GULF COAST COMMUNITY SERVICES ASSOCIATION
Head Start/Early Head Start Support Services Monthly Narrative
November 2025
LEADERSHIPACTIVITIES:
• Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) The October 2025 Child andAdult Care Food Program (CACFP) claim was completed and submitted to the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) for reimbursement. In October there were 22 food service days for the month. There were 13 eligible sites and 1,192 eligible children. The number of meals provided: 5,758 breakfasts; 5,862 lunches and 19,704 PM snacks served. Expected reimbursement for the month is $64,993.02 Two of our newest Head Start centers will apply for CACFP pending receipt of the Child Care License, DeAnda & Reynolds. Head Start centers Garden Villa, Garden Villas and Reveille were closed in the CACFPTX-UNPSsystemonthelastdayofSeptember. ThenewCACFP year began October 1.
• Mr. Jose “Alex” Velasquez, Health & Nutrition Manager joined the children and staff for GCCSA’s November Story Time. He read “I Am Thankful” written by Sheri Wall and illustrated by Holly Clifton-Brown. “I Am Thankful” is an adorable, rhyming storybook that follows three different families as they celebrate the holiday with their own traditions, acts of kindness, and ways of giving back.
• The RYSS and GCCSA Partnership Meeting was held in November to review roles and responsibilities and to discuss ways to strengthen collaboration in order to better serve our dually enrolled children and families. In attendance pictured from left to right: Roshanda Cotton, RYSS Director of Early Childhood; Lupe Ramirez, HS/EHS Program Support; Denise Martinez, RYSS Executive Director Elementary Education; Kathy L. Johnson, HS/EHS Assistant Director; Naiomi Carrero, HS/EHS Child Development Manager and Mr. Jusin Fuentes, RYSS Chief of Schools (not pictured).
CHILD DEVELOPMENT
(CD):
• Early Head Start- Themes taught for this month were: Toddler- Theme3- Friends Week 3- Friends Who Keep Us SafeThis week children will learn about people who keep us safe: firefighters and police officers. Week 4- Friends With Helpful Hands- This week children will learn about community friends with helpful hands: mail carrier, courier, and trash collector. Theme 4 Opposites- Week 1- In/Out, Inside/Outside- This week children will practice using in, out, inside, and outside. Week 2- Up/Down, Under/Over- This week children will practice using up, down, over, and under.
• Threes- Theme 3- Colors Shapes and Sizes- Week 3- Size- Children will review size this week. They will begin using size, not only to describe something, but also as a way to group items into sets. Week 4- Multiple Attributes- This week children will use what they have learned about color, shape, and size. They will increase their multiple attributes to classify materials. Theme 4- Safe and Healthy Me- Week 1- Safe Me Three- year-olds are all about wanting to do things on their own. Although they still need adults to support their efforts, they are ready to accept a bigger role in their own care. As we teach rules that support their health and safety, we can expect children to be eager to apply this new knowledge. This week children will explore safety rules.
• Raul Yzaguirre P-Stem & RYSS Stem- Teaching Strategies: Study: Music Making Exploring the Topic: What do we know about music making? What do we want to find out? Investigation 1: What instruments can we play by hitting, tapping, or shaking them? Investigation 2: What other musical instruments are there? How do people play them? Investigation 3: How can we make music with our voices?
CHILD DEVELOPMENT (CD) continued:
Investigation 4: What different styles of music are there? How do they make us feel? Investigation 5: Who works with music for their job? What tools do they use?
• Frogstreet Pre-K Curriculum: Theme 2: My Family and Friends/Mi familia y mis amigos. Week 1: Community/comuidad, Week 2: Theme 3: Giants/Los gigantes: Big & Little/ Grande y pequeno Week 3: Nature’s Giants/Gigantes de la naturaleza, Week 4: Giants Made by People/ Gigantes hechos por el hombre.
• The Child Development team hosted their fall Child Development Advisory Meeting.
• Child Development Specialists in collaboration with HR conducted virtual interviews and submitted candidate recommendations to hire selected teachers
• The Child Development Team is currently conducting student observations and reviewing Behavior Incident Forms to provide appropriate Tier II strategies and support to teachers for children in need.
• The Child Development Team distributed classroom materials for handson activities with the children during the Winter Wonderland celebration.
