up with nothing. We feel like ECLKC has been put together in a way that doesn't do that, so it's not going to overwhelm you. You can go right to what you need and – and get answers pretty readily. And then we will have a Q and A time at the end, and – and our questions week to week are building because we're basing them on what you've said you need to know. So hopefully you'll find this to be really responsive. If this is your first time joining us, the other three sessions are available to you as well. So, without further delay, I'm going to turn it over to Adia Brown, and she's going to get us started.

Adia Brown: Welcome back CAMPers, how are you guys doing today? Well, I hope that you guys are ready. We have a lot of our normal CAMP counselors with us, so Ann Linehan is here. We have Colleen again, and we have a new counselor this week. We have Kiersten Beigel, who is in charge of family and community engagement. She's the content lead here at the Office of Head Start. So today you're going to hear from her, and she's going to answer a lot of your questions about family and community engagement. So, I hope that you guys are all stepped onto the bus. We don't have seatbelts because this is a – this is a reliable, regular transportation yellow school bus, where everybody should be sitting together with your hands in your seat. And with that, I'm going to ask the first question to Kiersten. Hello, Kiersten. How are you today?

Kiersten Beigel: Hi Adia, nice to be at CAMP with you.

Adia: Oh, we’re so glad to have you, you can make pottery a little later. Kiersten, the first question that we have today is should programs still provide parents opportunities to volunteer for the upcoming program year?

Kiersten: The answer to this question is yes. Parent volunteerism is such an important expression of our work and has starred in our contract with parents as we support children's and learning – children's learning and development. But of course, it's going to look pretty different in this upcoming year, and it probably is looking pretty different now and in the past couple of months for you as well. So, programs that open centers may have new health and safety policies that restrict volunteers, any volunteers really, from entering. All programs are going to need to really ensure that any opportunities for parents to volunteer are in accordance with their local health guidelines. And, you know, those things said, of course, each parent has their own specific skillset and interests, and there's still multiple kinds of opportunities for volunteerism. Be creative, I know you are. Best practice in this area would have you thinking about a continuum of opportunities for parents. Cross parent leadership, advocacy, and of course, in parent's role as their first teachers, related activities to that. So, virtual parent meetings, virtual story hours, virtual video lessons, parents can assist teachers with planning. Regardless of the kinds of opportunities you as a program come up with, just really important to emphasize that we, and you all know this, want to just be even more sensitive about parent's time and their schedules and their stress levels, and I'm sure many of you yourselves can relate to that. So all these ideas and  – and things you come up with, of course, as mentioned, are predicated on your local health and safety guidelines, but by all means, continue to engage your parents in volunteerism.

Adia: OK, Kiersten. I'm sure that people are really glad to get that answer. And you know, you always talk about is parenting curriculum, and programs are really interested in whether or not they're still required to offer a parent – a parenting curriculum during the 2020 school year. What do you say about that?

Kiersten: Yeah, we  – we say that, yes, with a couple of caveats. So, programs should try to meet the requirement on using a parenting curriculum to the extent that it's possible. But, like many things, there's going to need to be some real flexibility about this with parents. So, I think the most important thing is that parents have the opportunity to engage in groups that offer parenting support and peer support. So, parent peer support programs can opt to use your current parent curriculum and make adaptations, and at this point, we would waive the requirements for working with curriculum developers knowing that you're likely making adaptations on a temporary basis. That said, the virtual … If you are, you know, if you … Many programs are finding that some of the virtual services you're providing are really working for you and – and your families in different kinds of ways. So, if you do intend on doing something more long term virtually on parenting curriculum, would be important to connect with those curriculum developers. On the other hand, I do think that parent groups could look quite different now. And ultimately, those – those groups that you're – that you're developing and supporting – providing for parents are really going to be dependent upon your family's needs. Keep an eye out also for a tip sheet on the ECLKC; that should be out in the next month called “Tips for Leading Online Parents Groups.” Coming soon to an ECLKC near you. Should I move on to the next question?

[Inaudible]

Adia: I was chatting away, and I was talking to you.  I was chatting away, Kiersten, and I said, you know, parents are, you know, the next thing that parents are really interested in are family partnership agreement. Should they still be doing that next program year?

Kiersten: Also? Yeah. The family partnership process is  –  is such a critical part of the way that our programs provide support and services.  And so, the partnership process includes assessing family interests, needs, and goals, working towards those goals with families, connecting with family with resources, coordinating with service providers; So all of this should be happening both now and in the 2020-2021 program year. If … Later on in this presentation, we're going to, as Dr. B mentioned, we're going to be talking about some different resources. And so, there are some tip sheets available to think about a virtual family service provision, if that's something that you're going to continue to be doing in the upcoming program year. So, tips for family services, provision, and tips for supervision around family services. So, you'll want to check those out.

