GULF COAST COMMUNITY SERVICES ASSOCIATION
Head Start/Early Head Start Support Services Monthly Narrative October 2024
LEADERSHIPACTIVITIES
• Child andAdult Care Food Program (CACFP) The September 2024 Child andAdult Care Food Program (CACFP) claim was completed and submitted to the Texas Department ofAgriculture (TDA) for reimbursement. In September there were 20 food service days for the month. There were 15 eligible sites and 1,370 eligible children. The number of meals provided: 7,117 breakfasts; 7,206 lunches and 17,317 PM snacks served.
• Expected reimbursement for the month is $69,745.48.
• Garden Villas Elementary & RYSSSTEMAcademy Pasadena CACFPApplications: The newest 2024-2025 Head Start centers have submitted their CACFP application and were approved. These two centers will begin reimbursement for their PM snacks November 1!
• The Child Development Manager andAssistant Director held an introductory meeting with Ms. Shenitta M. Shephard, Early Childhood Specialist for Region VI. We had the opportunity to share with her the highlights of our program. She will be the new TTAand planning a site visit during November/December. Members of the Head Start & Early Head Start team attended the second session on the “Preparation for Final Rule: assess. Plan. Execute Series” sponsored by the National Head Start Association.
• TheAssistant Directors for Head Start & Early Head Start and Community Services held their regular meeting this month. Program information is shared. Community Services (CS) staff are scheduling to attend Head Start and Early Head Start parent meetings to share resources available. A CS staff will also serve on the Health & Mental Health Services Advisory Committee.
• TheAssistant Director serves on the Houston Community College Child DevelopmentAdvisory Committee. She attended this month’s meeting.
• The Support Services team are members of the ERSEACommittee. They attended the monthly planning meeting.
CHILD DEVELOPMENT (CD)
• GCCSA/SHINE ECE Monthly Check-In – The Child Development Manager and theAssistant Director met with the SHINE ECE representative this month to discuss teacher needs and the Teacher Success Rubric implementation.
• The Child Development team continues to work with our SHINE partner in the roll out plans for the Teacher Success Rubric. Atool that will help teachers self-assess to improve their teaching skills. The Child Development Manager is working with the Human Resource Department to recruit qualified applicants for interviews for the two Child Development Specialists’open positions.
CHILD DEVELOPMENT
• Early Head Start- Themes taught for this month were: Toddler- Theme2- Family and Homes Week 4- Homes- This week children will explore the concepts of home including homes for people and homes for animals. Theme 3- Friends- Week 1- Everyday friends- This week children will explore friends and friendships with a focus on their caregivers and school friends. Week 2- Friends Who Keep Us Healthy- This week children will learn about people who help take care of them and keep them healthy: doctors, nurses, dentists, and veterinarians. Week 3- Friends Who Keep Us Safe- This week children will learn about who keep them safe: firefighters and police officers.
• Threes- Theme 3- Colors Shapes and Sizes- Week 1- Colors- This week children will begin using color, not only as a way to describe something, but also as a way to group items into sets. Week 2- Shapes- Children will review shapes this week. They will also begin using shapes, not only to describe something but also as a way to group items into sets. 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.
• Infants- In these two classrooms the teachers implement the Activity Tracking Cards to plan for each child according to their individual need.
• Raul Yzaguirre P-Stem & RYSS Stem- Children are still studying Boxes. Themes: Boxes. Subtheme: What can we do with boxes? What do we know about boxes? What do we want to find out? What are the characteristics of boxes? Which jobs involve boxes? How can we move boxes? Family Partnerships Invite families to bring in boxes with environmental print in their home languages. WOW! Experiences.
• 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 continues to provide support for all teaching staff.
• The Child Development team is conducting CLASS observation.
• The Child Development Team is working on Tier 2 strategies and following up with Behaviors Incident forms.
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 Head Start enrollment is at 1294 and EHS is at full enrollment of 80.
Within45calendardays afterthechildfirst attendstheprogramaprogrammust 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 as to whether or not the child is up to date 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. Texas Health Steps is our state’s EPSDT program. Immunization recommendations are issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and any additional recommendations from the local health agencies and the GCCSAHealth ServicesAdvisory Committee based on prevalent community health problems.
Nutrition Team continue to host monthly meetings with The Healthy Lunch Box Provider. This gives the Center Administrators an opportunity to provide feedback on the quality of the meals served to our stand-alone centers. They also provided Family Style training for Pasadena, Garden Villa, Richey, Reveille, and EHS
HEALTH
& NUTRITION (H/N) (continued):
• Health Specialist continue to complete vision and hearing screenings for the new and returning students
• The Health and Nutrition Team have begun their fall folder reviews and are updating student information on SHINE.
• The Nutrition Team coordinated Halloween food learning activities for Codwell, Garden Villa Elementary, Bastian, Garden Villa Head Start, Foster, and Early Head Start.
SPECIAL SERVICES (SS):
• Head Start and Early Head Start requires that 10% of the Funded Enrollment includes children with disabilities. Head Start only recognized children with a disability that are eligible for services under Individuals With
• Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).At the end of October 2024, it was determined 46 Head Start children and 4 Early Head Start children are enrolled in the program that are identified with disabilities. Thirty-three (40) children are identified with a speech impairment, 3 withAutism, 4 with Non-Categorical Early Childhood and 1 with Orthopedic 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 from above.
