Current through Register Vol. XLI, No. 38, September 20, 2024
4.1. Each county must establish a county
collaborative early childhood team which includes a core team with, at a
minimum, representation from the county school system preschool program, the
county school system preschool special needs program, a licensed community
child care program in that county not operated by the county school system, and
the Head Start program in that county. A representative from the local
department of health and human resources and/or child care resource and
referral agency shall be included in the core team when there is no licensed
community child care representative. The licensed child care programs in the
county will elect a representative to serve on the county collaborative early
childhood core team.
4.2. The
county collaborative early childhood core team shall annually assess the
composition of the full county collaborative early childhood team, which should
include a parent/guardian of a preschool child, representative(s) from the West
Virginia Birth to Three System Regional Administrative Unit, local department
of health and human resources, child care resource and referral agency, school
health representative, classroom teachers, Family Resource Networks, Parent
Education Resource Center, Starting Points, faith-based early childhood program
providers, and/or other community organizations and persons interested in,
knowledgeable of, or who provide support or education to young children and
their families. Due to the nature of child care, every licensed child care
program in the county must be extended an invitation to participate on the
collaborative team. The county must keep on file a list of invitees.
4.3. Each county early childhood
collaborative team shall meet regularly throughout the year to ensure that the
following outcomes are met:
4.3.a. Joint
decisions are made about the location of WV Pre-K classrooms including
Preschool Special Education classes;
4.3.b. Joint decisions are made about
responsibilities for sharing resources and information for each classroom,
including but not limited to staffing, facilities, food service, and
transportation;
4.3.c. Joint
decisions are made concerning program availability, including hours of
instruction per day, days of operation, and a WV Pre-K school calendar, which
must be approved by the county board of education annually.
4.3.d. Joint decisions are made to maintain a
county-wide universal enrollment process and attendance guidelines;
4.3.e. Services for children with identified
special needs are provided in a least restrictive environment according to the
requirements of that child's Individualized Education Program (IEP);
4.3.f. Joint decisions are made concerning
adoption and implementation of a WV Pre-K Approved Curricular Framework and, if
applicable, selection and use of supplemental materials/curricula
enhancement;
4.3.g. Joint decisions
are made to design and implement a continuous quality improvement process that
includes annual plans for data collection to assist in developing school
readiness goals;
4.3.h. Joint
decisions are made to design and implement school readiness goals and
transition plans;
4.3.i. Joint
decisions are made to establish and maintain a dispute resolution process to
ensure a mechanism for resolving disputes in order to support WV Pre-K program
outcomes.
4.4. All
programs participating in universal pre-k who provide services to eligible
children must follow all rules and regulations as outlined in this policy.
4.4.a. Each pre-k classroom, including
preschool special needs classrooms, must provide at least fifteen hundred
minutes of instruction per week and forty-eight thousand minutes of instruction
annually. The pre-k instructional day is inclusive of all required elements of
the daily schedule. Programs must operate no fewer than four days per week to
meet annual and weekly operational requirements. Programs must ensure that
federal regulations addressing classroom operations are met in collaborative
classrooms. The pre-k school calendar must be approved by the county boards of
education annually.
4.4.b. A
collaborative contract must be completed and signed annually by the county
board of education and each collaborative partner to illustrate agreement of
terms for pre-k program implementation. The collaborative contract between
agencies must address how the collaborative partner will assure compliance with
all applicable regulations and standards. Each collaborative contract must
include provisions for impasse resolution among partners. It is the
responsibility of the collaborative partners to ensure that the staff and
administrators receive professional development related to the policies and
regulations of all the collaborative partners.
4.4.c. A budget and cost allocation worksheet
must be completed for each collaborative pre-k classroom as part of the
collaborative contract to illustrate specific costs and allocations of
contracts.
4.4.d. In collaborative
classrooms where community partners have regulations such as the Head Start
Performance Standards or West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources
(WVDHHR) Child Care Centers Licensing, these regulations shall apply in
addition to Policy 2525.
4.4.e.
Community programs that are exempt from child care center licensing under W.
Va. Code §
49-2-113
must be licensed in order to participate in WV Pre-K unless they are located in
an approved county board of education site.
4.5. Counties must maximize early childhood
resources by collaborating with existing programs within the county before
opening new classrooms operated solely by the county board of education as
required by W. Va. Code §
18-5-44.
No less than 50% of the classrooms for eligible children must be provided
through contractual agreements with community programs, including but not
limited to Head Start and child care, unless the county collaborative early
childhood team can document that those programs do not exist in that county,
cannot meet the mandates of this policy, or choose not to participate.
4.5.a. In an instance when the county board
of education is the Head Start grantee, those settings are considered part of
the mandate for collaboration; however, the collaboration does not fulfill
these requirements for collaboration with community partners if those partners
are available.
4.5.b. Each county
board of education must have on file at the West Virginia Department of
Education (WVDE) verified universal pre-k program data, which has been approved
by the Secretary of WVDHHR and WVBE that reflects meaningful involvement of the
county collaborative early childhood team.
4.5.c. All changes of substance to the
verified universal pre-k program data must be submitted as an addendum to the
WVDE with signatures of all the required county collaborative early childhood
core team members for review and approval 30 days prior to the implementation
of the changes. Changes of substance refer to program changes including, but
not limited to, classroom locations, operation, curriculum, staffing, and
resources. Failure to submit an addendum may result in the non-approval of the
change.
4.5.d. The WVDE, in
collaboration with the WVDHHR, has the responsibility of convening a committee
to review the quality and content of the changes. This committee, designated as
the WV Pre-K Steering Team, is comprised of representatives from the WVDE,
WVDHHR, and the Head Start State Collaboration Office. State collaborative
participation on the committee will ensure the maximization of resources as
related to (1) federal and other available funds, and (2) Head Start programs
and other public and private programs approved by the State Superintendent of
Schools.