Adia: Kiersten, you're really getting people's appetites wet for the next part of this presentation. They're going to be really looking forward to seeing all these tip sheets. So, but before – I know, right –  but before we get there, I do know a lot of families have lost their employment during COVID-19 – during the pandemic. And, you know, what are some of the resources that programs can do, you know, share with those families, and how can they help them?

Kiersten: Yeah. You know, this is a really hard time for a lot of families in terms of income, and – and you know, many of our families also were  – were struggling financially and were not necessarily working before COVID. So – so some of the things I'm going to offer are going to be, you know, for – for different situations, but, of course, some of this information we'll point to later in the presentation, so folks can sit tight on some of the things I'm going to say. We'll tell you where you can find them.

But for all eligible families, if you haven't already, certainly going to want to help families access their economic impact payments and tax credits that they're eligible for.

You can also help them with getting banks, so, accessing bank accounts that are appropriate to meet their needs. There are some IRS tools to help folks access their stimulus payments. For families who were working but are not now, programs can help families apply for unemployment insurance, which many of you know, there's expanded supports there right now, can help families connect with their career one-stop website – it's actually national website – where you can find a job training resources. You can also look for information from your local mayor's offices or local official’s offices, commissioners, or chamber of commerce about employment opportunities in your communities. And, you can assist families with their local American Job Center as well to see if they qualify for some different benefits – expanded benefits. For some families, it's also going to be a good time to think about, you know, signing up for online GED courses and college courses. So really thinking with families about what – what their goals are right now, what they've been, what they are now, what they'd like them to be, and continue as you have been to, to help families with their education career and in jobs.

I wanted to just offer a couple of resources real quick. There is a MyPeers community, for those who are interested, on economic mobility. There are a lot of resources that I mentioned that – that can help you with this – with all of this – this whole area. Alana will point those out. And then, we do have a webinar next week, actually, and you can check that out on the upcoming events on the front page of the ECLKC; it's on Wednesday. It's called “Partnering with Families to Build Economic Security During Emergencies,” so a lot of this information will be shared there at that webinar next week.

Adia: You know, Kiersten, I bet you a lot of people are writing down what you're saying, you know, that's not on the slide. So, could you just say – could you just tell people about that resource again, that – that event. I'm sure there's many people that want to go.

Kiersten: Yep. It's Wednesday, July 29, “Partnering with Families to Build Economic Security During Emergencies.” And, on the front page of the ECLKC, there's a section called Upcoming Events. You just click there; you can scan through and see what we're offering at any time. So, you'll see it there.

Adia: Wow, I'm sure that's going to be super helpful. So, Kiersten, you talked a lot during that conversation about, you know, offering family services in different ways, and virtual was one of the ways that you talked about offering those services and you know, what else should programs do if their parents have limited internet access?

Kiersten:  There's a couple of ways to think about this. First, is the internet access a communitywide issue, or is it a family resource issue? So, if it's a communitywide issue, then programs wouldn't really need to think about alternative ways of providing services, through phone, or in-person, or home-based services. Again, that includes – you know – that has to take into account appropriate health and safety measures, perhaps conducting home visits outside; other ways of thinking about how to individualize education services for – based on the needs of children and families; really being creative there. And I know many programs who – who – who live in areas where they struggle with internet access have been already engaging in some of these kinds of ways of providing services. There's also the side of this that's about family resource issue, and I want to point out for programs some really key things to think about here as far as resource availability. Office of Head Start put out a communication called the “Communication and Connectivity: Family Supports for Remote Service Delivery,” and so, you can check that out.  Alana will point it out later. You want to know about the Lifeline program, it's a federal benefit. If families don't have access to the internet, you can help them connect to Lifeline. It makes communication services more affordable for families with low incomes or individuals. There's a discount on telephone services, broadband internet services, voice broadband bundled services, so addressing minute issues; it's really locally determined. And so, we have information for you on that program, so you can figure out what kinds of access and what kind of service your families could get in your area. So, you'll want to check that out.

You'll also want to be mindful, and I know many of you are already in community action agencies, but you'll want to be mindful of the different kinds of emergency assistance funds available through the Coronavirus Aid Relief and – the Cares Act authorization. There may be resources that aid there with electricity, so plugging in, connectivity, as well as, you know, smartphones and information and resources there that could help aid families with their connectivity. There's also the National Digital Inclusiveness Alliance and other resources as well, but this one in particular keeps an updated free and low-cost internet plans – set of resources. It's called “Everyone On,” and it's an updated list of free and low in cost – low-income or low-cost internet plans. So, those are some things that programs will want to check out just to help families access and improve their – their internet – internet capability.

Adia: Well, thank you, Kiersten, what a wonderful answer, and I'm sure that all of the campers are out there taking copious notes on everything that you said. So many resources, so many opportunities. I'm going to switch over to Ann. She's a familiar CAMP counselor to you guys. And I'm going to ask Ann … Ann? You know, are programs expected to host family engagement events during the upcoming program year.

