FAMILY DAY GUIDELINES

Each Center will be allowed up to FOUR Family Days a year, not including Orientation. The end of Year Celebration is a Family Day.

Family Days are any activity that parents and children are invited to. They are great opportunities for parents, children and staff to get together. They enable us to do many things: education for children and adults, an opportunity for parents to meet and get to know each other and staff. Our goal is to have 3 events that combine the richness of parent involvement with developmentally appropriate children’s activities.

On the other hand, we know that Family Days are lots of extra work for staff, so we want to encourage and support you as much as possible.

The following guidelines are to be followed when planning your Family Days:

1. If your Family Day is to take the place of a regularly scheduled class day, we must provide all the services we would normally provide for a Head Start day.

A. This means that a child may not be excluded from participating in this activity if their parent will not be coming.

B. In addition, whatever transportation you normally provide to children will need to be duplicated for Family Day.

C. The event must be at least 3 ½ hours in length.

D. Prior approval must be obtained from the Director of Education or Education Supervisor, and Food Service Manager, a minimum of three weeks in advance.

It is only if all of the above criteria are met that the event can be considered a school day and reflected as such on your attendance sheet.

2. If Family Days are an addition to your regularly scheduled four class days, they may be any length your center team feels appropriate. You are not required to provide transportation, although we encourage you to offer this service on an “as needed” basis.

FOOD GUIDELINES

A. Family Day menus need to be planned by the center team with input from the Education Staff, Family and Community Partnerships Staff, and the Nutrition Services Staff. B. Each center cook is allowed $3.00 per child enrolled in that center for each of the four events. Cooks must stay within the allocated Family Day budget. It is not necessary to spend all the money in your budget. C. Food provided for Family Days and the End of the Year Celebration can be fund raised from center parent groups or donations acquired by parents or staff. D. Paper products for easy clean up may be purchased with Family Day money, but decorations or other non-food items may not. E. Additional money can be requested from Family and Community Partnerships for food, child care costs, craft and other supplies. Submit a “Parent Training Money Request” form to the Family and Community Partnerships Department Manager a minimum of three weeks in advance. F. In order for children’s meals to be reimbursed by the CACFP, you must serve the required 2 meals per day (e.g. breakfast and lunch, not a mid-morning brunch. Dinner cannot be reimbursed by the CACFP). G. If Family Day is not held during regular Head Start hours, no money is reimbursable through the CACFP program.

COOK GUIDELINES

A. Receipts with cap sheets should be turned into the fiscal office. The receipt needs to be clearly labeled FAMILY DAY. Purchases made with Family and Community Partnerships money also need clear receipts, sent to the Family and Community Partnerships Department Manager at the Main Office. B. Cooks need to keep Family Day budget accounting on their monthly tracking sheets. C. If Family Day is held during regular Head Start hours the meals will need to meet all of the CACFP meal components. Head start staff who usually eat meals will be counted as adults. Additional family members and guests will be fed with Family Day funds and are not reimbursable from CACFP funds. Receipts need to be clearly marked with items divided accordingly.

STAFF TIME

A. All staff have limited work hours and are not able to volunteer additional time for Family Days. Whatever refreshments/meals are served need to be prepared within designated work time as additional hours are not available. B. The cook, with the help of parent volunteers, will prepare these meals. If the cook is not present, then one parent volunteer or the Family Advocate will need to have a Food Handler’s Certificate in order to use the kitchen.

S:\Policy and Procedures\FCP\Family Day Guidelines rev.080923 FCP-317.doc FCP-317