June’s Weekly Memos
“Alone we can do so little;
together we can do so much.”
Week of June 2
Sharing Information from the National Head Start Association
The National Head Start Association shared a flyer (English/Spanish) with a link to send messages to members of Congress telling them to invest in Head Start. NHSA shared that emails are powerful and phone calls and visits are even more impactful. Not sure who your members of Congress are? Look them up here using your home address https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member
Head Start Success Videos
We are looking into scheduling the SCOE Communications Department to create short videos from Head Start parents speaking about how the program contributed to their success or had a positive impact on their families. If you would like to nominate a parent for this video, please send their name and site to jlemus@stancoe.org You can also send any parent-created videos or letters to jlemus@stancoe.org
Is it too hot to go outside?
To answer this question, we will be following the guidance of the National Weather Service https://www.wrh.noaa.gov/wrh/heatrisk/. We will be reviewing this website weekly to plan for safe outdoor time. For the week of June 2nd, we are expected to be in Yellow Tuesday-Thursday and Orange on Friday. Next Monday, June 9th, we will be Orange. Here is the Heat Risk Guidance for Sites (print and reference weekly). Also, for more detailed information, here is the full Heat Risk Grid from the National Weather Service (English/Spanish)
Heat Guidance from Licensing
Child Safety during Extreme Summer Heat- As we enter the hot weather season in California, it's crucial to adhere to the California Department of Social Services (CDSS) Community Care Licensing Division (CCLD) guidelines to ensure the safety and well-being of children aged 0–5 in our care.
Key Heat Safety Guidelines:
Temperature Thresholds for Outdoor Activity. 90°F and above: Modify or limit outdoor activities. 100°F and above: Suspend all outdoor activities for children aged 0–5.
Hydration- Provide constant access to drinking water indoors and outdoors. Encourage children to drink water frequently, regardless of thirst.
Outdoor Play & Shade- Schedule outdoor activities during cooler parts of the day (before 10:00 AM). Utilize shaded areas or create shade using canopies or umbrellas. Avoid direct sun exposure, especially for infants and toddlers.
Appropriate Clothing & Sun Protection- Encourage lightweight, light-colored, and breathable clothing. Remind families about the importance of SPF for protection against sun damage and burn.
Monitoring for Signs of Heat-Related Illness, be vigilant for:
Excessive sweating or lack of sweating
Fatigue, dizziness, or nausea
Flushed or pale skin
Rapid pulse or breathing
If any symptoms are observed, move the child to a cooler area, hydrate, and seek medical attention immediately. Notify the Director/ Supervisor immediately. .
Transportation and Vehicle Safety: Never leave children unattended in vehicles, even briefly. reminder to families- Conduct a thorough check of the vehicle before locking and leaving it to ensure all children are accounted for.
Resources:
Active Supervision-
Ensure you are following your Active Supervision Plan and update if there have been any staffing changes. New Active Supervision Plans that will be in place for the new year need to be completed prior to the first day of class. Post & implement signed supervision plans and then send signed supervision plans to Jewelee & Chris for review
Center Supervisors, as you prepare for the new year, please complete the risk assessment form to identify any classrooms that may need additional support. Risk Assessments must be completed within 2 weeks of opening. For classrooms scoring in the low range, please save in the SCOE GO Check In Drive For any classrooms scoring medium or high risk, email the completed assessment to Jewelee & Chris so Case Management can be scheduled.
School Readiness
Counting and number sense is one of our school readiness goals. Here are a couple of resources for educators and families to support this concept while cooking pancakes—a fun and engaging activity for young children. Spanish and English.
State Programs
Management Bulletin 25-03 and Frequently Asked Questions: Serving Two-Year-Old Children in California State Preschool Programs:
Child Care Bulletin (CCB) 25-13: Guidance for Implementation of Assembly Bill (AB) 393 for Dual Language Learners the Family Language instruments are now required for General Child Care (CCTR) families. This process will mirror the process we follow for CSPP families
IEEEP Newsletter
Here is the June IEEEP Newsletter. Please share with staff and families
Community Advisory Committee Meeting
The Stanislaus SELPA is holding a Community Advisory Committee Meeting for the parents of children with special needs on June 23rd. Participants can have questions about IEPs answered, discuss the behavior needs for their children and receive information and resources. Dinner and child care is provided for in person participants and there is also a Zoom link.
