Early Childhood Collab

Early Childhood Collab - Last week 26 people gathered around three long tables in the second floor library at Oak Park and River Forest High School for the first joint meeting of the three public boards that are funding the Collaboration for Early Childhood Care and Education, the Oak Park based organization that is working to improve early childhood education, especially for at risk children.

The Collaboration is funded primarily by Oak Park Elementary School District 97, OPRF District 200 and the Village of Oak Park. Those three bodies signed an intergovernmental agreement earlier this year to contribute six figure amounts each to the Collaboration for the next five years.

The boards of all three taxing bodies are required to have one annual meeting with the Collaboration's board to review progress and see what they are getting for their money.

"It was a positive meeting and they seem to feel good about the progress that we've made," said Carolyn Newberry Schwartz, the executive director of the Collaboration. "The jurisdictions are engaged, they did meet, they're monitoring our progress and implementing the plan."

Newbery Schwartz is a past board member and president of the District 97 school board.

The Collaboration is about to shift into high gear. In October it inked an agree with the Parenthesis Family Center to have Parenthesis staff members conducts home visits under a Parents as Teachers program to provide support and education to parents of young children.

And this month the Collaboration signed a five year $400,000 data collection and analysis contract with the Chapin Hall Center for Children, a Hyde Park based policy research center that focuses on children.

"I don't think you could find a partner better aligned with the Collaboration," said Debbie McCann the chairperson the of the Collaboration's Measurement and Evaluation Committee.

Newberry Schwartz said that data collection and analysis are vital.

"We'll be collecting data so that we can really monitor how well services are being used, how well they're interacting with each other, the different services and systems and we'll begin to be able to gather up information to determine whether it's making a difference for the children," Newberry Schwartz said.

Good data is currently lacking McCann said.

"We don't even know how many children are in the community," McCann said.

The home visiting program conducted by Parenthesis is scheduled to begin in February.

"February is a big month," Newberry Schwartz said. "That's when the home visiting should be starting as well as other program components such as parent information and support.

"We are not a direct service provider," Newberry Schwartz said. "The only direct service we do is that we go into child care centers for vision and hearing screening. We're about building capacity."

Members of the government boards seemed pleased by the progress that the Collaboration has made towards getting started.

"I feel very good about the investment we've made," said Adam Salzman, an Oak Park village board member. "It seems to me like we're headed in the right direction."

John Phelan, the president of the OPRF District 200 Board of Education also had kind words for the Collaboration.

"The dedication is obvious and palpable and I'm glad the resources are there," Phelan said.

Anan Abu-Taleb, president of the Village of Oak Park, asked a question that was perhaps on everybody's mind.

"I'm curious about what success would look like a year from now," said Abu-Taleb. He also asked whether the Collaboration has approached the River Forest Elementary District 90 about getting that district to participate and contribute funding.

"We are planning to approach District 90," Newberry Schwartz replied. "We have not formally done so yet."

"I think we can establish effective working relationships with them," Newberry Schwartz said.

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Preschoolers celebrate

What kind of sound does a “menurkey” make?

“Gobble, gobble — like a regular turkey. But it has a menorah with candles to light up the feathers!” said Lily Taylor, 4, a preschool student in the Early Childhood Education Program at the Shaw Jewish Community Center in Akron.

The novel turkey-shaped menorah is just one example of creations inspired by the convergence of Thanksgiving and Hanukkah this year. Thursday is the first time in 125 years that the first full day of Hanukkah and the holiday that marks the Pilgrims’ 1621 first harvest have overlapped. It will be nearly 78,000 years before it happens again.

On Tuesday, Lily and her classmates gathered to celebrate their “Thanksgivukkah” feast. They sang songs, played with dreidels, created menurkeys and ate foods associated with both holidays: corn bread, potato latkes, green beans, applesauce, pumpkin pudding, caramel corn, sweet potatoes, sufganiyot (jelly-filled doughnuts) and fruit.

Most of the children wore their festive, handmade headdresses. They included turkeys with feathers and bands decorated with Native American language symbols.

“This was a great opportunity to help the students understand more about the traditions of both holidays and incorporate a history lesson as well,” said Pat Delagrange, an early childhood education teacher. “We have done a lot of comparisons, explaining both holidays are very festive, about being thankful and about religious freedom. Much like the Jews under [Greek King] Antiochus, the Pilgrims were also a religious minority deprived of the right to worship God as they saw fit.”

Hanukkah, which means dedication, begins at sundown today. It commemorates the victory of the Maccabees over the Syrian-Greek army and the rededication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem more than 2,000 years ago. By lighting candles for eight nights, Jews celebrate the rededication of the Holy Temple and the miracle of a small amount of the oil lasting for eight days.

Both holidays are also marked by family time — something many of the children at the feast eagerly await.

For Brodie Singer, Thanksgiving Day will be a time to visit family in Tennessee. Although the road trip will take some time, he said that it will be fun.

“I get to take a nap in the car and we’re going to go to McDonald’s,” said Brodie, 4. “We have to pack toys to play with and we get to see all the family and eat turkey and jelly doughnuts for dessert.”

Carly Morrison, 5, is also expecting to have a lively day with her extended family. Their menu also will include the traditional turkey as the centerpiece.

When asked if her day would include watching a football game on television, she quickly answered, “No! But my dad will. We’ll watch the parade together. It’s cool,” Carly said.

Meredith Lowry and Sue Brady, two of the early childhood education teachers, said they hope the children will remember participating in the feast and, at some point, realize that they took part in a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

“They may not fully understand it now, but this will never happen again in our lifetimes,” Brady said. “This Thanksgivukkah has really been a unique opportunity to make connections between American values and Jewish history.”

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