GULF COAST COMMUNITY SERVICES ASSOCIATION
Head Start/Early Head Start Support Services Monthly Narrative
September 2025
LEADERSHIPACTIVITIES:
• Child andAdult Care Food Program (CACFP) The August 2025 Child andAdult Care Food Program (CACFP) claim was completed and submitted to the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) for reimbursement. In August there were 14 food service days for the month. There were 13 eligible sites and 1,192 eligible children. The number of meals provided: 3,443 breakfasts; 3,483 lunches and 10,190 PM snacks served. Expected reimbursement for the month is $37,330.95. 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 CACFP TX-UNPS system on the last day of September. The new CACFP year began October 1.
• Ms. Cindy Puryear, Chief Strategic Partnerships and Program Officer at the Barbara Bush Houston Literacy Foundation kicked off the GCCSA StoryTime in September. She read the children's book "Dragons Love Tacos" by Adam Rubin, which humorously explores dragons' love for tacos and their aversion to spicy salsa. She explained to the boys and girls that dragons enjoy mild toppings like tomatoes, lettuce, and cheese, and shared that dragons also love parties, including costume parties and those with music and games.
• Center Administrators have begun scheduling the University of Houston BOUNCE program’s nutritional program for their families.
CHILD DEVELOPMENT (CD):
Pasadena HS CB 15 Bulleting Board
Celebrating Latin Heritage Month
• Early Head Start: Children at Early Head Start (EHS) continued August learning in Toddlers: Theme- “All About Me”- Week 1- My Face- Children learned facial features. Week 2- My SensesThis week continued learning about facial features with an expanded focus on Week 3- Arms, Hands, and Feet- This week children investigated their arms, hands, elbows, fingers, tummy, and chest. Week 4- Legs, Feet, and Toes- This week children continued to develop body parts vocabulary specifically legs, feet, knees, toes, and waist. Threes: Theme- “Awesome Me- Week” –1Physical Me- This week children learned how awesome they are physically as they studied body parts and their functions. Children also were introduced to essential classroom routines. Week 2 – Feeling Me- This week children learned how awesome they are emotionally as they studied their facial expressions and feelings. Week 3- Social Me- This week children continued to learn how awesome they are emotionally as they continued to study their facial expressions and feelings. Week 4- Curious Me- This week children learned to value their curiosity. They explored their sense of wonder that stimulates their thinking. Infants: Teachers implemented the Activity Trackers Card to plan activities according to each child’s individual needs. Raul Yzaguirre- Teaching Strategies Curriculum The September theme at Raul was Boxes”. The sub themes for the month children studied: “What Can We Do with Boxes?”; “What Do We Know Boxes?”; “What do We Want to Find Out?”; “What Characteristics of Boxes?”; “Which Jobs Involve boxes?”; “How are Boxes Made?” and “How Can We over Boxes?”. Families were invited to bring in boxes with environmental print in their home languages.
CHILD DEVELOPMENT
(CD) continued:
• SAVAS Threes: Theme- Awesome Me- Week 1- This week the children will learn how awesome they are physically as they study body parts and their functions. Children will also be introduced to essential classroom routines.
• Raul Yzaguirre- Teaching Strategies Curriculum. The September theme at Raul was Boxes”. The sub themes for the month children studied: “What Can We Do with Boxes?”; “What Do We Know Boxes?”; “What do We Want to Find Out?”; “What Characteristics of Boxes?”; “Which Jobs Involve boxes?”; “How are Boxes Made?” and “How Can We over Boxes?”. Families were invited to bring in boxes with environmental print in their home languages.
• Stand-Alone Curriculum: Head Start Stand-Alone sites uses the Frogstreet Pre-K curriculum. September theme was: “My School and Me/Mi escuela y yo”. Sub themes students studied: Week 1: Physical Me/Mi fisico, Week 2: My Senses/Mis sentidos, Week 3: I Think, I Feel/ Yo creo, yo siento, Week 4: Theme 2- My Family and Friends/Mi familia y mis amigos. Week 1: Family/Familias.
• On September 25th , Ms. Bethany Lovings from Shine visited the Corporate Office to provide a Behavior Incident Form training for the Shine system. During the session, she supported our leaders in gaining a better understanding of how to complete, track, and automatically receive behavior reports. This training will help ensure that Behavior Incident Forms are consistently aligned with teachers’ documentation and that appropriate support is provided to address children’s behavioral needs effectively.
• The Child Development Team has provided the digital Teacher NeedsAssessment. This assessment is designed to help track and identify where teachers feel they currently stand, as well as what support or materials they may need in order to reach a level 5 rating. It is another one of our efforts to continue transitioning to less paper and more technology .
• Child Development Specialists in Collaboration conduct virtual interviews and candidate recommendations with support to hire Teacher/Teacher Assistants/Teacher.
• The Child Development Manager created a PowerPoint presentation to share during the Board Meeting, which includes the 2024–2025 CLI Data Completion Report for review. The presentation highlights the data outcomes and identifies the domains that need improvement for the upcoming year. Overall, our children had a very productive year!
• The Child Development Team is currently conducting student observations and reviewing Behavior Incident Forms to provide appropriate Tier II strategies and support for children in need. At this time, across all centers, there are a total of six students receiving Tier II interventions.
• The Child Development Team is supporting teaching staff and Center Administrators to ensure that teachers are completing children’s assessments on CLI Engage. We are currently experiencing some challenges at the HISD sites due to shared data with Head Start, which has caused delays. As a result, an extension will be provided to teachers to allow sufficient time for completion. Our goal is to ensure that all children are assessed accurately and remain on the right path for developmental progress and program compliance.
• The Child Development Manager is working with the Human Resources Department to recruit qualified applicants for interview for the two Child Development Specialist’s open positions.