Help is available when you need it:
Access support from CFS Mental Health & Wellness team at cfs-mentalhealth@stancoe.org
SCOE’s Employee Assistance Program—In the moment counseling support is available by phone 24/7 at 800-295-8323.
Please Live Hotlines: https://www.pleaselive.org/hotlines/
Stanislaus County Warm Line—available by phone 24/7. Call 209-558-4600 Stanislaus Co residents can call when they are having a hard time making it through the day but not in crisis, need a caring listener to provide effective feedback to help explore options, or want support, assistance and resources toward recovery.
Stanislaus Behavioral Health and Recovery Services (STAN BHRS) Access Line: 1-888-376-6246
CA state hotline 833-544-2374 that people — particularly older, isolated Californians — can call for local non-medical services, such as food delivery and mental health care.
988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline—available by phone 24/7. No holds and no busy signals Dial 988
Your health insurance. Call the phone number on your card to access a provider who accepts your insurance. You can access a professional at just the cost of a co-pay
Anthem Total Health, Total You-created to help you take care of your health, work on lifestyle changes and connect with specialized health professionals. Services include 24/7 Nurseline, Behavioral Health Resource, Case Management, Emotional Well-Being Resources & Inclusive Care
Carelon Well being provides support with counseling, work-live support, legal services and financial services
Kaiser-Mental Health and Addiction Care Services
Week of June 9
Fiscal Deadline
Our fiscal year ends June 30th. Be sure to send in cash buy outs, receipts, mileage reimbursements etc as soon as possible after June 30th. June 16-30 timesheets must be on a separate form from July 1-15 timesheets. Please submit June timesheets as soon as possible, don’t wait for July 15th. Timely submission will assist our fiscal staff in a smooth closing of our books.
Congressional Visits
On Thursday, June 12th two staff from Congressman Tom McClintock’s office will be touring a FCCH contracted with Modesto City Schools for EHS Child Care Partnership, Muncy and Chrysler. The purpose of the visit is to educate his team on Head Start and it’s profound impact. We need a few parents and staff with impactful stories that will best educate the congressional staff. Please email Chris if you want to recommend someone clemings@stancoe.org Here is a copy of the talking points we plan to highlight and our schedule.
We have future tours planned with California Assemblymember Juan Alanis (July 22) and staff of Senator Adam Schiff (July 23).
Is it too hot to go outside?
To answer this question, we will be following the guidance of the National Weather Service https://www.wrh.noaa.gov/wrh/heatrisk/. We will be reviewing this website weekly to plan for safe outdoor time. For the week of June 9 we are expected to be in Orange Monday-Tuesday and Yellow on Wednesday-Friday. Here is the Heat Risk Guidance for Sites (print and reference weekly). Also, for more detailed information, here is the full Heat Risk Grid from the National Weather Service (English/Spanish)
Ratio Sheet
During our CDSS review we were informed that sites need to be documenting hourly ratios. This form was created in effort to meet the requirement as simply as possible. Effective today, please begin documenting the number of Teachers (including Associates, Itinerants & Infant Toddler Educators), Adults (Head Start Assistants & Volunteers) and children on an hourly basis. If you have recommendations to improve this form, please email jlemus@stancoe.org
CFS Security Cameras
Due to budget constraints, CFS will be installing cameras only in the following locations this school year: Almond Terrace, CF Brown, Chrysler, Oakdale Head Start (J Street), & Sylvan. We will update you regarding future installations.
Car Seat Events—Please share with families
Help is available when you need it:
Access support from CFS Mental Health & Wellness team at cfs-mentalhealth@stancoe.org
SCOE’s Employee Assistance Program—In the moment counseling support is available by phone 24/7 at 800-295-8323.
Please Live Hotlines: https://www.pleaselive.org/hotlines/
Stanislaus County Warm Line—available by phone 24/7. Call 209-558-4600 Stanislaus Co residents can call when they are having a hard time making it through the day but not in crisis, need a caring listener to provide effective feedback to help explore options, or want support, assistance and resources toward recovery.
