Community Connection for Child Care

Mark you calendars

Norma Ontiveros Gaspar, Steve Flores, and Michelle Avila meeting today to plan for our upcoming Voces Contra El Cancer (Voices Against Cancer) event benefitting the Kern County Cancer Foundation. Stay tuned for event details.

Gillian is a seven-year-old girl who cannot sit in school. She continually gets up, gets distracted, flies with thoughts, and doesn't follow lessons. Her teach...ers worry about her, punish her, scold her, reward the few times that she is attentive, but nothing. Gillian does not know how to sit and cannot be attentive. When she comes home, her mother punishes her too. So not only does she Gillian have bad grades and punishment at school, but she also suffers from them at home. One day, Gillian's mother is called to school. The lady, sad as someone waiting for bad news, takes her hand and goes to the interview room. The teachers speak of illness, of an obvious disorder. Maybe it's hyperactivity or maybe she needs a medication. During the interview an old teacher arrives who knows the little girl. He asks all the adults, mother and colleagues, to follow him into an adjoining room from where she can still be seen. As he leaves, he tells Gillian that they will be back soon and turns on an old radio with music. As the girl is alone in the room, she immediately gets up and begins to move up and down chasing the music in the air with her feet and her heart. The teacher smiles as the colleagues and the mother look at him between confusion and compassion, as is often done with the old. So he says: "See? Gillian is not sick, Gillian is a dancer!" He recommends that her mother take her to a dance class and that her colleagues make her dance from time to time. She attends her first lesson and when she gets home she tells her mother: "Everyone is like me, no one can sit there!" In 1981, after a career as a dancer, opening her own dance academy and receiving international recognition for her art, Gillian Lynne became the choreographer of the musical "Cats." Hopefully all different children find adults capable of welcoming them for who they are and not for what they lack. Long live the differences, the little black sheep and the misunderstood. They are the ones who create beauty in this world.

Today, Sen. Patty Murray and Rep. Bobby Scott reintroduced the Child Care for Working Families Act, comprehensive early childhood education legislation that pai...rs federal investment with state partnerships to dramatically and equitably expand access, address affordability, increase quality, and invest in the education and compensation of early childhood education professionals. These bold investments, which build on crucial relief funding, are needed to support families, deliver on the science of early learning, and advance our current and future early childhood education workforce. We are grateful to Congress' child care champions, and look forward to working together with educators, families, partners, and your Senators and Representatives to take the steps that will finally begin to value high-quality child care as the essential public good that it is. Read NAEYC's full statement: https://bit.ly/3gybf1B See more

Kern County elementary schools that are not already open for in-person instruction are now eligible thanks to improving case rates countywide. Grades 7-12 that ...did not open when Kern was in the Red Tier in the fall must wait to re-open until Kern is back in the Red Tier (7 cases per or fewer per 100K people). Kern County's adjusted case rate is currently at 18.5 cases per 100K people. See more

Jogos de atividades divertidas e motrizes para crianças

Kern County County Public Health announced today that educators and others in Phase 1b, Tier 1 of the state's rollout plan will be eligible for COVID-19 vaccinations beginning Monday, February 22. More information can be found at https://kern.org/vaccine/

Season's Greetings from KCSOS!

This year has been stressful for everyone. It is so important to remember to not only make sure your own cup is full, but you fill your child’s cup stays full for healthy development

KCSOS has partnered with Kern Public Health to offer no-cost COVID tests in downtown Bakersfield on Tuesday, Nov. 10 from 8 am to 5 pm. Pre-registration is at https://doineedacovid19test.com/, but walk ups are welcome.

The best chance our schools have to re-open with any normalcy is to ensure our community is healthy. How can we do that? Watch the video to find out. We ALL hav...e role to play. Let's do our part to make sure our schools are in the best possible position to re-open sooner, rather than later. See more

Enroll today! Register online or in person.

Kern County Superintendent of Schools Dr. Mary Barlow and Associate Superintendent Dr. John Mendiburu were among those afforded a tour of the Kern High School D...istrict's brand new Career Technical Education Center (CTEC) today. The campus will begin welcoming small cohorts of students on Monday. Thank you to the leadership at Kern High for the tour and bringing this gem to our community's students and families, which will ultimately benefit a multitude of local industries with well-prepared graduates. See more

Get ready for #BookWeek2020atHome next week! Children’s Book Week originated in the belief that children’s books and literacy are life-changers. Find out more at https://everychildareader.net/cbw/about.

Just a reminder... #ReadAloud15

Numerous job opportunities are currently available at KCSOS. Check it out... https://www.edjoin.org/kcsos/

Schools will use multiple layers of COVID-19 prevention measures to mitigate the spread of the virus as students return to campuses (masking, distancing, hand h...ygiene, health screenings/testing, disinfecting, contact tracing, etc.). As a collective community, everyone has a role to play in helping slow the spread. The following graphic demonstrates the risk of exposure to COVID-19 and how wearing a mask and physically distancing can help. See more

Did you know?... As advocates for children, KCSOS provides leadership, education and support for students, Kern's 47 school districts, and the community through programs, services and fiscal accountability. Check out the graphic to learn about all the things KCSOS does.

This year has been extremely difficult for people of all ages due to the many uncertainties surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. Many Californians are out of work... and under serious financial stress. Children are partaking in virtual learning, which has come with unforeseen challenges and setbacks. Parents Anonymous offers a NO COST Parent and Youth Helpline which provides immediate emotional support from a trained and compassionate helpline Counselor. Open 12 hours every day: Monday-Sunday 8 am 8 pm CALL, TEXT OR CHAT in any language. See more

How about this t-shirt for your first day of in-person Kindergarten at Rio Bravo Elementary? "Straight Outta Distance Learning!" Priceless.