(Seguin) – The Seguin ISD is gearing up for its ongoing partnership with the Head Start Program.
The federally funded grant program, however, will undergo a few changes during the 2020-2021 school year. The program for the last several years has been held in partnership with the pre-k classes at the Seguin ISD’s Ball Early Childhood Center.
Mark Cantu, the chief academic officer for the Seguin ISD, says as of this July, the new awarded service provider for the Guadalupe County Head Start Program is the Community Council of South-Central Texas. For the last five years, the pre-k program has been under the direction of the BCFS Health and Human Services. Although operating under a new umbrella, Cantu says the program will continue to offer additional support to the lowest socioeconomic students and families in the district.
“We’ve been in partnership with Head Start for many years as they provide the family services. They provide additional educational opportunities and of course, they’ve provided some health opportunities so it’s something that we’ve benefited from,” said Cantu.
Among the most notable difference for families will be the program itself. Cantu says all classes at Ball will now be for four-year-olds only.
“It would be a four-year-old program which we’ve always served four-year-olds. Last year and in prior years, we also served three-year-olds. Remember that the state also had a big push that we educate four-year-olds all day instead of just half a day and so, we are making the move from a half day three year-old program and a half-day four year-old program to a full four year old program so now we will see our four-year-olds all day,” said Cantu.
As reported earlier by the Seguin Daily News, CCSCT officials are currently in search of a new site in which to support those families with three-year-olds and younger.
“The grant this time around also includes some free standing sites and they will also be able to serve some three year-olds and I believe it’s actually zero to four that the grant will serve but that is different,” said Cantu.
Before the BCFS, the Community Council had already operated the Head Start program for years at its former building located on Weinert Street, better known as the old Seguin hospital. It was later that the Head Start classes were conjoined with the Seguin ISD pre-kindergarten program. Cantu says with the new full day, four-year-old only program, the district is doing its part to align both programs even more.
“What we are going to do is run a model that is slightly different. But we don’t want to differentiate is to say that this is a Head Start only program versus this is a Seguin ISD program so we are a full service school and we service all students who qualify,” said Cantu.
CCSCT officials say while the pre-k program will continue at Seguin ISD’s Ball Early Childhood Center, the program for the younger children or Early Head Start Services will be open to any family in Guadalupe County.
With the start of school just around the corner, the CCSCT continues its search for a new site to house its Early Head Start Services program. The non-profit agency is currently soliciting sealed bids for a site both in Guadalupe and Comal Counties.
Interested parties may obtain a bid packet at the CCSCT Executive and Administration Office located at 801 N. State Highway 123 Bypass. The deadline to submit a sealed bid is 4 p.m. Monday, Aug. 3.
Upon officially opening the bids, CCST officials say they will then begin accepting inquiries for the program and will be providing the necessary information so that families can begin planning for its Early Head Start Services program.
CCSCT is a non-profit Community Action Agency that empowers vulnerable families and individuals in the greater South-Central Texas area to achieve self-sufficiency by eliminating barriers through innovative programs and strong community partnerships.
Counties serviced include Atascosa, Bandera, Comal, Dimmit, Edwards, Frio, Gillespie, Guadalupe, Karnes, Kendall, Kerr, Kinney, LaSalle, Live Oak, Maverick, McMullen, Medina, Real, Uvalde, Val Verde, Wilson, and Zavala.