GHC PPC By- Laws 

Head Start/Early Head Start will be a standing agenda item for the Board of Directors meetings under the Program Committee report for Head Start/Early Head Start. The Policy Committee Chairperson shall be a full member of the Board of Directors and will be responsible for ensuring effective communication between the Board of Directors and the Policy Committee. The Policy Committee Chairperson will be a regular member of the Program Committee of the Board of Directors. The Chairperson is responsible for adding items to the agenda of the Program Committee and leading the discussion surrounding Head Start/Early Head Start. The Chairperson is responsible for leading such discussion at the meetings of the Board of Directors as well. The Chairperson is also responsible for delivering reports at meetings with the Program Committee and the Board of Directors with support from staff as needed. When the Policy Committee approves a decision that is related to Head Start/Early Head Start programs, the Policy Committee Chairperson will present the information to the Board of Directors Program Committee for discussion. The Program Committee Chairperson will present the information to the Board of Directors for approval. This following items are shared decision items that must be approved/disapproved by both the Policy Committee and the Board of Directors:

1. Head Start/Early Head Start Sub-Grant Agreement to DFSS 

2. Supplemental fund Request/Budget Amendments/Program Amendments

3. Program Philosophy, long and short term goals

 4. Procedures for Program Planning 

5. Criteria for defining recruitment, selection & enrollment priorities 

6. Staff Hiring/ Terminations 

7. Personnel Policy and Procedures 

8. Impasse/ Conflict Resolution Procedures 

9. Shared Governance Process 

10. Program Plans 

11. Self-Assessment and Improvement Plans 

12. Compositional make-up of the Policy Committee & Election Process 

Parent Policy Committee By-Laws Article I Name The name of this committee shall be the Gads Hill Center Head Start/Early Head Start Policy Committee, commonly referred to as the Head Start Policy Committee. Article II Purposes and Functions Section 1 Purposes The purpose shall be to implement the Head Start Program Performance Standards Part 1301 (Program Governance), for which this Head Start Policy Committee is created. The Policy Committee is directly responsible to perform the following:

 a. Serve as a link to the Parent Committees, Board of Directors, public and private organizations, and the local communities.

 b. Assist Parent Committees in communicating with parents enrolled in all program options to ensure that they understand their rights and responsibilities and the opportunities available in Early Head Start and Head Start, and to encourage their participation in the program.

 c. Assist Parent Committee in planning, coordinating, and organizing program activities for parents with the assistance of staff, and ensure that funds set aside from program budgets are used to support parent activities (Parent Activity Funds). 

d. Assist in recruiting volunteer services from parents, community residents, and community organizations, and assist in the mobilization of community resources to meet identified needs.

 e. Establish and maintain procedures for working with the agency leadership team to resolve community complaints about the program. 

 The general functions of the Head Start/Early Head Start Policy Committee, in accordance with Performance Standard 1301.1, are to work in partnership with key management staff and the governing body to develop, review and approve or disapprove the following policies and procedures:

 1. Funding applications and amendments for Early Head Start and Head Start, prior to the submission.

 2. Procedures describing how the governing body and the policy committee will implement shared decision-making. 

3. Procedures for program planning, including long-range and shortrange goals and objectives of the program.

 4. The Policy Committee procedures by which policy group members are chosen.

 5. Guidelines for recruitment, selection, service areas and enrollment in accordance with the HS/ EHS requirements. 

6. The annual self-assessment of the agency’s progress in carrying out the programmatic and fiscal intent of its Head Start grant application, including planning or other actions that may result from the review of the annual audit and findings from the monitoring review. 

7. Recommendation to hire or terminate the Early Head Start or Head Start Director(s). Approval or disapproval for hiring or terminating Early Head Start or Head Start staff. Article III Membership of the Policy Committee Section 1 Composition At least 51% of members of the Policy Committee shall be comprised of parents of currently enrolled children. Parents of Head Start Center Based, Home Based and Early Head Start programs will have representation on the Committee. A minimum of eight parents will be elected to serve on the Committee. Additional parents may be allowed to serve at the discretion of the Parent Committee.