Ann Linehan: Hi Adia. This … I smiled when I saw this question because this is not even a requirement, so this must be from our overachievers. So again, you know, if programs are wanting to do family engagement events, they're not a requirement, although many – many offer events for families. Again, it's looking at the local health guidance to determine when it's safe for in person, but we have seen lots of creative strategies already implemented by programs that are doing virtual family engagement events. So again, it's really a local – a local decision, and it's all about safety.

Adia: Ann, there are so many people who are worried about homelessness and families that are becoming homeless. What are some of the things that – what are some of the ways that programs can support these families who are at risk of becoming homeless or who have become homeless?

Ann: Well, you know, this is really so serious, and I think we're going to see many of our family who were so proud that they maintain their own homes, apartments, and are becoming homeless. It was – I was just reading a story in North Carolina. They – the governor had issued an executive order along with the North Carolina Supreme Court saying to temporarily stop evicting people. But we know even in that state, when they took measures to stop evictions, the homelessness still increased. I think what is so critical is that programs, and again, this is such a family engagement, family social worker issue, you have to know how to connect with your families. Not … Having an address is not enough because many of them may have had to move. So, staying in, you know, constant contact, I think is absolutely important. And I think particularly in this time, having close relationships with your housing authorities, hotels and motels, shelters and local shelters, homeless service providers, and faith-based entities. Really, I think that the communication and the trust among the partners so they can easily identify and refer families back to you that have been part of Head Start or may now need Head Start or Early Head Start. So, I think it's about communication. I also think when we talk about supporting our homeless families, clearly we're looking at the other services that happen outside of a classroom or outside of a virtual instruction, and we're talking about things as supporting them with transportation or critical food or healthcare needs. Again, with the instability of housing, this is a major – major priority for, I think, all of our Head Start and Early Head Start programs. Really stretching – stretching the limits of how they can be supportive to these families.

Adia: Wow, Ann. I think that's really good, and along with that stress – should probably be a word that's synonymous with COVID-19 – and programs are really worried and wondering: how can they help parents who have just experienced such high levels of stress and anxiety during the next program year?

Ann: Well, I feel like Kiersten when I – when I answered this question because I think she would absolutely say exactly what I'm saying, and programs really need to draw upon their program's best relationship building practices. And I – and I think strong programs have already – have an awareness of what it takes to build the relationship with a parent because if we don't have the relationship, it's very hard to then help the – relieve the parent of stress or anxiety that they're feeling. I – I do think connecting, not making judgements, being supportive. And I think there are going to be situations where parents are going to need connections with other parents, and for some families, I think we have to look at the role that our tele – tele-health offers some parents in many – many communities. But we really have to connect parents with – with resources, and sometimes those are going to be mental health resources as needed. This is a really … I cannot imagine. … You know, we dealt with homelessness a minute ago, but even the stress of just being in a home with a bunch of kiddos running around and not a lot of resources has got to be just an unbelievable situation for many, many parents – many healthy parents to manage.

Adia: Yeah, it's probably very stressful for many health – healthy families to manage. And, you know, programs are really wondering about families who, or parents who may have contracted COVID-19 and whether or not they should still be providing family engagement services to those families?

Ann: Well, a resounding yes, but this goes back to the last question. I think parents should feel absolutely comfortable with their relationship with their – with their Head Start program. And they should know, because they may be – someone in their family may have COVID; that doesn't mean that the support is going to stop. We had a situation that came to our attention where a parent was so afraid that her child would lose his slot in the Head Start program, that she was afraid of this closing, that she herself had committed, and it resulted in the program … the little – the little boy in the classroom got sick, and obviously, the program had to shut down for a period. So again, I think it – it – it really relates to how sup – how – how much parents trust the Head Start program and know that, regardless of what circumstances they are facing, including, you know, being – being diagnosed with COVID-19, that the Head Start program will be there and continue to provide resources.

Adia: Well, that's great, Ann. And Ann – Counselor Ann, I have a one last question for you today, and that is, you know, programs are concerned about families who are at home with their children, and that, at times, there may be some higher incidents of abuse and maltreatment. We hope that's not the case, but how can programs help prevent child abuse in the home?

Ann: Well, it's interesting Adia, because when, you know, there – there sort of a lockdown, sheltering in place first started, there were significant – there were a lot of articles about …  That we absolutely knew then; the science, the medicine was there, the research to say we know that domestic abuse – abuse – we know that child abuse is absolutely going to increase under these circumstances. And it could be, and again, for a variety of reasons. We absolutely need to, again, to empower families to make sure that they have the kinds of connections where they themselves can call domestic shelters, hotlines, children's protective services, or community health centers. And you know, we really … This is an important time to partner with your local schools because they could also help in identifying children and families who benefit from virtual family support during this time. And again, you know, facilitating parents peer learning groups could foster support for parents while the stress is heightened. So again, it's about acknowledging that the increases are occurring, the reporting is probably down, and that's not a good thing. So, the question is what can Head Start do to facilitate the supports for families to get the support they need before harm is done to the child or another family member?

