Parents, teachers and school administrators will meet with State Representative Matt Lesser and other officials at noon on Wednesday June 24 at Farm Hill School in support of Family Resource Centers at local schools.
The Family Resource Centers are on the chopping block in Governor Jodi Rell's proposed budget.
Family Resource Centers at Macdonough and Farm Hill Schools have several goals aimed at fostering a healthy relationship between schools and families. Those goals include
• To provide a supportive environment at school where parent involvement is encouraged.
• To build and nurture school-home partnerships that support family literacy possibilities
• To articulate strategies designed to expand upon a family's strengths in creating language and literacy rich environments for their young children.
• To increase children's readiness for school entrance.
• To provide Information and Referral that help parents know where to turn in the community to find specific help.
• To provide parenting workshops and specific meetings on topics requested by parents and/or teachers.
• Offer to students a range of recreational and educational opportunities that support positive relationships with peers and adults.
• To increase availability of high-quality child -care (preschool and /or school-age before-and-after school).
• To enhance student achievement
6 comments:
Budgete times are difficult. Family Reasource Centers are a luxury we cannot afford.CT Governmeet programs and funding to orgainazationa are out of control amd must stop. It was misguided in the first place ever for governmet to fund these Family Reasource Centers. It was easy at the time because government was fat and happy and the taxpayers were not paying attention because thier was enough money to go around and keep everone happy. There are so many noble needs that need funding. Our school systems suck so much out of the taxpayers that nothing is left for programas like the Family Reasource Centers. The school system should cut thier budget enough to fund these Centers.
Family Resource Centers are a vital part of every community they serve. Not only are they often the only lifeline for parents to find child care that is safe and affordable, but they also encourage parents to become more involved with their children's education and in the process enrich themselves with various other academic opportunities. I have to strongly disagree with Anonymous 5:13 and their assessment of the centers, who they serve and how and why they were funded. I'll bet you also are on the bandwagon to blame parents for not being enough involved in their kids' lives to help them through their struggles with grades and behavior. Then too, probably gripe about lazy parents who don't work, not fully understanding that a five year old can't actually be left alone before or after school so their parents can work. With all of the hardships that families are facing right now - across the board - the last thing they need is for these resource centers to lose funding. It probably isn't feasible for school systems to cut their budgets to fund the centers. In a perfect world that might make sense, but in reality the FRCs likely run more efficiently and less costly with state funding.
Jennifer Peifer
Middletown resident
Anonymous...why punish our children for governments mishandling of budgets! Yes, the fat and happy times of our government are over, but our children and our seniors should not suffer. With times as tough as they are and people out of work, these resources are needed more than ever. Not everyone can afford daycare or those that choose to stay home and raise their children should have an outlet to turn to for support. Have you ever attended a FRC event? If you have, you would see that attendees are families, parents, grandparents who care about the welfare of their young children. Before you start ranting about FRC and schools sucking the taxpayers monies, take a look at the way the government is handling their budgets...hiring is still taking place (so much for the hiring freeze Rell put into place)...promotions are still be given to state employees...and believe it our not, raises are still issued. FRCs should be funded as they promote the welfare of our children and provide support to other areas of family life.
Ole Anonymous never had the luxury of a Family Resource Center and it did'nt affect his grammar!
FRCs are a wonderful program but if we are to afford them we need to cut somewhere. Look out taxpayers, support of these programs is just a setup to raise taxes. The politicians that are championing FRCs don't offer budget offsets just new taxes! Maybe we should eliminate school mandates or repeal binding arbitration requirements on teacher contracts so that the local municipalities can pay for the FRCs making State funding a mute issue. This would be an excellent means to keep these meritorious FRCs open.
Actually, the Democratic budget cuts $2 billion. I'm not sure what "no cuts elsewhere" means. The questions is, do we balance the budget on the backs of Middletown kids or not?
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