Stanislaus Behavioral Health and Recovery Services (STAN BHRS) Access Line: 1-888-376-6246
CA state hotline 833-544-2374 that people — particularly older, isolated Californians — can call for local non-medical services, such as food delivery and mental health care.
988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline—available by phone 24/7. No holds and no busy signals Dial 988
Your health insurance. Call the phone number on your card to access a provider who accepts your insurance. You can access a professional at just the cost of a co-pay
Anthem Total Health, Total You-created to help you take care of your health, work on lifestyle changes and connect with specialized health professionals. Services include 24/7 Nurseline, Behavioral Health Resource, Case Management, Emotional Well-Being Resources & Inclusive Care
Carelon Wellbeing provides support with counseling, work-live support, legal services and financial services
Kaiser-Mental Health and Addiction Care Services
Week of June 16
Program Launch
Full Day Program Launch will take place at TCEC in the Orestimba room on Monday, June 23rd. Lunch will be provided. We anticipate being together 8:00 AM-2:00 PM.
Parent Orientation & Handbooks
Please be sure to use the SCOE GO resources to support orientation. Details regarding the online and in person orientation process are on the Center Enrollment Packet and Orientation Guidance. Please review carefully because it was updated this year with PQT. Approved Orientation Materials to use with parents are here:
Online Parent Orientation & Knowledge Check (form also on IK12)
Handbooks can accessed via the QR Code on each site’s Welcome Flier. (Almond Terrace Example here). All Site/HB welcome fliers can be found in the SCOE GO Enrollment Shared Drive. Parents should be encouraged to access the handbook online. A small number of handbooks will be printed and delivered to the sites for parents who prefer a hard copy parent handbook
The Center Parent Handbook is available in English, Spanish, Farsi (Persian) & Arabic. The Home Based Handbook is available in English, Spanish & Farsi (Persian). Handbooks will soon be uploaded on https://www.findchildcarestanislaus.org/ soon. Please note that the translations are probably not 100% since the Canva program provided the translation. Please alert me to any needed corrections.
Enrollment Resources
Here are some resources to assist you as you begin to enroll families:
Slow Start Guidance (English, Spanish, Farsi/Persian, Arabic)
ASQ3 Guidance for Staff & Video for Parents (English, Spanish)
My Teacher Wants to Know (EHS-English, Spanish), (RHS-English, Spanish)
Congressional Visits
On Thursday, June 12th we took two staff from Congressman Tom McClintock’s office on a tour of Family Child Care Home contracted with Modesto City Schools for EHS Child Care Partnership, Muncy Early Head Start & Head Start and Chrysler Head Start. The purpose of the visits was to educate his team on Head Start and it’s profound impact. The Friday prior to the visit, many of us had received a concerning email from Congressman McClintock in which he called into question the effectiveness of the program and proposed suspending it’s operation. This letter made the visit even more critical. After the tours, we had a few parents and staff with impactful stories take the time to educate the congressional staff on the impact of the program and what would be the outcome if Head Start were eliminated. Here is a summary of what was shared by parents and staff and the response of the congressional staff. Here is a copy of some of the talking points we ensured got highlighted. We were very encouraged by the response of the congressional staff and are very hopeful they will educate the Congressman. Today I received an email from the staff which stated, “Thank you for coordinating this insightful visit for Alejandro and I last week. Please also extend a thank you to everyone involved, as well as the parents we met with. We appreciate the additional research and information below, we will be sure to share this with our team. Please also feel free to reach out if any other information we should be aware of becomes available. Take care.”
Is it too hot to go outside?
To answer this question, we will be following the guidance of the National Weather Service https://www.wrh.noaa.gov/wrh/heatrisk/. We will be reviewing this website weekly to plan for safe outdoor time. For the week of June 16 we are expected to be in Yellow all week with the exception of Wednesday, which will be orange. Here is the Heat Risk Guidance for Sites (print and reference weekly). Also, for more detailed information, here is the full Heat Risk Grid from the National Weather Service (English/Spanish)
Ratio Sheet—Clarification
During our CDSS review we were informed that sites need to be documenting hourly ratios. This form was created in effort to meet the requirement as simply as possible. Effective today, please begin documenting the number of Teachers (including Associates, Itinerants & Infant Toddler Educators), Adults (Head Start Assistants & Volunteers) and children on an hourly basis. If you have recommendations to improve this form, please email jlemus@stancoe.org Note: This form is required for all SCOE GO classrooms.