 Categories of Committee Membership Membership should be comprised of two types of representatives: parents of children currently enrolled and community representatives. All Head Start/Early Head Start Parents will elect parent member(s) to serve on the Policy Committee as voting members. 

• Center Based (6) members 

• Partner Network (5) members 

• Home Visiting (4) members 

• Community Representative (2) members

 Any community representatives will come from the local community; businesses; public or private community, civic, and professional organizations; and others who are familiar with resources and services for low-income children and families. Former Head Start parents may also serve as community representatives. The Policy Committee will have a minimum of one community representative and a maximum of two. 

 Elections for the Committee will be held annually during the month of September at the regular Parent Committee meeting. Parents from all programs may self-nominate to the committee. Every parent in attendance at that meeting will have the right to vote on the nominee of their choice. Parents and community representatives with the majority votes will be accepted as Policy Committee members. 

Term of Office Policy Committee members shall serve for a term of one (1) year. No member shall serve on the Policy Committee for more than three (3) consecutive one-year terms. Section 4 Voting Rights Each member of the Policy Committee shall have one (1) vote. There shall be no proxy voting by, or for, any member.

 Termination of Membership:  A member of the Policy Committee can be terminated by a two-thirds vote of the Policy Committee if absent from three (3) consecutive meetings without having submitted a legitimate excuse to the Chairperson or one of the staff leaders of the Center prior to the meeting. A member of the Policy Committee may also be terminated if the member violates the signed Standards of Conduct for program staff, consultants, and volunteers. (1309.20- Personnel Policies for information on Standards of Conduct.) 

 Resignation: A member shall give a written statement prior to resignation from the Policy Committee. 

 Vacancy: The Parent Committee shall elect a new parent member to the Policy Committee within 30 days of a vacancy of a parent member. Community Representative members shall be selected by the Policy Committee within 30 days of vacancy. 

 Nepotism No agency staff (or members of their immediate families) may serve on the Policy Committee. 

 Child Care Reimbursement Procedures See attached Policy. 

 Officers The Policy Committee shall elect a Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson, Secretary, Citywide Delegate and Citywide Alternate. Other officers shall be elected as deemed necessary by the Policy Committee. 

 Election of Term of Office Each officer shall be elected by the full membership of the Policy Committee once the full Committee has been seated and shall serve a term of one (1) year. The Policy Committee will be seated in September of every year. 

 Removal: Any officer or member of the Policy Committee, who fails to perform the duties as outlined in the by-laws or violates the moral or ethical standards set forth in the agency’s personnel policies, can be removed by a two thirds vote of the Policy Committee. 

 Chairperson: The Chairperson shall preside at all meetings and maintain order. Prior to the meeting, the Chairperson will prepare the agenda with the Head Start/Early Head Start Director and any other pertinent persons. The Chairperson also serves on the Agency’s Board of Directors and Program Committee of the Board and coordinates activities as needed. The Chairperson will work closely with the Board, Head Start/Early Head Start Director and Chief Executive Officer as necessary and act as the official representative of the Policy Committee. The Chairperson shall be knowledgeable of Committee By-Laws, Head Start Performance Standards and other information related to Head Start programs and performs other duties as assigned. 

 Vice-Chairperson:  The Vice-Chairperson shall preside in the absence of the Chairperson or whenever the Chairperson temporarily vacates the chair. In case of resignation, disability or death of the Chairperson, the Vice-Chairperson shall assume the office until a permanent chair is elected for the remainder of the term. Section

Secretary:  The Secretary shall record the minutes of every Policy Committee meeting; keep copies of the By-Laws, standing rules, roster of members, a list of unfinished business and a copy of each agenda; ensure that the minutes are provided to each member prior to the meeting; keep a file of all correspondence received; read correspondence as needed; telephone members about regular and special meetings as needed; maintain a file /record of minutes; assist the Chairperson in following the agenda and record and read motions as they are made; read minutes of the last meeting when necessary; and perform other duties as assigned. 