• Ms. Sonali provided Pasadena EHS with virtual training titled ‘The Power of Routines in Early Head Start Classrooms: Building Secure, Predictable Learning Environments.
• The Child Development team has hired two new Child Development Specialists. Please join us in welcoming Ms. Logan and Ms. Lewis to the Child Development team!
• The Child Development Team conducted 20 minutes of CLASS observations for all Head Start classrooms. CLASS scores will be shared at a later date.
• The Child Development Manager held her monthly data meeting with SHINE representative Bethany Lovings, Director of Performance Implementation and Impact Services. She also held a Early Childhood Education (ECE) meeting with Sonali Raval, Director of Education & Family and Community Engagement ShineAssist.
HEALTH & NUTRITION
(H/N):
• Head Start program requires within 30 calendar days after the child first attends the program, the parent must be consulted to determine whether each child has ongoing sources of continuous, accessible health care and health insurance coverage. Currently the Head Start enrollment is 1178 and EHS is at full enrollment of 112. Within 45 calendar days after the child first attends the program a program must either obtain or perform evidence-based vision and hearing screenings.
• Within 90 days HS must obtain determinations from health care and oral health care professionals toestablishifthechildisuptodate on a schedule of age-appropriate preventive and primary medical and oral health care. This is based on the well-child visits and dental periodicity schedules as prescribed by the Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment (EPSDT) program. EPSDT is a part of the Medicaid agency.
• The monthly Health Lunch Box (HLB) meeting was held for the CenterAdministrators with HLB staff to discuss meal service. This is their opportunity to identify any concerns, food choices that children like and dislike and delivery of food.
• The Health Team is pleased to announce the addition of Stacey Churchill as our new Health Specialist. Ms. Churchill brings over 20 years of medical experience and has recently obtained certification to conduct vision and hearing screenings for the Head Start and Early Head Start programs.
• The team remains committed to performing comprehensive vision and hearing screenings across all program centers to ensure early identification of potential concerns. However, due to staffing limitations and the availability of only one
HEALTH & NUTRITION (H/N):
continued
• Health Specialist during the reporting period, the program was unable to meet the 90-day mandate requirements. To address this issue and prevent future occurrences, a corrective action plan has been developed and implemented
• The Nutrition Team is pleased to welcome Kiandra Thompson-Lambert as the newest member of the Nutrition Department. Kiandra brings over 15 years of experience in the independent school system and a strong understanding of the Nutrition Specialist role. The team continues to actively support center-level cooks by providing guidance and assistance. Additionally, we are grateful to Ben E. Keith for donating 12 turkeys to be distributed at the RYSS location for a family raffle event. Below we can see the pictures of the event.
SPECIALSERVICES (SS):
Head Start and Early Head Start requires that 10% of the Actual Enrollment includes children with disabilities. Head Start only recognizes children with a disability that are eligible for services under Individuals With Disabilities EducationAct (IDEA).At the end of November 2025, a total of 48 children, including 43 Head Start and 5 Early Head Start children, representing 4% of the actual enrollment, have been identified with a disability. Of the children identified with a disability, Thirty-seven (37), or 77% have a Speech Impairment; five (5) or 10%, have Autism, three (3) or 6%, are identified with a Non-Categorical
SPECIALSERVICES (SS):
Early Childhood condition; two (2) or 4% have an Other Health Impairment; and one (1), or 2% have a DeafHearing Impairment. IDEAis a law that makes available free appropriate public education to eligible children with disabilities throughout the nation and ensures special education and related services to those children who are identified with a disability. The Local EducationAgency (LEA) holds the authority to identify children with disabilities.
Please see the “Identified Children Per Campus” chart showing the number of children with disabilities indicated above.
As of the end of November 2025, the Special Services Department identified 170 children in the Head Start program and 8 children in the Early Head Start program as suspected of having a disability, totaling 178 children. This represents approximately 14% of the total children enrolled Of the children suspected of having a disability, 123 (69%) have speech concerns, 33 (19%) are suspected ofAutism, 4 (2%) have social-emotional concerns, 16 (9%) present with both a disability and social-emotional concerns, 1 (1%) is suspected of having Dyslexia, and 1 (1%) child has occupational or physical concerns. Approximately 38% of the children that are currently suspected are receiving private services.
Please see the “Suspected Children Per Campus” chart showing the number of children with suspected disabilities.