Help is available when you need it:
Access support from CFS Mental Health & Wellness team at cfs-mentalhealth@stancoe.org
SCOE’s Employee Assistance Program—In the moment counseling support is available by phone 24/7 at 800-295-8323.
Please Live Hotlines: https://www.pleaselive.org/hotlines/
Stanislaus County Warm Line—available by phone 24/7. Call 209-558-4600 Stanislaus Co residents can call when they are having a hard time making it through the day but not in crisis, need a caring listener to provide effective feedback to help explore options, or want support, assistance and resources toward recovery.
Stanislaus Behavioral Health and Recovery Services (STAN BHRS) Access Line: 1-888-376-6246
CA state hotline 833-544-2374 that people — particularly older, isolated Californians — can call for local non-medical services, such as food delivery and mental health care.
988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline—available by phone 24/7. No holds and no busy signals Dial 988
Your health insurance. Call the phone number on your card to access a provider who accepts your insurance. You can access a professional at just the cost of a co-pay
Anthem Total Health, Total You-created to help you take care of your health, work on lifestyle changes and connect with specialized health professionals. Services include 24/7 Nurseline, Behavioral Health Resource, Case Management, Emotional Well-Being Resources & Inclusive Care
Carelon Wellbeing provides support with counseling, work-live support, legal services and financial services
Kaiser-Mental Health and Addiction Care Services
Week of June 23
Classroom Set Up
This week as you set up your classroom, be sure to complete your Health & Safety Screener (Guidance) and Creative Curriculum Fidelity Tool Preschool/Infant Toddler—Environments section. Please do what you can to ensure that we achieve the highest possible fidelity, which will mean making changes to your environment this week. For Early Head Start, please complete the Infant Toddler Rating Scale sections: Space & Furnishings & Activities this week. Please refer to the Year At A Glance for due dates for the other parts of the Creative Curriculum Fidelity Tool and ITERS.
Professional Development Plan
Please complete your 25-26 Professional Development Plan by July 1, 2025. Supervisors, please review and approve plans and submit to the Training Team via Incident IQ.
Overtime/Comp time Opportunity
CFS is hosting monthly Escuchen Mi Voz Workshops for Spanish Speaking families who suspect or have children diagnosed with Autism from July 2025 through June 2026 at TCEC 1325 H Street. Two-Three staff with Child Development Permits are needed to provide childcare for these 5:00 PM-9:00 PM sessions. Staff should plan to arrive 15 minutes prior to the session and will submit timesheets for over/extra time or comp time. If you are interested and hold a current child development permit, respond at this link: https://forms.gle/dmtvzt4bzD6Mj1on9
Onboarding Coach Opportunity
To support staff recruitment and retention efforts within the Child & Family Services Division, an enhanced onboarding process for new education staff is being implemented. This process will give new employees a solid foundation by providing coaching support during their initial week of employment by a veteran staff member. Approved Onboarding Coaches will receive up to three $1,500 stipends for completing side-by-side coaching of a new educator at the coach's work site.
Available CFS Positions: Preschool Teacher/Full Year Preschool Teacher, Preschool Associate Teacher/Full Year Preschool Associate Teacher, Full Year Itinerant Associate Teacher, Infant Toddler Educator and Home-Based Educator. If you are interested in applying, respond to the form below by extended deadline June 27, 2025 https://forms.gle/eivVfFBsbdyrMNLa9
Food Service Feedback
Please share any feedback for Sylvan USD Nutrition at this link https://forms.gle/mzRFPZKcjNm8M6UK9
Start Up Resources
Active Supervision Plan (Due July 1)
Health Check Poster (Updated with language labels)
Infant Toddler Program Extension (Updated letterhead)
Toddler Option Parent Authorization (Updated letterhead)
Child & Family Transition Plan (with Toileting) (English/Spanish)
Full Year Calendar (Parent Version)
Site Specific Calendars (Staff Version):
Chrysler (pending)
Riverbank (pending)
Help is available when you need it:
Access support from CFS Mental Health & Wellness team at cfs-mentalhealth@stancoe.org
SCOE’s Employee Assistance Program—In the moment counseling support is available by phone 24/7 at 800-295-8323.
