Community Day Nursery

“A draft of form 990 is reviewed by executive director then distributed to, and reviewed by the board of trustees prior to the form being filed. The form 990 is discussed with a question and answer period prior to the final board approval. Upon approval, the form 990 is submitted to the internal revenue service.”

“The organization requires annual conflicts of interest statements from all board members. These statements are reviewed by the president and executive director of the organization. All board members are required to disclose any conflicts of interest.”

“Compensation for the organization's executive director is determined by the new jersey department of education contract. Other salaries are determined by the executive director and treasurer and are based on similar agencies and programs. There are no other top management, officers, or key employees compensated within the organization.”

“The governing documents, conflict of interest policy and financial statments are always available to the public at the organization's office or by request.”

“(continued from from 990, page 1) offering a high quality full day preschool education to the children of east orange, new jersey. Community day nursery has been serving children and their families since 1897. We believe high-quality early childhood education ensures children to be ready for kindergarten and beyond. We are accredited by the national association for the education of young children which means we meet the high standards set to ensure children will be safe, healthy, and learning each day. Our certified teachers have degrees and are well trained in early childhood. They build caring relationships with each child, and plan activities that are fun and challenging. Ongoing assessment ensures children continue to learn and develop.”

“(continued from form 990, page 2 line 1) it is our goal to strengthen a cooperative partnership with families through a variety of parenting services and group activities.”

“(continued from form 990, page 2 line 4a) this year community day nursery (cdn) completed 122 years of early education and childcare services for our community. We provide a full-day prekindergarten program for three- and four-year-old children who reside in east orange, new jersey. Our wrap around program, both before and after school, is available for children who need a longer day. Our summer program is a full-day program that begins when the regular school year ends and offers care for children during the summer months. It is our mission to provide young children with a safe, supportive, stimulating environment in which each child's potential for emotional, intellectual, social and physical development is nurtured. The economic climate continues to challenge our commitment to high-quality services. Following nearly a decade of severely restricted state funding the new jersey department of human services instituted raises to the voucher program. Starting in january 2019, the preschool childcare rate for those families who qualify for the full voucher amount was raised 10% from $585 per month to $645 per month. The regulations, originally adopted in 2011, were revised in 2014 and seriously restrict access to childcare subsidies for our families who need childcare before and after school (from 7:00 am until 8:30 am and from 3:00pm until 6:00pm). We have seen this "wrap-around subsidy" for the childcare portion of our day/year drop from 100% participation for all 120 families during the first seven years of the public preschool program to the current enrollment of 32 children qualifying for subsidies in the month of december, 2019. The regulations state that the subsidy can be stopped without any notice in the event that a parent is not working or in school for the required number of hours, which makes estimating revenue for our budget is impossible. The model for childcare services throughout the state provides payment to childcare facilities for a maximum of four hours per day (both before and aftercare) no matter how much time the families actually need their child to be in care. Some of our children attend before school from 7:00am until school starts at 8:30am and after school from 3:00pm until we close at 6:00pm. To be responsive to our families' needs, we offer options for childcare services so a family needing childcare only before school doesn't have to pay for the after-school portion of the program and vice versa. In the past parents lost vouchers based on slight changes in their income during the year. We are hopeful that we will no longer experience that problem. Reductions in funding have caused childcare centers to close their doors around the state. We have eight classrooms, each with a teacher and teacher assistant and a maximum of fifteen children. Four classrooms are spanish/english; one is creole/english. The school year curriculum is research-based tools of the mind. Teachers document and assess children's learning via the teaching strategies gold online assessment system. Children spend time outdoors daily and are served freshly prepared breakfast, lunch, and snacks. Our literacy enhancement program is made possible through grants provided by first book, a nonprofit organization, that connects book publishers and community organizations to provide access to new books for children in need. Our children are in school for breakfast, lunch and a snack daily. Most of the funding for the food, food workers' salaries and benefits and administration of the program comes from the department of agriculture through the child and adult food care program (cacfp). We also receive a food stipend and a percentage of the salary/benefits for the cook from the east orange board of education. However, to maintain the high quality of the food prepared also requires additional funding from private sponsors. In 2019 we enrolled 120 three- and four-year-old children for a full-day public preschool program. The racial/ethnic back”

“(continued from form 990, page 2 line 4a) program for parents we strengthen partnerships with families, through a variety of parenting services and group activities. Family workers host monthly parent meetings that introduce our parents to the community resources that are available to them. We accept donations of gently used clothing to help families or lesser means. Donations are left on a table in our lobby and all of the families are aware that they may "shop" from that table. There are a number of families who have relocated here from warmer climates and who don't have much, especially winter clothing. Many families have benefited from this generosity. Our literacy enhancement program is made possible through grants provided by first book, a nonprofit organization that connects book publishers and community organizations to provide access to new books for children in need. We purchase good quality books at a fraction of bookstore prices. Research on racial and ethnic school readiness gaps indicates that quality parental linguistic interaction in the home is crucial to readiness at school entry and to future academic success. One of the indicators of success in school readiness used by many researchers is the number of the books in the home. We want our families to have high-quality early childhood literature available for their children. Each year during january we send home martin's big words by doreen rappaport. It is a beautifully illustrated and elegantly told story of the rev. Dr. Martin luther king, jr. That is appropriate for young children. First book now provides resources other than books through first book marketplace. As a non-profit organization, we were able to purchase winter coats at a steeply discounted price. We have a significant number of immigrant families joining us from warmer climates who arrive in clothing not appropriate for winter in new jersey. On back to school night, forty-five parents came to visit their child's classroom and meet with teachers. They learned about the tools of the mind curriculum and how they can support their child's learning at home. Fifty-five parents attended "bring your parent to school day", each of whom received a copy of the children's book, chicka chicka boom boom in either english or spanish. Our "calling all men" event, "my super guy and me", was a success with fifty-one dads, uncles, grandfathers, and other special males enjoying breakfast with their children. Thanks to first books, we were able to distribute copies of the children's books, where is the green sheep and whistle for willie in english and spanish. We have continued our collaboration with the east orange public library to make it easy for parents to get library cards for their children. They fill out the paperwork with us and we get the cards and hand them out along with book lists suggesting excellent early childhood literature buildings and grounds as part of the new jersey grow nj kids initiative which assesses all aspects of the program, we had an npsi/osha/nocai-risc certified playground inspector inspect and report on the playground facilities. The resilient tiles which were installed under and around all of the play structures more than 20 years ago no longer met safety standards. New playground surfacing was installed in all five of our playgrounds over the summer. For more information about our school, please visit our website at www.cdneo.org.”

“The organization has a committee that is responsible for overseeing the audit of the financial statements and the selection of the independent accountant that audited the financial statements. This process has not changed from the prior year.”