Adia: Well, thank you, Counselor Ann. We really appreciate it. I'm gonna call up CAMP Counselor Colleen. Are you there, Colleen?

Colleen Rathgeb: I am. Hello, everybody! Good to be with you again.

Adia: [Inaudible] Nice to have you again, Colleen. You know, one of the questions that came in was about virtual visits and, you know, parents who are not able to participate in those visits. Should programs drop them from home-based?

Colleen: No. We definitely don't – we don't want programs to be doing that. We do understand that a 90 minute virtual home visit may not be realistic for all families or all the time, and what we really want programs to do – you know, as they normally do – is really focus on building that relationship. And – and over time, hopefully, length of those visits could be increased. And so, incrementally, those can be increased, and they can find an amount of time that works best for the parent and the child. And as always, programs should really be as flexible as possible as they can in scheduling those virtual home visits to try to accommodate parents' work schedules and other conflicts. And we really want a – also kind of highlight right now that even if a parent or caregiver isn't available to participate in a virtual home visit, there are many kids that we're serving, especially preschoolers, that could benefit from a virtual visit even without the parent or caregiver. So, as you know, programs know, teachers can – can listen to – can, you know, – can tell children's stories, the children can tell stories, they can ask and answer questions, do lots of different activities with – with – with the child in those events when – when the – when the parents can't be there. We also want to – to make sure, you know, that it – while the visits are – are super important, we know that many enrolled families really desperately need comprehensive services right now. As always, but again, even more heightened need in places right now, and so, you know, meeting those basic needs of kids is so foundational to school readiness. And so, we want to underscore how important that is and how much, again, we want to keep families enrolled to the degree that we can – can – that we can to be able to facilitate things like the deliveries of food, and formula, and diapers; being able to bring education materials, and books, and puzzles, and supplies, things, crayons, and paper, you know, that we can really help support parents during this time, for them, you know, being the – the main teachers of their children. Also, really important that programs are continuing to – to make sure kids have health insurance, that they're up to date on their EPSDT, and to help make those connections with families to other needed community services.

Adia: So, it sounds like there's just a lot of things that programs can do if parents can't participate virtually to continue to support the program. So, Colleen, we're going to talk about resources a lot later on today, but I have a question here that – about whether or not there are any resources for providing center-based services virtually and what that might look like?

Colleen: So, there definitely are. And as you said, there's going to be a lot more conversation later in the hour about that, but we do really want to let programs know that there are resources to help them make decisions about how they design their virtual services. And we know that it really is going to be individually focused depending on, you know, the needs and the ability and interest of families, and the capacity of their staff. And we want programs, you know, to think about how they can use their school readiness goals and their curriculum to really play in creatively for the virtual team teaching and learning. We've heard from some programs that they're considering using a home visiting or a home based curriculum as the foundation for their virtual learning services because we know those home visiting curriculums can be really effective in engaging parents in delivering that teaching and support, and this time when, again, when the children aren't going to be in many cases in the centers. And so, we really encourage folks to – to – to be creative. We know you'll need to experiment before you're really deciding and – and you'll maybe, you know, I'm going to have to make changes as you're going, as you plan to do – how things will work individually, how whole group things may work, how small group sessions, you know, how there would be things that are done virtually, things that may be done in. … Giving materials to parents to work on it. So again, we have resources for you and really want to encourage that innovation and creativity in programs and how they think about the best way for those virtual learning environments.

Adia: All right. Well, we're going to continue with that theme a little bit talking about virtual, you know. How – how will teachers do their observations if this – if the children are virtual?

Colleen: Well, obviously the observations are not going to be able to be the same, just like the way the, you know, the curriculum is not going to be delivered in the same way. But we do think that programs are going to be able to continue to support teachers to the extent possible to really be able to still understand where their chil – children are, what's their status, what progress are they making through lots of different ways. So, we think that –that's still going to be critical to know where the kids are and what they need to do to be able to support those kids’ continued progress and individualized for those children. So, some things they can do is help parents give them information through, you know, talking to parents, having parents share their observations of what their children know and are able to do, allow parents to – to collect photos of children's work and share that with the – with the teachers. Let the teachers actually do some direct observations, even during those virtual – virtual education experiences that they're having with kids so that they can really observe children's responses and questions and see what they're doing. So, it's certainly not going to be the same as – as it is going to – would normally look in a classroom setting, but we know that programs are really going to be doing their best to figure out how they can continue to do this and really innovate in this unprecedented time.

Adia: Well, thank you, Colleen. You know, I just got a note that some of the CAMPers in the back can't hear you. So, this … If you can just, you know, talk to those guys way back in the back of the CAMPsite. And our next question is really going to be about family service workers and, you know, how could they help families and support parents that might not be comfortable returning their children to the in-person setting?