• As of the end of October 2024, the Special Services Department has 188 suspected children enrolled in our Head Start program and 5 suspected children enrolled in our Early Head Start program. 126 children have suspected speech concerns, 24 children have suspectedAutism, 13 children have suspected social emotional concerns, and 29 children with both disability and social emotional concerns. Please see the “Suspected Children Per Campus” chart showing the number of children with disabilities.
Multi-Disciplinary Team Meetings: The department assists with monitoring Multidisciplinary Team (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 October 2024, the Special Services Department obtained and attended 2 new MDT meeting reports from the agency’s content areas for a total of 25 meetings year to date.
GCCSA Disabilities and Mental Health Providers Services - (Advance Plus, Carr Speech, Personal Touch, Eaden Counseling, Providential Counseling andANC-D Psychological Services) The 2024-2025 program year is a bidding year and therefore the Special Services Manager and other staff members worked with the Procurement team and have accepted a proposal for a new Mental Health Provider. The Special Services Department is still in need of additional Disability and Mental Health Providers therefore the RFP will be reposted.
• The Mental Health Providers have begun their Mental Health Classroom Observations at each campus to identify any areas where additional coaching would be needed for teachers as well as any concerns with individual students.
DEPARTMENTACCOMPLISHMENTS FROM THE PREVIOUS MONTH:
• Interviews were held for the Child Development Specialists’positions. Two candidates were recommended.
• Staff completed the 2023-2024 Self-Assessment and is ready for Policy Council and Board approval.
• Specialists’Outcomes’meetings were held in October Staff share their updates, discuss Multi-Disciplinary Team (MDT) meetings held and review any referrals made to the different departments and their outcomes.
• Staff attended the Preparation for the Final Rule: Assess, Plan Execute series. These series are presented by the Office of Head Start.
Site Observation October 2024 Report: The Site Observation Summary Chart indicates the center visits made by the Health & NutritionAssociate, Child Development, Family Empowerment, Health & Nutrition and Special Services Managers, Child Development, Family Empowerment, Health, Nutrition and Special Services Specialists for the month of October 2024.All GCCSASite visits are required to provide support and meet the needs of children and staff at GCCSAHead Start and Early Head Start Centers.
New Hire Orientation:
During October we had (2) two New Hire Orientations:
October 07 - 11, 2024: we hired (3) three Teaching staff and October 28, 2024: we hired (3) three Teaching staff. We welcome New Hires!
CPR/FirstAid: There were no CPR/FirstAid classes in October.
HS/EHS Professional Development:
• Congratulations to Ms. Dedra Crawford and Ms. Kanisha Michelle Johnson on completing all requirements and receiving their Child Development Associate (CDA) credential.
• Family Style Meals training was provided this month by the HS/EHS nutrition team.
• Family Service training provided for new staff.
• Co-Teaching training was provided for staff at Pasadena Head Start.
• The Texas Department ofAgriculture held a Community Call to update contracting entities (CE).
• ChildBuilders’training was held this month.
UPCOMINGACTIVITIES/EVENTS/TRAINING HOSTED BY DEPARTMENT:
November 4
November 5
November 7
November 8
CPR FirstAid Class
Child DevelopmentAdvisory Committee Meeting
GCCSAInc.Annual Governance Training for HS/EHS Policy Council & Board of Directors
CPR/First Aid Class
November 11- 15 New Hire Orientation
November 13
November 14
November 20
Fall Health & Mental Health ServicesAdvisory Committee Meeting
Specialists’Outcomes Meetings MDT 2 & 3
ERSEACommittee Meeting
GCCSAStoryTime
November 25 – 29 Bonus & Thanksgiving Holidays
UPCOMING CONFERENCES TRAININGS HOSTED OUTSIDE OF GCCSA:
November 7
November 8
November 19
November 20
November 21
TDA“TANS” Talk
HISD Professional Development
Healthy Lunchbox Check-In w/Head Start/Early Head Start CenterAdministrators
AChild - CenteredApproach to Toilet Learning Webinar
Office of Head Start Monthly Meeting w/Lisa Tarrant (ACF)
SHINE-HS/EHS ECE Partner Meeting
Child Development & Early childhood EducationAdvisory Committee Meeting – San Jac
REQUIRED TRAININGS:
• CDA Training
• Civil Rights Training (annual)
• CLASS and Teacher Success Rubric
• Training for new and returning staff.
• Child Abuse and Neglect Training annually
• CPR & First Aid Training
• Coaching and Mentoring Strategies CD Specialists & Teachers
• ERSEA Training - required annually.
• Food Handlers Certification
• Medication Administration Training
• Orientation for New Employees, Parents & Providers
• Developmentally Appropriate 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 (overview)
• Disability & Mental Health Training & Social Emotional Development for Children
• SIDS/ Shaken Baby training.
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2024 11 01 10AM GCCSAMusic & Movement Class Click on the link above to watch the Nick Young music class!