October 19, 2010

Early November events

11/02
Festival of the Dead Parade
6:00 PM Downtown Missoula

11/03
Little Ones Art Fun with Allie DePuy
3:30 PM Missoula Art Museum

11/06
Bazaar
8:00 AM Hellgate High School gym

Photography and Poetry/ Vision & Voice for Teachers
9:00 AM Missoula Art Museum (PIR credit available!)
Call Renee at 728-0447 ext 228 for more information.

5K Turkey Trot
11:00 AM Washington Grizzly Stadium

Saturday Discovery Evening: The November Night Sky
7:00 PM Montana Natural History Center

11/10
Building Children's Confidence and Competence
6:30 PM The Missoula Family YMCA

11/11
Teen Open Studio Night
6:00 PM Missoula Art Museum

11/13
Griz vs Northern Dakota
12:00 PM University of Montana

11/14
2010 Banff Festival of Montain Films World Tour
6:00 PM University of Montana

October 4, 2010

FRC Spotlight

Family Connection Center starts at Rattlesnake
Funding always ebbs and flows in education, and extra services like Family Resource Centers can fall on the chopping block faster than curriculum-related costs. But one MCPS school has found a way to keep their former FRC running even after a big loss in funding.

The FRC at Rattlesnake Elementary was funded about 50 percent by the PTA and 50 percent through a grant for an AmeriCorps member through WORD.

Last year, WORD did not renew the grant that funded a staff person for the center. However, the Rattlesnake PTA still wanted to offer their funding to the office.

This year, the renamed Family Connection Center is staffed part-time by the former AmeriCorps member Tracy Ursey and partly by four University of Montana students and one Rattlesnake parent.

Ursey found the students through a volunteer fair at the university and one is a Campus Corps member.

“It’s kind of exciting to have the students here,” says Ursey. “They enjoy working with the families and the kids, and we have some new energy around the office.”

Ursey said the FCC is nearly fully staffed, with just about an hour discrepancy on Thursday afternoons.

Through the support of the PTA and some parent and community volunteers, Rattlesnake can still offer students and families great resources while breaking out of the grant or Title I funding mold.