REPORT/RECOMMENDATION TO THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY
AND RECORD OF ACTION
May 24, 2022
FROM
JACQUELYN GREENE, Director, Preschool Services Department
SUBJECT
Title
Non-Financial Memorandum of Understanding with Victor Community Support Services, Inc. for Training to Parents of Children in the Early Head Start, Head Start, and State Preschool Programs
End
RECOMMENDATION(S)
Recommendation
Approve non-financial Memorandum of Understanding with Victor Community Support Services, Inc. to provide social-emotional development and behavioral challenges training to parents of children enrolled in Early Head Start, Head Start, and State Preschool Programs, for the period of June 1, 2022 through May 31, 2025.
(Presenter: Jacquelyn Greene, Director, 383-2005)
Body
COUNTY AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER GOALS & OBJECTIVES
Provide for the Safety, Health and Social Service Needs of County Residents.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
The recommended Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) is non-financial in nature and as such, does not impact Discretionary General Funding (Net County Cost).
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Preschool Services Department (PSD) operates the Early Head Start, Head Start, and State Preschool programs and serves more than 3,400 children in 31 locations through direct services in San Bernardino County. These programs provide education, health, cognitive, social/emotional, physical growth and development, and parent involvement services for children ages 0 to 5 with the overall goal of increasing family engagement and the school readiness of young children in economically disadvantaged families.
Under the terms of the recommended MOU, Victor Community Support Services, Inc. (VCSS) will train approximately 100 parents of children enrolled in PSD’s Early Head Start, Head Start, and State Preschool programs to assist in understanding the triggers of challenging behavior and how to redirect children displaying challenging behaviors. Children that display significant social-emotional and self-regulation challenges have been linked to high levels of stress that families experience when living in poverty. As a result, parents require continual support and educational opportunities to learn how to manage children with challenging behaviors to reduce disruptive behavior in the home and the classroom. This practice will provide a classroom environment that is more conducive to learning.
VCSS and PSD successfully partnered from 2017 through April, 2022, to provide staff training to PSD teachers in social-emotional development and behavioral challenges for low-income families under a separate MOU. The recommended MOU with VCSS will allow PSD to provide valuable training to parents of children enrolled in Early Head Start, Head Start, and State Preschool programs displaying challenging behaviors, redirecting these behaviors and providing a positive learning environment in the home and classroom.
VCSS’ performance will be monitored by the review of monthly reports on parent training outcomes to ensure compliance with the administrative, program, and conditions of the MOU. VCSS will cooperate with the County in the monitoring and evaluation of this MOU and comply with any and all reporting requirements established by this MOU. The MOU may be terminated without cause by the County with 30 days written notice.
PROCUREMENT
VCSS receives funding from the Department of Behavioral Health (DBH) to train teachers and parents on how to deal with challenging behaviors. DBH approached PSD regarding no-cost training to PSD parents of children ages 0 to 5; thus, a County competitive procurement process was not necessary.
REVIEW BY OTHERS
This item has been reviewed by Human Services Contracts (Patty Steven, Contracts Manager, 388-0241) on May 3, 2022; County Counsel (Adam Ebright, Deputy County Counsel, 387-5455) on May 5, 2022; Finance (Paul Garcia, Administrative Analyst, 386-8392) on May 6, 2022; and County Finance and Administration (Cheryl Adams, Deputy Executive Officer, 388-0238) on May 10, 2022.