Please Live Hotlines: https://www.pleaselive.org/hotlines/
Stanislaus County Warm Line—available by phone 24/7. Call 209-558-4600 Stanislaus Co residents can call when they are having a hard time making it through the day but not in crisis, need a caring listener to provide effective feedback to help explore options, or want support, assistance and resources toward recovery.
Stanislaus Behavioral Health and Recovery Services (STAN BHRS) Access Line: 1-888-376-6246
CA state hotline 833-544-2374 that people — particularly older, isolated Californians — can call for local non-medical services, such as food delivery and mental health care.
988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline—available by phone 24/7. No holds and no busy signals Dial 988
Your health insurance. Call the phone number on your card to access a provider who accepts your insurance. You can access a professional at just the cost of a co-pay
Anthem Total Health, Total You-created to help you take care of your health, work on lifestyle changes and connect with specialized health professionals. Services include 24/7 Nurseline, Behavioral Health Resource, Case Management, Emotional Well-Being Resources & Inclusive Care
Carelon Wellbeing provides support with counseling, work-live support, legal services and financial services
Kaiser-Mental Health and Addiction Care Services
Week of June 30
Is it too hot to go outside?
To answer this question, we will be following the guidance of the National Weather Service https://www.wrh.noaa.gov/wrh/heatrisk/. We will be reviewing this website weekly to plan for safe outdoor time. For the week of July 1-3 we are expected to be in Orange Tuesday & Wednesday and yellow on Thursday. Here is the Heat Risk Guidance for Sites (print and reference weekly). Also, for more detailed information, here is the full Heat Risk Grid from the National Weather Service (English/Spanish)
DRDP 2025 Implementation Notes
Beginning July 1st, we will be early adopters of the DRDP 2025 Preschool Tool. Because we are early adopters, we should expect to see changes over the course of the year. We have already been notified of a positive change for preschool regarding the HLTH measures. For a bird’s eye view, here is a chart comparing the Infant Toddler & Preschool tools
This year, for children who have an IFSP/IEP, the DRDP 2015 must be completed. We will receive guidance soon regarding children who receive an IFSP/IEP over the course of the year.
DRDP 2025 measures HLTH 3, HLTH 4, & HLTH 5 are now conditional measures for preschool children with an IFSP/IEP. Note that since the DRDP 2015 is required for children with IFSP/IEP in the 2025-2026 program year, these measures will not be rated this year for any preschool child.
The DRDP 2015 Infant/Toddler View will be completed for children ages 0-2.11 years. If a child is 2.11 or younger by the end of the first collection, then the Infant/Toddler Comprehensive View must be completed on that child.
For children who are dual language learners using the DRDP 2025 Preschool View, rate the conditional measures ELD 1, ELD 2, & ELD 3.
For measures that do not apply for the child: Enter observation note in Learning Genie, “Measures do not apply” and rate as Unable to Rate (UR)
Learning Genie will be updated shortly to add DRDP 2025 Preschool & Infant Toddler versions. The DRDP 2015 version will also remain available since it is required for children with disabilities.
We will be trained on the DRDP 2025 on Friday, July 11th from 12:30-3:30pm on Zoom. Please advise parents to pick children up no later than noon that day to accommodate the training.
Printed copies of the DRDP 2025 Preschool Tool have been received and will be routed out to you. We will share the Infant Toddler Tool once we receive a copy.
New Process for Weekly Sign-In Sheets – 2025-2026 Program Year
Beginning with the 2025–2026 program year, we will be uploading the weekly sign-in sheets to a shared Google Drive folder. You can access the folder using the following link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0AKhkenj4l4z0Uk9PVA
Supervisors, please be sure to save your weekly sign in sheets in the folder as one document with COPA 236-Child Absentee Report at the front of every class by Tuesday of each week, label by date. Please note if the end of the month falls in the middle of the week, sign in sheets are due by the 2nd of the following month.