Colleen: Well, we understand this is a very high anxiety time; and during that, we really –really are encouraging programs to prioritize consistent two-way communication with families so that they really know what to expect when programs reopen. We think the – the uncertainty and the – the unknown is really – just very, obviously – very scary right now. We really are encouraging parents – programs to gather parents’ questions, get their input, hear their concerns, and really lay out the program guidance and the plans as clearly as possible. So, we think those communications should be routine, should be consistent, should be in writing as well as virtual or over the phone. There are opportunities for one-on-one communication as well as group communication, and really, approaching each case on an individualized basis. And, you know, as we’ve talked in a lot of these CAMP sessions, there is a lot of flexibility for programs to plan differently as they approach this year; and we know that there may be different approaches that are needed for different families. So, some program – some families may be able to benefit from in-person services and be able to do that, while other families may want or need virtual service provisions. And so, we really want programs to be able to – to communicate with families, to plan with families, and then to revisit their – their approaches at certain, you know, certain dates and as local health guideline changes. And again, to just communicate and communicate.

Adia: All right, Colleen. Well, thank you so much for coming out again this week. I'm sure we want to talk to you a little later on in the presentation. But right now, CAMPers, I need you to get all together, circle all around, get close – get close, because we are about to do a CAMP session show and tell, and I want everybody to look at their screen and be able to see what's going on. We have another CAMP counselor with us, and Dr. B's going to be joining us again to type – take you through the – talking about all of these resources that are available on the ECLKC. And we have CAMP counselor, Alana! Alana, are you there?

Alana Buroff: I sure am. Hello, everybody. 

Adia: All right. Well, we – I'm sure that all the CAMPers are excited to find out where are all these wonderful resources, and we have just the right person to tell us about them. So, Alana, you want to tell us – you want to tell us … well, we’re going to start off with Dr. Bergeron. Dr. Bergeron, where can people find all of these wonderful resources?

Dr. Bergeron: So, thank you, Adia. I'm super excited about this session, actually, cause I'm sitting here listening, looking at the questions coming in, and I'll see a question and think, “That's on ECLKC! The answers right there!” And then I remember that as wonderful as the internet is, sometimes too much information is like getting no information because it's hard to navigate. So, what we're going to do now is we're going to walk you through, step-by-step, how to navigate the COVID page. But before we do that, I want to give you another little tip; there's not a slide on this, so you have to use your listening ears on this one. I use this all the time: it’s called Google; and if you Google “ECLKC,” space, “COVID,” space, and any of other word, you will go right to the page that you need. So, you could Google “ECLKC,” space, “COVID,” space, “diapers,” and you'll get an answer about whether you can spend money on diapers. You could – you could Google “ECLKC,” space, “COVID,” space, “governance,” and it'll take you right to that page. So, we're going to go through this so that you know how to navigate this incredible resource that Alana has worked so hard to put together, but I also know that sometimes it's hard to remember how to do these things, and I have found that that is a way to get right to what you need. So, these answers are there. Please – please – please take advantage of all of this work that she's put into this. So, without further ado, I want to turn it over, and I think you're going to walk us through some good stuff, right?

[Inaudible]

Adia: Yep. Hi Alana. So, welcome back. So, I, you know, the screen that's sitting up right here – I see this big arrow here. What's that arrow all about?

Alana: Well, the big arrow is … If you go to the – to the ECLKC, on the top of every page, there's a big red bar, and that big red bar says “Resources for COVID-19,” and that will take you to the Covid page. But, eventually, we're hoping that it won't be the biggest emergency in the world and that we will still have this respondent COVID-19 page in the middle of the landing page that has all of the – the resources for – for just a collection of resources we put together around COVID-19.

Adia: All right, Alana. Well, … What … Tell us a little bit about what's going on here? I see that it looks like people can search and people can find some things, how's this work?

Alana: That's right. Dr. B just told us the trick about googling on the ECLKC, and that works for all of our resources. If you say, in Google or any other search engine, if you put in “ECLKC” and any other topic you're looking for, Google works really well. Our search is getting better. If you've been with Head Start for many years, you'll know that our search hasn't always been very great, but it is getting better. But what you see on the first arrow is that if you search at the top of the coronavirus pages, it'll search only within the coronavirus pages so that you can get the relevant information for the pandemic that we're in. You’ll also see on the left, there's a second arrow that kind of shows you the outline for how we've organized the COVID materials, because the first page of the landing is the updates, and it's got all of the – the breaking news and the – all the other resources we've done. But on the left, we've organized those a little bit differently.

Adia: All right, Alana. Well, you know, that is really helpful. I – I'm learning a lot just listening to you about this. One of our biggest questions that all CAMPers have are where can we find the next – the last CAMP session?