The Special Services Manager has continued collaborating with the HISD Interventions Department to discuss and review Head Start student referrals and has also worked with CenterAdministrators to develop CorrectiveAction Plans as an additional measure to support meeting the requirement that at least 10% of enrolled students have an identified disability.
Multi-Disciplinary Team Meetings: The department assists with monitoring Multi-Disciplinary (MDT) meetings. MDT meetings are held to ensure that children who are enrolled or who have applied are given the opportunity to maximize the benefits of the program. For the month of November 2025, the Special Services Department obtained and attended 0 new MDT and a total of 25 year to date.
The Special ServicesTeam, together with the Health and NutritionTeam, convened the Fall Health and Mental HealthAdvisory Committee Meeting to support and enhance the program’s efforts in promoting mental health, overall wellness, and socialemotional development for the children and families we serve.
GCCSADisabilities and Mental Health Providers Services - (Advance Plus,Angels of Care, Personal Touch, Eaden Counseling, Providential Counseling,ANC-D Psychological Services and Marshall Counseling Services) Mental Health Classroom Observations have been completed at all the campuses. This is a useful tool to identify coaching needs for teachers as well as any additional support that may be needed for individual children. The Special Services Manager and Child Development Manager will meet to review observations and identify what support is needed.
DEPARTMENTACCOMPLISHMENTS:
• New Hire Orientation: During the month of November, there were a total of thirteen (13) new hires to come on board. They consisted of two (2) Assistant Center Administrators, one (1) Child Development Specialist, two (2) Family Service Specialists, one (1) Health Specialist, one (1) Nutrition Specialist and six (6) Teaching positions. We warmly welcome our new hires.
• Specialists’ Outcomes Meeting: Specialists will host their next meeting in November to discuss outcomes and follow-up needed for children and families
• Shine Data meeting was held this month with our SHINE partner, Bethany Lovings and Head Start/Early Head Start management team members.
HS/EHS PROFESSIONALDEVELOPMENT:
• Pasadena and Richey Head Start staff attended the Family Style Meal refresher training presented by the Nutrition Team
• Mental Health Provider, ANC-D Psychological Services, conducted virtual staff trainings titled “Challenging Behaviors and Stress Management for Teachers.”
• Leadership and Management team received the required Texas Department of Agriculture’s training on “Claims Submission, claims Review Procedures and Reimbursement System”.
Site Observation Report – October 2025: October and November Site Observation reports will be reflected in next month’s report due to a glitch in our system.
UPCOMINGACTIVITIES/EVENTS/TRAINING HOSTED BY DEPARTMENT:
December 1 – 5 CLI & EHS ELAP Beginning Of Year Reviews
December 3 GCCSASenior Management Team Monthly Meeting Kickoff
December 4
December 9
HS/EHS Fatherhood Event
HS/EHS & CSAssistant Directors’Meeting
December 10 CACFPAdministrative Review Prep
December 17 GCCSAFA2 Prep GCCSAStory Time
December 1 – 19 – Blackout Period
PCOMING CONFERENCES TRAININGS HOSTED OUTSIDE OF GCCSA:
December 4 CACFP Quick Bites: Confidently Navigating Squaremeals.org
December 11 GCCSAIntroductory Meeting: FortellAI
December 13 WheelerAvenue Baptist Church Give-Away
December 17 06CH012604 Gulf Coast Community ServicesAssociation, Inc. with Natasha Ikeji,ACF
REQUIRED TRAININGS:
• CDATraining
• Civil Rights Training (annual)
• CLASS and Teacher Success Rubric
• Training for new and returning staff.
• ChildAbuse and Neglect Training annually
• CPR & FirstAid Training
• Coaching and Mentoring Strategies CD Specialists & Teachers
• ERSEATraining - required annually.
• Food Handlers Certification
• MedicationAdministration Training
• Orientation for New Employees, Parents & Providers
• DevelopmentallyAppropriate Practices, Health and Safety, Teaching and Learning Environment, Curriculum & Assessment
• Pedestrian Safety at First Parent Upcoming
• Technology in the Classroom Training
• HS/EHS Policies and Procedures Training: Practice-Based Coaching, Effective Classroom Management.
• CACFP Required Training & Bi- Weekly CACFP & Cook Training Conscience Discipline Training
• Disability & Mental Health Training & Social Emotional Development for Children
• SIDS/ Shaken Baby training
Program:GCCSA
Program:GCCSA
