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• Board Composition and Contacts
• Mission Statement
• Objectives
• By-Laws
• Serving on the Board
• Annual Report

The daily operation and management of First Environments are the responsibility of the Director, while overall direction is the responsibility of the First Environments Parents Organization Board of Directors. There are five voting members on the Board and annual elections alternate between two and three new members. There are two non-voting members of the Board, a Day Care Liaison from EPA and one from NIEHS.

Board Composition and Contacts

Mission Statement  

The mission of the FEELC Parent Board is to work in partnership with the sponsoring agencies and Center staff to provide high quality child care, education and community for the families of First Environments Early Learning Center.

Objectives

• Ensure and oversee the long-term viability of the center
• Raise scholarship funds so that a diverse population of children of all economic and social backgrounds can attend the child care center
• Make decisions regarding tuition, develop and approve Center policies, set salary guidelines, and approve the budget.
• Serve as a liaison between the Director, the families and the sponsoring agencies
• Keep programs and services consistent with the designated Board purpose.
• Ensure child care services are in compliance with the Licensing Agreement
• Work cooperatively with the agencies to ensure high quality, competitively priced child care and all other aspects of the child care delivery system
• Market the center to prospective parents
• Actively seek future Board members to ensure Board stability and continuity
• Attend training as necessary

By-Laws

FEELC By-laws (58 KB)

Serving on the Board

Consistency and Continuity: the key to a successful FEELC Parent Board:

A high quality child care organization is best served by a strong parent board with good continuity of service over successive years. This can be best achieved through the consistent application of good parent board practices, good communication and the willingness to invest time and energy.

Are you "qualified"?

In many aspects, the roles played by the Executive Director and Parent Board is complimentary. Thus, for service on the board it is neither required nor necessary to have a background in childhood education. Indeed, there must be willingness of board members to set their personal parenting interests aside. At minimum, the parent board seeks volunteers who bring leadership and organizational skills, bags of energy and common sense.

Time Commitment

While service on the board does constitute your 6 annual parent hours, service on the board requires a commitment of time and energy beyond this limit. A term on the board (which runs September to August) requires a two-year commitment, with regular meetings scheduled the 2 nd Tuesday of each month and lasting one hour. Board members must also be prepared to be consulted and respond to requests at any time of the day, week or year.

Interested in serving?

There are five parent board members who are serving in a 2/3 rotation. The election of parent board members is held every year at the May Parent Meeting, with 2 or 3 positions under consideration. Announcements will be made at least one month prior to the May Parent Meeting appealing for parent board candidates, and inviting you to submit a biographical sketch.

Annual Report

FEELC Annual Report (1.7 MB)