Alana: So, when you first land on the coronavirus pages … I've seen a lot of people say they can't hear me. Adia, can you hear me all right?

Adia: I can hear you. I can hear you. Just a little louder, you might want to get closer to your microphone, the CAMPers in the back might be having a hard time.

Alana: Got my mic in my mouth.

Adia: All right

Alana: Well, I'm going to continue. I apologize for the technical difficulties. So, when you first land on the COVID pages, there’s a full listing of all of the updates that we've done since the very beginning, reaching all the way back to when we did the wages and benefits information in March 13th and the CAC flexibilities. Every resource we've put out since then, every webinar we've done, every questions and answers, every resource, e-blasts related to the COVID-19 pandemic, is right here on this first page. You just gotta scroll down it. Just keep scrolling down. And so, the latest updates have been these CAMP webinars. We've done session one, session two, session three. … Session four will probably be up tomorrow or the next day. And as for session two, you'll might remember that we couldn't download the slides, but now if you go into these, you have to register for the – for the webinar again, but you can also download the slides for session two, but we've also put the questions and answers for each of the slides into the website, so you can just find them without downloading and listening to the slides or listening to the webinar. So – and we'll get to that in a bit.

Adia: Wow, that's great, Alana. It's so good to have everything right here. I think if … people are going to be excited to know that they go right to that COVID-19 update page and there are all CAMP sessions with all those questions and answers, and they can click on them and download it. That's pretty fantastic. One of the things that we talked a lot about where things that are related to program management, Alana, and so, what are some of the things that people can find in the resource pages that are related to program management?

Alana: Yeah. So, you'll see that the arrow here is pointing to the left navigation bars. And if you click on the left navigation bars to “Program Management,” this is everything we have to do with policy. So, all of these – the questions and answers that have come out around camp, all the items and the PIs we've put out, information around monitoring; anything that's official policy-type information, that's going to be listed right here under “Program Management” during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Adia: Wow, I see one that's probably going to be a really hot button too. I see ERSEA coming out over there on the right-hand side. People have asked us so many questions about ERSEA, and there's tons of resources that are related to that. Let's dig a little deeper, Alana, and see what else is underneath this program design management page.

Alana: So, yeah, if you go to the – the first thing is Funding and Administrative Flexibilities. So, you'll see the information there about the distribution of the CARES Act funding, the IM's on administrative flexibilities, and the question – the responses to question and answers regarding other flexibilities that we've sent out by email or posted on the ECLKC previously. We also are … In response to some of the questions I've seen coming through here, we're going to post the fiscal webinars that we did right now. If you scroll through that first page, you'll find that we did some fiscal webinars, and we'll post those to this Funding and Administrative Flexibilities page later this week so you can find out information about allowable use of funds and other fiscal type questions.

Adia: Wow, these are fantastic resources. I know even today in our box we have people who are asking questions about, “How can I spend funds? What can I buy? What can I purchase? Can I get a thermometer? Can I buy the internet? There's so many different questions that continue to come up about these things, and right here on this slide is where grantees can go back every day if they need to find out some more information about that. So, Alana, monitoring: always a hot topic. Can you tell us a little bit about what people can find here?

Alana: Yeah, well, it … Adia, you know that monitoring spend a little different at the beginning of – or towards the end of the last program year and for the program year coming up. And last year – last week you covered this information in the – and the – the CAMP webinar. And so, I just … The information is here if you need to go back to it. Right now, the current information says that we're going to tell you about the monitoring strategy in September 2020, and as soon as that strategy is available, we're going to post it right here in the “Monitoring” section of the – of the COVID information.

Adia: Okay, well, Alana, me being the monitoring leader, I'm really happy to see this cause we get questions about monitoring all the time, so it's good that people can just go to the website, click on “Monitoring” and get the latest update. Now, you know, during our CAMP session one, it was – ERSEA was such a hot topic. People asked us so many questions about ERSEA, what should they do. Tell us a little bit about what they can find here on this – on this resource page.

Alana: So, I'm trying to use a better audio. Give me a second. All right. Adia, can you hear me now?

Adia: Yeah, I can hear you, yep.

Alana: Great. So, on the ERSEA page … Let me get some of these questions. … And here … The very first CAMP session we did, if you missed, was about ERSEA. We posted a whole lot of FAQs about, you know, will programs [Inaudible] reach for enrollment. And all the enrollment and recruitment type questions that are out there we – we posted, and we also  – even before the CAMP session one two weeks ago – we also put out some frequently asked questions around if grantees are already in that full enrollment initiative, do they have to – like what what's going to happen with them now that enrollment has changed a lot because of this Covid pandemic. So, all those – all those FAQs, all those questions we've asked are in this section, as well as the ERSEA strategies during a pandemic, technical assistance document, and that's at the bottom of those FAQs.

