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.