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 1122 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 to establish if 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.
Celebrating Custodian/Cook Day! Thank you for all you do!
HEALTH & NUTRITION (H/N)
continued:
• The Health & Nutrition Team is preparing for the New Hire Orientation sessions for new employees in the upcoming school year.
• The Health Team is currently focused on delivering medical supplies to centers, entering physical and dental data, and issuing vouchers for uninsured students. They are also conducting vision and hearing screenings and coordinating MDTs to support student health needs. In addition, the team continues to review immunization records for all children enrolled in GCCSA Head Start and Early Head Start programs to ensure compliance and promote overall well-being.A plan has been implemented to assist the Health Specialist in identifying each child’s immunization status, allowing for more accurate and real-time reporting.
• Head Start and Early Head Start teachers completed height and weight screenings forSeptember, and the Nutrition Team is providing BMI percentages for each site (see chart below) Height and weight data are currently being entered into SHINE and should be completed soon. Multidisciplinary Team (MDT) meetings continue to address children’s nutritional and developmental needs. Monthly Cook meetings remain ongoing to support nutrition standards and meal planning. On October 2nd,the team celebrated Cook/Custodian Day with drinksand snacks toshow appreciation fortheir valuable contributions.
HEALTH STATISTICALREPORTS:
Site Health Weight Underweight Overweight
SPECIALSERVICES (SS):
Head Start and Early Head Start requires that 10% of the Funded Enrollment includes children with disabilities. Head Start only recognizes children with a disability that are eligible for services under Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).At the end of September 2025, it was determined that 31 Head Start children and 2 Early Head Start children are currently enrolled with an identified disability. Twenty-Six (26) children are identified with a Speech Impairment, 2 withAutism, 2 with Non-Categorical Early Childhood, 2 with Other Health Impairment and 1 with DeafHard of Hearing 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 September 2025, the Special Services Department has 157 suspected children enrolled in our Head Start program and 4 suspected children enrolled in our Early Head Start program. 127 children have suspected speech concerns, 17 children have suspected of Autism, 6 children have suspected social-emotional concerns, 10 children with both disability and socialemotional concerns and 2 children with occupational/physical concerns. Please see the “Suspected Children Per Campus” chart showing the number of children with suspected disabilities.
Multi-Disciplinary Team Meetings: The department assists with monitoring MultiDisciplinary (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 2025, the Special Services Department obtained and attended 2 new MDT and a total of 22 year to date.
The Special Services Department was present across campuses to provide support, ensuring a smooth transition for students and assisting teachers in addressing individual needs. Their presence helped create a welcoming and supportive environment for both students and staff as the children continue to get acclimated into the classroom
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 began the week of September 15th which is a useful tool to identify coaching needs for teachers as well as any additional support that may be needed for individual children.
DEPARTMENTACCOMPLISHMENTS:
• New Hire Orientation: During the month of September, there were a total of two (2) new hires to come on board They consisted of two (2) Teacher III positions. We warmly welcome our new hires.
• CPR/First Aid: There were two (2) staff that attended CPR classes and received certification during the month of August In attendance there was one (1) Operations Support Manager and one (1) Teaching Staff.
• Specialists’Outcomes Meeting: Specialists held the first of their regular quarterly meetings for this school year. During the meeting, children’s progress was reviewed and returning children who will continue to need support were identified.
HS/EHS PROFESSIONALDEVELOPMENT:
• Center staff completed Heights and Weights Training. Teachers will now conduct height and weight measurements for every child in their classroom.
• Site Observation Orientation and Training was held for all managers and specialists as we continue transitioning to less paper and more technology. The Site Observation Form will now be completed electronically and include electronic signatures.
• SHINE Training was held for CenterAdministrators (CA) and Family Services Specialists. SHNEAssist is our electronic family system. The trainer, Ms. Bethany also provided additional support to CAs on the Teachers Needs Assessment.
Site Observation Report – September 2025: The Site Observation Summary Chart outlines the center visits conducted during September 2025 by the Health & Nutrition Associate, Health & Nutrition and Special Services Managers and the Child Development, Family Empowerment, Health & Nutrition and Special Services Specialists These visits were carried out across all GCCSA Head Start and Early Head Start Centers to ensure that comprehensive support was provided, addressing the evolving needs of children, families, and staff. Each site observation is an essential component of the agency’s commitment to maintaining high-quality service delivery and fostering continuous improvement.
UPCOMINGACTIVITIES/EVENTS/TRAINING HOSTED BY DEPARTMENT:
September 3 – Oct. 7
October 13
October 14
October 15
October 20
October 28
November 3
December 1 – 19
Beginning of the Year ChildrenAssessments
Immunization/SHINE Training
“What to Do if Immigration Visits Your Workplace” Training
GCCSAStoryTime featuring Mr. Calvin Denson,Author reading “Abuela”
New Hire Orientation
GCCSABoard Meeting
New Hire Orientation
Blackout Period
UPCOMING CONFERENCES TRAININGS HOSTED OUTSIDE OF GCCSA:
October 9
October 14
October 16
October 20 -22
October 21
October 22
November 4
November 12
TDATANS Talk
HCC Early ChildhoodAdvisory Board Meeting
EHS Pasadena Only – Virtual EHS Building Language for Infants & Toddlers’Training –Sonali Raval, Director of Education & Family and Community Engagement – Shine Assist
UH Bounce Nutrition Program – Richey Head Start
San Jacinto college – Child Development and Education ProgramsAdvisory Committee Meeting
SHINE Leadership Conference
Childbuilders Lesson 1
Mental Health Parent Training: Challenging Behaviors and Stress Management
Election Day
UH Bounce Nutrition Program – Raul Yzaguirre
COMING SOON!
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.