Adia: Fantastic. You know, the same thing, there was lots of questions about program structure, you know, ratios and, you know, and all the – how many teachers should be in the classroom. You know, tell us a little bit about what folks can find on the website about that?

Alana: Yeah, so they're listed here on the left. The left is the navigation here, so you can see where all the FAQs are posted and the program structure questions about what's – what programs are expected to operate – are programs expected to operate – are funded to operate and flexibilities to allow for program schedules and service duration for the school –  the coming up program year, all those types of questions are answered right here in a “Program Structure” section.

Adia: Boy, Alana, I just can't believe how conference – well, I can believe it cause I know you're in charge of this, and this is so comprehensive. So many things that grantees can find. Let's see.

Alana: The other thing I want to show on this page. Adia, the other thing I want to show on this page is you can see that the Office of Head Start CAMP session one is in a different color here. If you don't want to try to find it in a different spot, you can just click on that link and it would bring you right into CAMP session one, if you wanted to hear the discussion.

Adia: Wow! So well organized. Let’s see if Dr. B can find some stuff, you know, CAMPers, you know, we like to use Dr. B as our tester because if she can find it, you know, everybody can find it. Well, Dr. B, you know, there were so many questions on the CAMP session two about wages, wages, wages, wages, people wanted to know, how did they compensate staff, you know, where could they find those information? Can you – can you tell us a little bit about what they can find here under this “Human Resource Management Section?

Dr. Bergeron: Absolutely, Adia. The – the – this discussion around wages and other HR issues has been going on, I think, pretty much since March related to all of this. It – it creates a lot of anxiety, and we've tried really hard to stay ahead of it. So, you'll find all the information around, you know, wages, benefits, other HR issues that they come up, we'll put in this section. You know, we need to have a lot of flexibilities around this, and we continue to assess where we need to be flexible, and as we do, we'll – we'll post right here anything you need to know in terms of payment, paying staff, and providing benefits to staff.

Adia: Everything's there. That's original. You did a great job, and you know what, you always do. I like to tease you a little bit because you don't get to use these as much as we do. And so, you know, for folks who may be new to it, you know, you can … Do you find this really easy to find this stuff on – on the – on the website?

Dr. Bergeron: I do, and I – and I do think that that's a really good point because coming here, not being from Head Start, having to … Something like ECLKC, just the acronym alone takes a little while to remember. But, it really is – because it is unique, not difficult to do searches around ECLKC because it's a unique search on Google and you can bring up very specific information, so I encourage folks to use the search bar there if they can't find what they need.

Adia: Yeah, that was pretty good. That's pretty cool. You know, the other thing that folks are asking us a lot about … And something happened to the slide. I don't know what happened, was opening centers. And I had a nice slide here for you. Let's see if I can grab it.

Dr. Bergeron: Well, I have “Program Management” next. Yeah?

Adia: Yeah, “Program Management.” So, talk a little bit about what you can find on “Program Management.”

Dr. Bergeron: Yeah, so again, I mean, all of this is going down the navbar and showing you the different details, and as you drill down, you just get more and more specific. So, you know, the management systems wheel as it applies during a pandemic, programs during a pandemic, and then, you know, getting programs connected is another big piece, and you'll find all of that right here.

Adia: Excellent!

Alana: Adia, I’m just going to jump in right here while we're looking at this navbar. The CAMP sessions from last week on the – the questions and answers around the timelines for when things have to get implemented that we did on CAMP session two, and the things on early childhood development that we did in session three, as well as today's on PSEE. All those questions are going to go under one of the – we're going to put one up here called comprehensive services, and we'll have all those questions and answers up in the next week or two.

Adia: Wow. Well, Dr. Bergeron and Alana, you have done such a fantastic job of helping people really get started and figure out where they can find things on the ECLKC. I mean, it's just been absolutely fantastic, and there's so many resources. There are just – there's too much to show. You know, and one of the things that I know that grantees really get excited about – about our CAMP session is getting to the lightning round. So, there are some of the questions that they ask. And right now, we have a – we have a few minutes left, so I'm going to say thank you to you two as are – as great CAMP counselors, and I'm going to move on to the lightning round.

Dr. Bergeron: You're going to ask the first question, or would you like me to ask Colleen?

[Inaudible]

Dr. Bergeron: OK

Adia: [Inaudible] I'm going to ask that first question, don't you worry. Colleen, one of the things that people are asking about are: will 10% over-income still be funded enrollment, or is it actual enrollment?

Colleen: It is actual enrollment. So, for the – for … Again, for the 10%, also for the 10% disability, it is on the actual enrollment. So, if programs are serving, many fewer children this year, then they – their funded enrollment, it is based on the number of children they're serving.

Adia: Fantastic, Colleen. I have another question. How is actual enrollment counted with virtual services?

