Early Childhood Digest
The Latest Early Childhood Developments by Wayne RESA
June 28, 2024
Early Childhood Services Department at Wayne Regional Educational Service Agency (Wayne RESA)
Email: EarlyChildhood@resa.net
Website: https://www.resa.net/teaching-learning/early-childhood
Location: 33500 Van Born Road, Wayne, MI, USA
Phone: 734-334-1312
Notes From the Senior Executive Director
The following message went out to all Hub Contacts on 6/26/24 from earlychildhood@resa.net. Sharing again in case you missed it.
Greetings Early Childhood Educators,
As many of you are aware, I have recently been serving as the Project Director for the PreK for All initiative in collaboration with MiLEAP through an Educator on Loan program from my position as Executive Director of Early Childhood with Wayne RESA. This has been a wonderful opportunity to support the Governor’s bold vision of PreK for every 4-year-old in Michigan by 2027!
Most recently, a new opportunity has become available for me to accept a permanent position within MiLEAP that involves not only leading PreK for All, but also GSRP, Early Childhood Special Education, and the Great Start Collaboratives statewide. I am honored for the chance to continue leading Early Childhood on behalf of early learners and their families but in an even broader role. My last day with Wayne RESA is Friday, July 19, 2024.
During the time I have been serving as the Project Director for PreK for All, Elizabeth Grace has been leading Wayne County RESA as the interim Executive Director. Under her leadership and the collective efforts of our entire WRESA Early Childhood team of consultants and administrative support staff the work has continued to flourish.
Your service and commitment as an early childhood stakeholder in Wayne County is valued and your continued partnership is vital. You will be well cared for by the entire Early Childhood team as the organization moves forward to fill my vacancy.
Thank you for all you do on behalf of families and children.
If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to Elizabeth Grace - GraceE@resa.net or Beth Gonzalez - GonzalB@resa.net
Educationally yours,
Sophia Lafayette-Lause
Best Wishes to Dr. Sophia Lafayette-Lause
Please send any memories or wishes for Dr. Lafayette-Lause to earlychildhood@resa.net by July 15th.
Submit: 24/25 SY Hub Contacts
To ensure that communications, contracts, updates and more reach your designated persons in your organization we are asking for two Hub Contacts for the 24/25 SY.
Please complete the Hub Contact form with your current staff designees. If changes occur over the summer or during the 24/25 school year, please update by resubmitting this form.
Update: GSRP Implementation Manual Revision
We are sharing a set of updates from MiLEAP. Specific ISD guidance on how this will impact your program will be released July 15, 2024.
Please see the messaging below from Emily Laidlaw, Deputy Director for Early Education, MiLEAP.
The updates to the GSRP Implementation Manual will support programs as Michigan makes progress on PreK for All. The changes, developed in alignment with the PreK for All Roadmap, NIEER Quality Standards, and the Early Childhood Standards of Quality, focus on meeting the needs of families while also supporting the GSRP programs. Among the current updates, you will see revised criteria for start up grant funding, updates to the adult-child ratio and group size, and more flexible guidance around 5-day a week programming. The updates also improve readability by removing information that is duplicative or unclear.
- Wayne RESA Requirement: Approval from Wayne RESA required. Programming must align with daily curriculum, be developmentally appropriate, and meet the needs of children. Calendar guidance and template is forthcoming.
- Wayne RESA Comment: Please note "for classrooms operating 5 full days per week."
- Wayne RESA Requirement: Approval from Wayne RESA required. Programming must align with daily curriculum, be developmentally appropriate, and meet the needs of children. Further guidance forthcoming.
- Wayne RESA Requirement: Classrooms must maintain the licensing allotment for the classroom size. Not all programs will have the option to support 1:10 children. This policy is being reviewed by Wayne RESA for classrooms over 16 children. Further guidance forthcoming.
- Wayne RESA Comment: Please note you have already received your 24/25 anticipated funding letter. By July 15th programs that have previously requested to operate at 1:10 will receive an updated funding request approval letter.
- Wayne RESA Comment: Look for guidance in the 24/25 Policies and Procedures Manual.