We will also be sharing this link with Sylvan Food Services so they can access and copy the sign-in sheets directly for their records. Going forward, you will no longer need to send them the sign-in sheets manually.
Printer Update
CFS will transition from Lucas to MoCal for printer maintenance effective June 30, 2025. We believe this change will improve service for staff, as ink shipments from MoCal typically arrive the next business day.
Rita will visit each site to take inventory of printers that MoCal cannot service. Because MoCal printers will be shared, we may need to remove extra printers to make space for newer, more efficient models. Rita will coordinate with MoCal to install the new shared printers at each location.
During this transition, please limit any orders of ink for Lucas printers.
Additional Calendars
Here is the Chrysler Full Day and Riverbank Full Day staff calendars for 25-26. Please double check that the calendars are accurate and align with the overall Full Day calendars. Please alert Jewelee to any errors.
Launch Follow Up
From the Teaching Pyramid training, here are the feeling faces cards in English & Spanish, Reframing Behavior handout, strategies for developing friendship skills, Tell Me What to Do Instead handout, examples of visual strategies in action & visual strategies guidance. Many of these resources are helpful for infant/toddler and preschool classrooms.
Here is a copy of the SCOE GO Infant/Toddler Activity Plan as well as a sample. As a reminder, this form is required for infant/toddler classrooms who are not implementing the Cloud. Additionally, here is the SCOE GO Infant Toddler Routines and experiences (ideas for activity plans)
Here is the ITERS & Creative Curriculum Tip Sheet
Operating Days Resource
The Calendar Days and Operating Days Quick Sheet is ready for 25-26 and is also saved in our Canva Google Drive.
Food Service Feedback
Please share any feedback for Sylvan USD Nutrition at this link https://forms.gle/mzRFPZKcjNm8M6UK9
Community Resources List
Here is the current version of the SCOE GO Community Resources List that is updated annually by our Family Advocates
CFS Family Health & Safety Fund
Great news! We have been granted $20,000 to use for the 2025-2026 program year for CFS Family Health and Safety Needs. As a reminder, all CFS families are eligible to receive this support. For SCOE GO sites, when education staff become aware of a need, please refer the family to the Family Advocate who will provide appropriate resources that may or may not include a CFS Family H&S Fund Request. To increase the timeliness of our support, we are purchasing a number of lice kits, Walmart Gift Cards (helpful for many household requests including diapers, safety & hygiene items), Savemart Cards (helpful for families in need of food) and ARCO gas cards. If needed items cannot be satisfied by one of those cards, please send a shopping cart with items (including shipping & tax) as well as links to each item along with the request form. Requests must be emailed to Jewelee for approval.
Help is available when you need it:
Access support from CFS Mental Health & Wellness team at cfs-mentalhealth@stancoe.org
SCOE’s Employee Assistance Program—In the moment counseling support is available by phone 24/7 at 800-295-8323.
Please Live Hotlines: https://www.pleaselive.org/hotlines/
Stanislaus County Warm Line—available by phone 24/7. Call 209-558-4600 Stanislaus Co residents can call when they are having a hard time making it through the day but not in crisis, need a caring listener to provide effective feedback to help explore options, or want support, assistance and resources toward recovery.
Stanislaus Behavioral Health and Recovery Services (STAN BHRS) Access Line: 1-888-376-6246
CA state hotline 833-544-2374 that people — particularly older, isolated Californians — can call for local non-medical services, such as food delivery and mental health care.
988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline—available by phone 24/7. No holds and no busy signals Dial 988
Your health insurance. Call the phone number on your card to access a provider who accepts your insurance. You can access a professional at just the cost of a co-pay
Anthem Total Health, Total You-created to help you take care of your health, work on lifestyle changes and connect with specialized health professionals. Services include 24/7 Nurseline, Behavioral Health Resource, Case Management, Emotional Well-Being Resources & Inclusive Care
Carelon Wellbeing provides support with counseling, work-live support, legal services and financial services
Kaiser-Mental Health and Addiction Care Services