 City-Wide Parent Representative:  All Head Start parents are eligible to represent the Agency at the City Wide meetings. For a parent to be elected as the City-Wide Parent Delegate and Alternate, the following procedures will be implemented: A parent is nominated for the position of the City-Wide Parent Delegate and/or Alternate. Once nominated, the parent can accept or decline the nomination. After all nominations, have been completed, all the nominees will be posted on a ballot. Parents will vote using ballots and at the end, all votes will be counted at the September Parent Committee meeting, following the voting for the Policy Committee. The nominees with the majority votes become elected as the new City-Wide Parent Delegate and Alternate. Both delegates will have seats on the Policy Committee. He or she will attend quarterly City-Wide meetings and bring back information obtained to present to the Policy Committee and the Directors of the Child Development Center. Article V Committees

 Personnel Policy for Parent Involvement : In accordance with the Personnel Policy for Parent Involvement, the Policy Committee shall approve all agency hires within 30 days of hire. Please see attached policy. 

Grants/Fiscal Committee:  The Grants/Fiscal Committee will assist and review in the preparation of the Head Start grant application, budget and any amendments. 

Parent Committee:  The Parent Committee is an entity independent of the Policy Committee. All parents are members of the Parent Committee. The Parent Committee interacts with the Policy Committee, which serves as a support to their role and responsibility in the program. The Parent Committee plans parent-child activities together with the staff. The parents identify training needs and participate in training on a variety of child development topics. The Parent Committee communicates pertinent program information to all parents. The Parent Committee meets monthly. The Center Committee represents Center Based, Home Based, Early Head Start, and Community Representatives. 

Meetings Regular Meetings Regular meetings of this Policy Committee will be held at least quarterly at minimum at the Gads Hill Child Development Center/Brighton Park Site at a date and time to be decided by the Committee. Meetings are scheduled monthly except for December, July and August and training of all policy committee members will be provided at a meeting immediately following the elections as to the roles and responsibilities of the committee. Section 2 Extraordinary or Special/Call Meetings There will be special meetings of the Policy Committee only when there is a need, and all special meetings shall be called by the Chairperson or staff leader on behalf of the chairperson at least 24 hours in advance. 

 Notice of Meetings Written notices shall be provided to each member at least five (5) days prior to the date of each regular meeting. A copy of the agenda for the meeting will also be provided. Notices of special meetings shall be provided to each member and to the agency at least 24 hours prior to the date of the meeting with an explanation for the special meeting. 

 Quorum A minimum of five of the members of the Policy Committee must be present to constitute a quorum in order to transact business for regular or special meetings. If quorum is not met, the Chairperson may conduct approvals by telephone, e-mail or other electronic means by contacting all members of the Committee to request their approval or disapproval of motions, actions or resolutions. In case of the need of signatures from parent policy members from a virtual meeting, electronic signatures are allowed if the quorum is met. 

 Virtual/Conference:  Call Policy Committee members may join any regular or special/call meeting of the Policy Committee by telephone and or virtual in lieu of in-person attendance. This telephone and or virtual presence shall be sufficient to satisfy the quorum requirements above. Approvals, votes and any other Policy Committee business may be conducted by telephone and or virtual. 

 Program Planning Recommendations will be submitted by key management staff to the Policy Committee for approval regarding program planning, long-term and short-term goals and objectives identified as a result of the Protocol evaluation process. Key management leadership staff from the agency will submit the findings to the Policy Committee from the annual audit and from the monitoring review with subsequent planning or other actions. 

Amendments these By-Laws may be amended by providing a copy of the proposed amendment to each Policy Committee member at least two (2) weeks before the meeting. All amendments must be approved by a two-thirds vote of the Policy Committee. The Chairperson will propose the amendments for approval to the Program Committee and the Board of Directors. All by-laws are required to have Board approval.