The revised Implementation Manual can be found here:
The revised Implementation Manual will also be available here:
2024 Kids Count Data Book
Wayne RESA remains committed to improving outcomes for children throughout Wayne County.
The Annie E. Casey Foundation's Kid's Count Data book was recently released, and we are providing it here for you to review how Michigan and the country is fairing in child wellbeing.
We are pleased to partner the GSQ-Wayne and other community partners to be sure all children and families are supported in our county. This data helps guide our collective work.
PreK for All
Providing free, high-quality pre-kindergarten for all children promises substantial economic and social returns. Wayne RESA is dedicated to ensuring all children and families receive the support they need to thrive and flourish. Together, through our collective work, we will see substantial gains throughout our great County.
Early On
We know that many of our programs serve infants and toddlers, and Wayne RESA is committed to supporting you to serve families of the youngest of children.
Early On is designed to provide unduplicated, comprehensive services to eligible infants and toddlers and their families. RESA collaborates with other Wayne County human service agencies in the delivery of services.
Making a Referral
To make a referral for Early On, please do one of the following:
- Call the Wayne RESA Referral Hotline at (734) 334-1393 or 1-800-EARLYON.
- email echild@resa.net.
- visit the Early On online referral website.
Safe And Healthy Schools
Did you know…
Wayne RESA GSRP offers School Nurse Consulting Services to support you, Wayne RESA GSRP and Strong Beginnings partners, in meeting the chronic and acute health needs of your students?
School Nurse Consulting Services, which are available upon request, include:
- Review of and recommendations on program health policies and procedures.
- Free attendance for program staff to the foundational training, Safe and Legal Support of Students with Health and Medication Needs.
- Assistance in securing appropriate individual Medication Administration Authorizations (MAAs) and Medical Management Plans (MMPs)
- Facilitated trainings to support safe implementation of individual MMPs for all identified students, including:
- Access to templates of necessary forms;
- Review of completed MAA and MMP forms;
- General Tier 1 (Awareness) sessions on recognizing and beginning the response to potential health-related emergencies;
- Student-Specific Tier 2 (Emergency Care) and Tier 3 (Daily Care and Support) training sessions with the identified school health teams and parents/guardians;
- Unlimited consultation for safe and legal school support of identified students’ health needs.
- Free attendance for school staff to Medical Emergency Response Team (M.E.R.T.) Training.
- Communicable disease guidance and support.
Please complete this GSRP Nurse Consulting Services Request Form to initiate a formal request for support.
Fiscal Reminders
Budget Amendments
Programs who failed to meet their full enrollment have had their GSRP Main Budget updated with the new allocation. If your program has not yet completed updating the GSRP Main Budget, please complete this process as soon as possible.
Allocation Planning for 2024-2025
We are still working with some programs to finalize their allocations for the upcoming school year, but most programs should have received their funding allocations. The next step will be to include updated information in contracts, including per pupil funding, program support costs, and ECC classroom costs.
Accounting Software
For the 24/25 SY accounting software will be a requirement for all programs. If you have questions regarding this requirement, please join fiscal for office hours. Office hours can be found below.
Completing Program Budget Ledgers
Please remember that ledgers are due to be completed by the 15th of the month following for each monthly ledger. Please only add actual expenses to your program ledger that have been fully paid. Please note that the ledgers are what we use to track and evaluate program spending. Failure to complete program ledgers correctly and on time may result in payments being held until documentation is completed.
Topic: 6208 Office Hours: GSRP Fiscal Reporting
This is a series being held on the following dates:
7/10/2024
Join Zoom Meeting
https://resa-net.zoom.us/j/83173019577
Meeting ID: 831 7301 9577
MISTAR Reminder
MISTAR-Q Early Childhood EOP - Summer EBT
Target audience: Pupil Accountants and State Reporting Staff
Per the CEPI Announcement email regarding updating address information for Summer EBT, a snapshot will be taken of the Early Childhood End of Program (EC EOP) collection prior to its closing.
