GULF COAST COMMUNITY SERVICES ASSOCIATION
Head Start/Early Head Start Support Services Monthly Narrative
September 2024
LEADERSHIPACTIVITIES
• Child andAdult Care Food Program (CACFP) TheAugust 2024 Child andAdult Care Food Program (CACFP) claim was completed and submitted to the Texas Department ofAgriculture (TDA) for reimbursement. In August there were 15 food service days for the month. There were 15 eligible sites and 1,370 eligible children. The number of meals provided: 5,036 breakfasts; 5,071 lunches and 12,881 PM snacks served. Expected reimbursement for the month is $50,812.62.
• CACFPApplication: The 2024-2025 application was approved. The CACFP year begins October 1.
• An introductory meeting was held with the Support Services Managers and the new SHINE IT representative Ms. Bethany Lovings. She will be working with the team on all IT related items in the SHINE system.
• TheAssistant Director and Child Development Manager is working with the SHINE IT team in developing a Teacher Assessment Tool that will help track teachers’self-assessments. This tool will also include CLASS observation scores. This will help in providing the support teachers need throughout the year.
• TheAssistant Directors for Head Start & Early Head Start and Community Services held their first meeting
• this month to share information regarding their programs. Out of this meeting, a representative from CS will schedule to attend parent meetings at the centers and CenterAdministrator meetings at corporate Community Services information shared at the Head Start & Early Head Start New Hire Orientations will be updated. Areferral form will be developed for Head Start families needing services.
• The 2024 Self-Assessment is completed. TheAssistant Director and Support ServicesAssociate is working to include FA1 Protocol information in the 2025 Self-Assessment tool.
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.
• Early Head Start- Themes taught for this month were: Toddler- Theme1-Week 3All About Me-Arms, Hands, and Fingers. This week children will investigate their arms, hands, elbows, fingers, tummy, and chest. Week 4 Legs, feet, and toes. This week children will continue to develop body parts vocabulary, specifically legs, feet, knees, toes, and waist. Theme 2- Week 1 Family and Home- Immediate Family- This week children will explore the concept of immediate family including the meaning of family, who is in a family and how families are alike. Week 2- Extended Family. This week children will explore the concept of extended family, identify extended family members and discover the important roles these family members play in their lives. Week 3- Families and Homes- Pets This week children will add pets to their study of families and explore how and why pets are considered family members.
CHILD DEVELOPMENT (CD)
(continued)
• Threes- Theme 2- Week 3- Awesome Me- Social Me- This week children will learn about skills they need to navigate their interactions with others. Week 4- Curious Me- This week children will learn to value their curiosity. They will learn that it is their sense of wonder that stimulates their thinking. Theme 3- Week 1 Family and Friends- Immediate Family- This week children will discuss family members and their roles in the family unit. Week 2- My Relatives- This week, children will learn about their extended family members. Week 3- Pets- This week children will learn about different kinds of pets and ways to take care of them.
• 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 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.
• The Child Development team has completed and finalized all Inventory, Requisition and Distribution for the upcoming school year.
• The Child Development team is working and preparing teachers for the upcoming CLASS review.
• The Child Development team has assisted teachers with CLI Engage, PEDS, Home visit, Pedestrian Safety Training.
• The Child Development Team is working on planning our Fall Advisory Committee event in collaboration with community partners to work towards program improvement, and effective participation.
• The Child Development Team has the first Teacher Round Table meeting.
• The Child Development Team prepare a Social Emotional Learning Box for all Head Star and Early Head Start classrooms.
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 1157 and EHS is at full enrollment of 80
Within 45 calendar days after the child first attends the program a program must either obtain or perform evidencebased 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. EPSDTisapart of theMedicaidagency. 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 GCCSA Health Services Advisory Committee based on prevalent community health problems.
Children with Medical Home
80%
Children with Dental Home 75%
Children with Medical Insurance 75%
Completed Vision Screening 95%
Completed Hearing Screening 93%
• Nutrition Team have begun bimonthly 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.
• The Center Administrators participated in the annual CACFP CenterAdministrator Leadership Track Training.
• Health Specialist continue to complete vision and hearing screenings for the new and returning students
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 September 2024, it was determined 43 Head Start children and 4 Early Head Start children are enrolled in the program that are identified with disabilities. Thirtythree (38) children are identified with a speech impairment, 4 with Autism, 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 September 2024, the Special Services Department has 148 suspected children enrolled in our Head Start program and 6 suspected children enrolled in our Early Head Start program. 103 children have suspected speech concerns, 21 children have suspected Autism, 9 children have suspected social emotional concerns, and 19 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 September 2024, the Special Services Department obtained and attended 1 new MDT meeting reports from the agency’s content areas for a total of 23 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 to review proposals from prospective providers.
• 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.
• Staff attended the first session of the Preparation for the Final Rule: Assess, Plan Execute series. These series are presented by the office of Head Start.
DEPARTMENTACCOMPLISHMENTS FROM THE PREVIOUS MONTH (continued):
Site Observation September 2024 Report: The Site Observation Summary Chart indicates the center visits made by the Health & Nutrition Associate, Child Development, Health & Nutrition and Special Services Managers, Child Development, Family Empowerment, Health, Nutrition and Special Services Specialists for the month of September 2024. All GCCSA Site visits are required to provide support and meet the needs of children and staff at GCCSA Head Start and Early Head Start Centers.
New Hire Orientation:
• During September we had (3) three New Hire Orientations: September 03 – 09, 2024: we hired (4) four Teaching staff September 09 – 13, 2024: we hired (3) three Teaching staff and (1) one Health Specialist and September 30 – October 04, 2024: we hired (3) three Teaching staff and (1) one Cook/Custodian
CPR/FirstAid: There were no CPR/FirstAid classes in September.
HS/EHS Professional Development:
• CenterAdministrators attended the Child & Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) Leadership Track conducted by the Assistant Head Start Director, Health & Nutrition Manager and the Support ServicesAssociate. The training covered center food program requirements that included but not limited to: Enrollment (children and their centers), attendance & point of service, meal patterns, record-keeping requirements and inventory.
UPCOMINGACTIVITIES/EVENTS/TRAINING HOSTED BY
DEPARTMENT:
October 1 - 4
October 2
October 7 – 11
October 10
October 21
October 24
New Hire Orientation
Fatherhood Event
New Hire Orientation
Specialists’Outcomes Meetings (MDT II & III)
New Hire Orientation
ERSEACommittee
UPCOMING CONFERENCES TRAININGS HOSTED OUTSIDE OF GCCSA:
October 3
October 4
October 8
October 10
October 16
HISD Professional Development Day
HISD Fall Holiday
PISD Student Holiday
Meet & Greet New Region IV Early Childhood Specialist: Ms. Shenitta M. Shephard
Preparation for Final Rule: Assess. Plan. Execute Series
Office of Head Start - 06CH010958 GCCSA- Monthly Meeting w/Lisa Tarrant
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. • Reaching for the
