Fairfax Success By Six May 30, 2007 Community Meeting Summary

Hi Henry,

Success By Six had an unplanned community meeting on May 30th regarding a recent dispute over room use for next year (2007–2008).

There were many members that were unable to attend the meeting, so I wondered if you'd be willing to post the summary on your website?

Thank you, Henry!

Paula Dearborn
Co-Liaison, Success By Six

·   Success By Six (Sx6) is a state grant that is designed to support activities for children birth to age six that give them a healthy start, leading to success in school. Anecdotally, Fairfax families and Fairfax kindergarten teachers both report a noticeable difference between children who have participated in our Success By Six activities and/or preschool and children who have not had the opportunity of participating. Fairfax receives its allocation from Franklin County Early Childhood Programs which oversees the funds for the region and which has allocated part of the Sx6 grant to communities.

·   Fairfax has combined Sx6 grant funds with other funds generated from the town and additional fundraising so that it can offer a wider variety of activities.

·   Within Fairfax, Success By Six offers Welcome Infant home visits, story times, playgroups, kindergarten transition activities, Open Tot Gym, safety days, regular book distributions, childcare outreach, and parent workshops among many other activities. The county Success By Six funds also support the Franklin-Grand-Isle Bookmobile which visits several locations in Fairfax.

·   At each activity, Success By Six provides direct services to both parents and children in attendance; children receive these services through participation in the activity, and parents through referrals (health and education based), role modeling, parent-to-parent connections, resource and information sharing, handouts, and book/song/craft/activity ideas they can do at home with their child among others.

·   So far this fiscal year, Fairfax Sx6 has served at least 373 children, 410 parents and 20 childcare providers (plus the families they provide care for). Just in literacy promotion, we have given out over 1,000 books to these families and providers.

·   Anecdotally, families have shared that the number and quality of Sx6 activities in Fairfax are what enticed them to the community in the first place and/or helped in the sale of their homes.

·   All activities offered by Fairfax Sx6 are free and accessible to ALL families with children ages birth to six.

·   Fairfax Sx6 is an entirely parent-driven organization which depends on volunteers to offer its activities.

·   Fairfax Sx6 has a direct link to the schools, as it is a standing committee of the BFA-Fairfax Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA).

·   Open Tot Gym is traditionally held every Saturday from November through March with the only exceptions of two Saturdays during Holiday Recess and one Saturday for Town Meeting Day. The event provides an opportunity for:

o   Children ages birth to six to engage in socialization and gross motor activities in a safe and supported way throughout the winter months. Children are provided with mats, slides, ride-on vehicles, tunnels, etc. Given the weather in the winter months and the shortage of other gross motor activities appropriate for very young children, Open Tot Gym is an important way for young children to get their exercise indoors.

o   An infant area with mats and appropriate toys.

o   As the closing each week, a large group parachute activity.

o   Parents to meet one another, socialize, and feel part of the community.

o   Families to receive information about child development and resources in the community, including basic needs, human services, educational resources, and health topics.

·   Open Tot Gym is one of our most essential and popular core programs. Last fiscal year, 171 people attended Open Tot Gym, with an average weekly attendance of 24 children and 18 parents.

·   The decision to cancel Open Tot Gym on Saturdays while the Elementary Gym is unavailable is based on the following information and taking into account the school’s new security system:

o   Given the storage locations of the mats and other equipment for the event within the gym itself as well as the outside storage building, it is impractical to expect volunteers with young children and/or custodial staff to transfer equipment, especially since it would cause a disruption to the games and tournaments. The transferring of equipment alone before and after the event would take a minimum of two hours, which is unrealistic for an hour-and-a half event.

o   Bathroom facilities are inaccessible to young children from the Middle School Gym as they are through alarmed and auto-locking doors (so families would be unable to re-enter on their own).

o   Volunteer facilitators would have difficulty letting people in from distant doors and overseeing the event (and their own children) at the same time.

o   Open Tot Gym cannot be held in the afternoon, given the high proportion of children taking afternoon naps.

o   All of our child-centered events have open enrollment and do not require pre-registration in order to meet our mission of promoting school readiness and success for all children through age 6. This makes notification of all possible participants impossible.

·   Success By Six currently uses Elementary Gym space from November through March for 2.109 hours per week; 2 hours weekly is for Open Tot Gym and 1.5 hours a month is for Monthly Play Date

o   Fairfax/Fletcher Youth Basketball currently has access to four gyms (Fairfax Elementary Gym, Fletcher Elementary Gym, Fairfax Middle School Gym, and Fairfax High School Gym) from mid-November through February. A minimum of 6 hours a week currently occurs in the Fairfax Elementary.

·   Over the years, Success By Six has collaborated extensively with School Staff and the School Board to utilize school space. Making accommodations and compromises on our part is part of the process and has been able to happen without hindering school function and/or causing detriment to our programs. As part of this process, we have made a significant number of alternate recommendations at each step of the process that would allow Fairfax/Fletcher Youth Basketball to have everything it would like for its program every Saturday of the season and not cause any disruption to our existing use of the Elementary Gym for Open Tot Gym. To date, there has not been an answer to the question of why these viable alternatives are not being utilized or explored before causing the displacement of Open Tot Gym.