Please ensure your EC EOP collection is certified TODAY Friday, June 28 and remains certified until Friday, July 12. On July 12 you may decertify the collection for further updates as needed.
MISTAR Service Desk
Effective Monday, July 1, emailed requests will no longer be supported. This change is being made to comply with protecting personally identifiable information (PII) for FERPA and HIPAA compliance.
What is changing?
- Users will no longer be able to create tickets through email. If you send an email to create a ticket, you will receive a bounce-back email to let you know your ticket wasn’t received.
How will you be able to submit a ticket?
- Users will submit, update, and manage tickets through the MISTAR Customer Service Portal.
- Users will receive email notifications for ticket updates and must access the ticket portal to view detailed communications or respond to a ticket.
- Users may continue to call the Service Desk Help Line at 734-334-1870 to create a ticket.
If you have any questions or require assistance, please contact the Service Desk by creating a service ticket or calling 734-334-1870.
Enrollment - LEAs and PSAs
We remain under the 23/24 SY Enrollment Guidance at this time.
While we await official guidance from the legislature regarding updated income information for 24-25SY, please defer to the 23-24SY guidance. It is not too early for families to submit applications for enrollment staff to review eligibility and accept children based on the previous 23-24SY thresholds. The guidance document from 23-24 is attached, for reference.
As you begin accepting families into your GSRP classrooms, you must continue to uphold prioritization standards by enrolling/accepting those families with the greatest need first.
Applications for window babies (turning 4 years old between 09/01 and 12/01) and over-income families should be collected and completed with the necessary documentation but cannot be enrolled until we release enrollment for OI and window babies (usually, 09/01). We heard your input/feedback and anticipate announcing a date sooner than September for this release. The release of this information will depend on information received on the new ‘over-income’ level.
Social Emotional Support
Dr. Kelly Anderson, Early Childhood Social Emotional Consultant
Social Emotional Learning Resource Library
Please help me develop our social-emotional resource library by filling out this form with ideas and topics for us to develop professional resources for your teaching teams.
If you have questions regarding a child enrolling with an IEP or developmental delay and would like support in planning for accommodations feel free to reach out to Dr. Kelly Anderson, Early Childhood Social Emotional Consultant at Andersk@resa.net.
Meet Up and Eat Up!
2024 Summer Food Service Program Offers Free Meal Options for Children
The Michigan Department of Education (MDE) offers free and nutritious summer meal options for children ages 18 and under from low-income families with its popular Meet Up and Eat Up Summer Food Service program. Funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Meet Up and Eat Up program is a great way for kids to continue eating healthy meals during summer break.
To find a Summer Food Service Program site in their community, people can visit the Meet Up and Eat Up locator map at www.michigan.gov/meetupeatup. All information, including meal service times and serving dates, will be available once school is out for summer recess. The locator map website is updated regularly throughout the summer months.
Great Start Collaborative - Wayne County
Great Start Detroit / Wayne County is dedicated to ensuring every child has a strong start in life by collaborating with families and community partners. We help you stay connected with Free to low-cost Events, Help & Fun in Detroit & Wayne County!
On our Find Help page, you will find resources for shelters, food, diapers, finance, and so much more.
Looking for free or low-cost Family Fun? We also work hard to find all the local activities, festivals, reading fun, arts and crafts, and more! Check out our Find Fun Page.
Lastly, Check out our updated Out and About Resource Guide! These are hot off the press and shipping out now. If you have received copies and need more, or if you would like to order a case of 100 copies to share with families, simply fill out the form in the link, and they will be shipped to you at no cost. We can not split cases or send individual copies. Out & About Order Form.
Elaine Koons presented Talking in Teaching at the Wayne RESA Advisory Meeting, and many have expressed interest in hosting a Talking is Teaching session at their site. Click here to complete the Talking is Teaching Interest Survey
The program will be contacted by Ms. Koons regarding offering Talking is Teaching following the completion of the survey.
Talking is Teaching questions may be sent to EarlyChildhood@resa.net (Subject line: Talking is Teaching) for monthly answers/updates from Elaine Koons and Elizabeth Grace.
