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Governance and Leadership

We have three levels to our leadership structure in which parents, community and staff work together in important and productive partnerships. These levels are:

Center Leadership Committees (Center Committees)

Each Head Start classroom and Early Head Start socialization group has a Center Leadership Committee (CLC). CLC membership is comprised exclusively of the parents, primary care givers, foster parents, or guardians of currently enrolled children who have the same Head Start Parent Services Specialist or Early Head Start Parent Mentor.

CLCs work with their Parent Services Specialist or Parent Mentor to:

  • plan classroom and parent activities
  • strengthen the home-classroom/socialization group relationship, focusing on language and reading
  • make sure the classroom and activities reflect the parents’ traditions, cultures and ethnic backgrounds
  • evaluate classroom and family services
  • assist by working in the classroom and during group socialization time
  • elect parents from their classroom or group socialization to represent them on Leadership Council (LC)
  • listen to LC reports and recommendations; give ideas and suggestions to LC

Leadership Council (Policy Council)

Leadership Council (LC) membership consists not only of parents elected by their Head Start classrooms and Early Head Start group socializations but also community members that represent low income children and families living in Snohomish County. Both types of membership have voting authority. LC operates under the authority defined in the Improving Head Start for School Readiness Act of 2007.

LC partners with our Executive Director and our Grantee’s President’s Cabinet to:

  • deliver high quality services to all enrolled children and families
  • evaluate our services
  • accomplish our long-range outcomes, reach our goals and fulfill our vision and mission
  • explore new ideas, evaluate services, identify needs, and develop variations, options, key service strategies, long-range outcomes and goals
  • review and take action on policy, protocols, service plans, key strategy and outcome recommendations, fiscal plans, and grant applications
  • ensure the communication system connects all levels of the parent leadership structure
  • make sure enrolled parents have meaningful parent participation at all levels of the organization, supported in their efforts to represent the interests and needs of all enrolled families and encouraged to assume leadership roles
  • hire educated, skilled and experienced staff
  • resolve community complaints involving our program

The Grantee Board of Trustees/President’s Cabinet

Our Grantee is Edmonds College, a state institution of higher education. Edmonds College’s Board of Trustees is legally and fiscally responsible for SCHS & EHS as defined and outlined in Public Law 110-134 Improving Head Start for School Readiness Act of 2007. The Grantee’s Board of Trustees is appointed by the Governor of Washington State and its membership is different from Leadership Council’s membership.

Edmonds College Board Policy, B 2.1 General Executive Expectations establishes the College President and, under the College President’s leadership and supervision, the President’s Cabinet, to be the Board of Trustee’s agent empowered to fulfill the responsibilities defined in the “Improving Head Start for School Readiness Act of 2007”
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