Palouse
Childcare
PACT
 
 
 Parent
Meeting

 5/11/11






Call
to
Order:

The
third
meeting
of
the
Parent
and
Community
Task
force
in
Support
of
Palouse

Community
Childcare
was
called
to
order
on
Wednesday,
May
11th
2011
at
the

home
of
Wil
and
Andi
Edwards.




Approval
of
Minutes:


N/A

Officers
Reports:


N/A

Committee
Reports:


N/A

Unfinished
Business:


N/A



New
Business:



The
meeting
was
called
to
order
to
discuss
the
budget
developed
by
Kim
Akin.
The

intent
was
to
introduce
the
budget
to
the
parent
group
and
to
approve
a
final
budget

to
be
used
as
the
basis
for
a
non‐profit
option
to
be
presented
to
the
board
on
May

19th.




The
floor
was
given
to
Kim
Akin
to
explain
the
construction
of
the
budget,
and
to

show
the
group
the
line
items
that
were
used
to
arrive
at
the
budget.
Kim
first

showed
the
budget
as
it
would
be
if
the
school
district
remained
the
operator
of
the

daycare.
It
was
decided
amongst
the
group
that
this
was
not
a
workable
budget
as

the
bottom
line
was
extremely
tight.
It
was
discussed
and
agreed
upon
that
the

parent
task
force
would
not
present
a
school
run
option
to
the
board,
given
the

apparent
lack
of
appetite
by
the
board
and
the
constraints
of
the
budget.



Nancy
Whitesell
was
introduced
to
the
group.
Nancy
is
a
local
resident
interested
in

taking
over
the
daycare
as
a
private
business.
She
discussed
her
ideas,
professional

background
and
financial
security
as
it
regarded
the
daycare.
She
also
discussed
her

desire
to
make
sure
that
the
daycare
remain
stable
and
dependable
for
the

community
and
that
she
hoped
to
make
a
smooth
transition
with
the
minumum
of

disruption
for
current
employees
and
parents.
She
discussed
her
vision
for

attracting
new
enrollees
using
extended
hours
and
advertising
at
large
regional

businesses
like
SEL
and
others.




The
floor
was
then
opened
to
discuss
possible
changes
or
omissions
to
the
budget

under
a
plan
run
by
a
non‐profit.
The
following
changes
were
made
to
the
budget:



 • $500
dollars
was
added
as
a
reserve
amount
for
repairs
and
maintenance
of

equipment
not
covered
the
lease
agreement.

• Utilities
costs
were
removed
as
per
the
understanding
that
the
board
is

willing
to
cover
these
charges.

• The
number
of
employees
receiving
CPR
and
Food
handler
training
was

decreased
in
accordance
with
licensing
requirements.

• Pay
for
staff
other
than
the
administrator
was
assumed
to
be
minimum
wage,

although
the
alternative
of
higher
wages
to
attracted
more
qualified
staff
was

discussed
as
an
alternative



Under
this
scenario
the
bottom
line
was
deemed
acceptable
and
worthy
of

presenting
to
the
board.
Under
this
scenario
it
was
calculated
that
the
daycare

would
begin
losing
money
at
enrollment
of
%50,
while
current
enrollment
numbers

from
2011
indicate
that
enrollment
of
%75
is
‘normal’.



The
need
for
persuasive
statistics
about
the
impact
of
little
sprouts
on
the
school

district
enrollment
was
discussed.
It
was
decided
that
we
would
contact
Bev
Fox
to

obtain
copies
of
her
calculations
of
the
number
of
current
students
who
had
utilized

Little
Sprouts.
Jens
Hegg
volunteered
to
contact
Bev.
It
was
also
decided
that
we

should
determine
the
number
of
students
we
can
identify
as
leaving,
or
having
left,

for
outside
childcare
due
to
the
potential
closure
of
Little
Sprouts.



The
need
for
a
reserve
fund
under
the
non‐profit
option
was
discussed.
Darin

Watkins
discussed
the
need
to
contact
Michael
Echanove
to
discuss
the
possibility
of

finding
Economic
Development
(09)
money
through
the
county.
Identifying
suitable

grants
was
also
discussed
as
a
high
priority.




It
was
decided
that
the
non‐profit
proposal
would
be
completed
by
the
group,
and

Nancy
Whitesell
would
complete
a
similar
proposal
for
a
for‐profit
daycare
under

her
ownership.
Both
proposals
would
be
completed
by
early
next
week
to
allow
the

group
time
to
evaluate
them.



It
was
decided
that
a
small
group
of
Kim
Akin,
Merida
McClanahan,
Brenda
Brown

and
Jens
Hegg
would
meet
on
Saturday
at
10am
at
the
Palouse
School
Library
to
put

together
the
proposal.




It
was
decided
that
the
entire
group
would
meet
on
Wednesday,
May
18th
at
7:00pm

in
the
Palouse
School
library
to
approve
the
proposal
and
that
the
proposal
would

be
posted
two
days
prior
to
allow
parents
to
read
over
it
in
advance.




Action
items
were
then
assigned
to
group
members
in
attendence
and
the
meeting

was
adjourned.




Action
Items:



Identifying
grant
options:

 • Andi
and
Wil
Edwards–
Identify
Gates
Foundation
grants

• Kim
Akin
–
contact
Childcare
Resource
and
Referral

• Kim
–
Ask
around
about
how
to
directly
contact
Ed
Schweitzer

concerning
charitable
support

• Jens
Hegg

 –
Contact
Shari
Fernandez
of
Giraffe
Laugh

–
Call
SEL
and
inquire
about
their
charitable
foundation

support

–
Maintain
contact
with
regional
director
of
USDA

childcare
intiative
in
Yakima



Contact
Bev
Fox
to
identify
current
K‐12
enrollees
who
utilized
Little
Sprouts
and

the
original
daycare
mission
–
Jens
Hegg



Open
Action
Items:


 ‐
Contact
Michael
Echanove
about
county
“09”
money

‐
Identify
kids
who
are
leaving,
or
have
left,
Little
Sprouts
due

to
recent
changes





Approved
05/12/2011
–
Jens
Hegg