Share Your Inspiring Stories From the Field
On behalf of the MAISA Early Childhood Administrators Network (ECAN); we are excited to invite you to share your inspiring stories from the field that highlight the positive impact of Early Childhood initiatives across the State of Michigan.
By joining forces, we can inspire positive change, foster collaboration, and elevate the importance of early childhood development in our communities.
If you have any achievements or success stories related to Early Childhood efforts, we would love to hear from you. Fill out this form to share!
Featured: Strong Beginnings ECAN Story
Summer Activities
- Submit 2024/2025 SY Hub Contacts
Your Voice Matters: Public Service Loan Forgiveness
Congress created the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program in 2007 as part of the College Cost Reduction and Access Act, Public Law 110-84, to encourage individuals to enter into and remain employed in public service professions. The program alleviates financial burdens associated with Federal Direct Loans for borrowers working for certain public service providers by forgiving all remaining loan balances following 10 years of public service while the borrower makes qualifying student loan payments. Since its creation in 2007, PSLF has been available to borrowers working for government at all levels, non-profit organizations that are tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, and other non-profits that provide at least one of the specific services listed in the statute. This includes early care educators who work in the public sector or for non-profit organizations.
A significant share of early care educators are not considered public sector or non-profit employees and current regulations do not provide a pathway for their eligibility for PSLF.
Data from the National Survey of Early Care and Education, conducted by the Department of Health and Human Service's Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, estimates that extending PSLF eligibility to early childhood education (ECE) workers regardless of the tax status of their employer would allow more than 450,000 additional ECE workers to earn credit toward PSLF—about 68,000 who work in home-based settings and 390,000 who work in center-based settings—if they have student loans. This reflects roughly one-third of the overall ECE workforce.
Professional Learning
2024-2025 Course Catalog NOW AVAILABLE!
Wayne RESA Summer Learning Blitz
Share with your School-Age Teaching Staff!
Our 5th annual Summer Learning Blitz begins on August 1, 2024. Registration is open now.
This year we are excited to offer:
- Professional Learning at No Cost
- SCECHs Available
- 23 Unique Offerings including 7 asynchronous sessions
- Recordings Sent to All Who Register
Kristy Carmichael
Navigator - Our Strong Start, Child Care Licensing Bureau
Michigan Department of Lifelong Education, Advancement, and Potential
Phone: 517-643-0553
Child Care Licensing Child Care Licensing (michigan.gov)
Our Strong Start (connecting with a navigator) Our Strong Start (michigan.gov)
CCHIRP Technical Assistance CCHIRP (michigan.gov)
ASQ Support
Ages & Stages Questionnaires® (ASQ®) provides reliable, accurate developmental and social-emotional screening for children.
ASQ Technical Assistance is available! If your program needs ASQ Online training, login or password info, or access to the Help Me Grow partner Google Drive please don’t hesitate to reach out to Amber Anderson at Help Me Grow. All GSRP programs should be a Help Me Grow partner to receive their ASQ Online Account.
Amber Anderson
Care Coordinator/Technical Assistance
Help Me Grow Michigan
Great Start Collaborative Detroit-Wayne
313-410-5235
Open office hours are available on Thursdays at 2:00 P.M.
Zoom link for our GSRP working hours: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/5969353317
Google form link: GSRP Partner Intake Form
Booking link: Everybody Ready (zohobookings.com)
Looking for updates on what is going on in your child care licensing region?
Please join the CCLB Regional Office Hours hosted by the CCLB area managers! This is an opportunity to stay informed, connected, and engaged within your child care licensing region. These sessions are a great opportunity for conversation and connection.
LARA Office Hours (see link below):
Wayne County with LaTanya Ellington
Great Start to Quality Job Board
Do you have openings in your program? Great Start to Quality can help you find qualified candidates!
Early Childhood Job Board - Great Start to Quality
Job postings are good for 60 days and can be renewed, if needed.
Send the jobs description(s), program location and submission contact information to jobs@ecic4kids.org
Once a candidate submits a resume or cover letter, Great Start to Quality sends them directly to the program.