Colleen: So, programs should count enrollment for virtual services, generally the same way they count it for in-person services. So, if a child in a – in a given month, a child was enrolled and they've participated in virtual learning opportunities, they should be counted. Similarly, if they were a home-based child and they've had virtual home visits, they should be counted. So, just think of it very similarly to the way you would if a child came into a classroom or had a home visit under normal circumstances.

Adia: Excellent. Colleen, can you clarify for us the ratios in the classroom? For example, if a classroom has a one – one qualified teacher to 10 students, is that allowable? Or are programs required to have at least two staff with only 10 children?

Colleen:  We still do have to have two qualified staff for a Head Start classroom. We really think this is important to ensure high quality and that the – the classroom is safe for children. And so that is –  that's – that's the – the standard answer. If a program has a really compelling reason that they think they have such small Head Start groups or something very unique about what they're doing, and they think that having a teacher and a teacher assistant really doesn't make sense in their classroom, and that they can ensure the high-quality safe environments with – without that, they should contact the regional office. But we really expect that we need to qualified staff, even for these smaller class sizes.

Adia: Fantastic. Ann, for early Head Start, should the programs be holding children?

Ann: Well, you know, we want to encourage, and we expect, the programs will establish a transition plan moving children to a preschool slot as soon as possible after their third birthday. You know, eventually the – what we're going through now will end, and as we return to more typical services, really, if we have children that are enrolled in age appropriate programs, it's really going to make that adjustment back a lot easier. So again, this is not big brother out monitoring this, but we're saying, you know, establishing those transition plans and moving the child as soon as possible is important

Adia: Ann, in time, are programs still mandated to meet the 20% in 2020-2021?

Ann: Well, you're talking – programs are pretty much talking about their – their base grant. We still know that many programs rely on income to meet their match through volunteer hours that parents do in a variety of ways, mostly in the centers. And we expect this year, the challenges – certainly, if programs are relying on parents being in the Centers – is going to plummet significantly. You know, while we – we say that matches is important and it’s a requirement, we want to stress that programs can always request a waiver or all – of all, or a portion, of the match requirement at any time during their current budget period. And that's under the existing, sorry, that's not a flexibility. What I do want to say is, you know, don't wait till after the budget period is over. You know, if you know this year your circumstances have changed, then submit the waiver request with your – with your – with your funding application, or if you're already in a current budget period now, and you anticipate by October/November, “Boy, it's going to be hard to make it,” then submit a request. Don't – don't jam yourself and regional office staff at the very – at the 12th month to request a waiver.

Adia: Great, Ann. How about follow up reviews? Is there any flexibility around the timeline for correcting ANCs and deficiencies?

Ann: You know, Adia, and again, I'm speaking to the guru right here. You know for – for many reviews, even pre COVID, we have done follow up that have been [Inaudible] reviews. There are things that programs can do, even if children are not in the classrooms where they can make corrective actions. So, we really want to stay the course. But, if there are exceptions, we want to remain flexible, but to the extent that we don't get everything jammed up in the queue. We want to move forth and – and work with programs with, you know, shortly thereafter their – their established corrective action periods. Again, but there'll be flexibility if necessary.

Adia: Excellent. Colleen, disability waivers. What's the deadline to submit for 2020-2021?

Colleen: So, with the decision ability waivers essentially things are going to be – that are –are operating pretty much as normal this year. Programs really need to be doing everything to the extent possible they can to complete those developmental and behavioral screenings and refer children to Part C or Part B agencies to evaluate those children. So, as in other years, if at the midpoint of the program year it seems unlikely that you mean that you won't meet the 10%, you should request a waiver through HSCS, and they can submit those waivers any time after that point, and – but they should be submitted before the year has ended. We understand this is going to be a more challenging year than normal, but we also know just how critical this is.

Adia: Well, I want to thank all of our camp counselors for going through that lightening round with us, and what I want to remind campers that you – these sessions are here to really empower you to make reasonable decisions, to help you think about ways that you can meet the Head Start requirements differently, to reinforce that you need to use your community data, and to ensure the health and safety of children. We went through … We missed a lot of – some of the slides on the resources, but we hope that when this is available for you to download, that you will take a look and go back to the PowerPoint presentation and really get a good picture of all the resources that we have available around COVID-19 for your use and that you visit the ECLKC often. Next week, we're going to talk about health and if there's any breaking news, we will let you know. Dr. Bergeron, would you like to say goodbye to all the campers?

Dr. Bergeron: I would! I think we ran long this time, and I think last time we finished early when I was on for the first one. So, these are getting richer and richer and more and more information. I'm supposed to finish with breaking news, and the breaking news is this: I have started doing virtual site visits, and I'm loving them. So, if you are open for summer and you would like a virtual site visit, reach out through your program specialist or RPM and let me know, and I'll do the best to – to show up. It's been a lot of fun to see what folks are doing and to meet teachers and kids and – and parents and all kinds of things and kind of feel like you're back in touch with the ground. So, thanks for that, and I look forward to next week.