E – 018If a parent committee officer has misused funds from a fundraiser for the center and has a felony charge for fraud, can they be an officer the next upcoming year?
Head Start regulations governing Parent Committees at 45 CFR 1304.50(a)(1)(iii), 1304.50(a)(2), 1304.50(a)(3), and 1304.50(e) establish standards for Parent Committee structure and minimum responsibilities related to shared governance. However, specific operational procedures governing membership on Parent Committees—and mechanisms for removal—are assigned to the discretion of local programs. In the situation described, it is up to the local program as specified in Parent Committee procedures to determine the grounds for removal of a Parent Committee member or the conditions for serving as a Parent Committee officer. It remains, however, the expectation of ACF as the funding agency that local programs will take every measure to ensure Federal funds are safeguarded and not misused by Policy Councils, Policy Committees, or Parent Committees.
