Head Start now enrolling students in Coolspring

Driving through Coolspring, one wouldn’t know the area is a hub for preschool education. Yet, just around the corner, off Martins Farm Road, is the relocated, expanded Head Start center.

Cara Melendez, director of the year-old Coolspring center, said many families need more than childcare and education; they need support.

“We have a huge impact on families in our program because we don’t just babysit the kids; we prepare them for school and for life,” Melendez said. “We work with families to help get them into a school routine and to help them learn how to get shots and doctor’s appointments for their children.”

The Coolspring center serves Lewes, Milton and Rehoboth Beach, but Head Start also has centers in Georgetown, Bridgeville, Laurel, Seaford, and in Kent County, all administered by Telamon Corp., a national nonprofit hired to supervise Head Start services in Kent and Sussex counties.

Using federal funding, Head Start expanded its services in the Cape Region last year by moving from a small church in Belltown to the larger, newly renovated building in Coolspring.

Doris Gonzalez Rizek, Telamon’s director of Head Start in Sussex County, said Head Start has converted a warehouse into sun-filled classrooms for 3-5-year-olds.

“Our goal is to have children ready for school,” said Rizek. “The children are our success stories. They get basic skills, social skills and everything they need to be ready for school.”

Head Start officials collaborate with Delaware Health and Social Services to find the best locations for facilities and highest-need students for the centers.

April Hill Addison, director of the DHSS-Head Start collaborative office, said each year the state does a community assessment, which drives center locations.

“In Sussex, there is an early Head Start program for those under 3 years old, but that’s a very small number of students,” said Addison. “There are other programs to help those with special needs, including Parents as Teachers, Nurses & Kids and the Delaware Early Childhood Center.”

Delaware has committed to enrolling 100 percent of Head Start programs in Delaware Stars to improve kindergarten readiness, Addison said. The Stars program is part of Race to the Top funding to improve preschool education.

Under the program, Head Start will receive curriculum help to ensure children are ready for school, she said.

School bound

Because Head Start serves the poorest families, it is important that centers are located in communities where services are needed, Rizek said.

“We found the perfect location here in Coolspring, because they want us here … they need us here,” said Rizek.

Rizek said Head Start is key for low-income families to improve the future for their children. But, she said, funding has a limit.

“There are more needs than funding is available,” said Rizek. “We could be twice this size, but there’s no more funding.”

When Rizek started at Head Start in Sussex County in 2001, the program served 47 children in one center. Today, it serves 899 children in 12 centers in Kent and Sussex.

At Head Start in Coolspring, children enjoy the outdoor playground and grassy area for recess, but on some days not all the children are able to make it to school.

On one day in April, only eight of 18 students were able to attend school because the bus driver had to take a personal day. The program has been unable to hire a part-time bus driver, but teachers hope someone from the community comes forward to help.

“We need the community to help us provide these services,” said Melendez.

Once a student enters kindergarten, regular physical exams are needed, and Head Start teachers and leaders help parents figure out how to obtain the needed records. Head Start also provides records for many children who might have had their first physical only upon entering kindergarten if not for Head Start.

The Coolspring center is now accepting new children for the fall. It has the capacity for 56 children who will have half-day preschool and half-day daycare.

“There is so much need that we have no problem filling spots when they open up,” Rizek said. “We encourage all low-income families to submit an application.”

Applicants are chosen based on need, with income and age of the child being key factors.

For more information or to volunteer for Head Start in Sussex County, call 302-684-3234.

Head Start eligibility guidelines

For a single-parent family, income must not exceed $10,400 annually. For the average three-person household, income must be below $17,600 annually to qualify for Head Start programs.

History of Head Start

Established in January of 1964 during President Lyndon B. Johnson’s State of the Union address, Head Start was reauthorized most recently in 2007 under the George W. Bush administration, which intended to strengthen the program. The new guidelines aimed to align Head Start school readiness goals with state early-learning standards.

Head Start has served nearly 30 million children since 1965, growing from an eight-week demonstration project to include full day, full year programs. Head Start is administered by the Administration for Children and Families in the Department of Health and Human Services. Head Start serves over a million children and their families each year in urban and rural areas in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. territories.

- Information courtesy of Head Start

Kids Count data shows continued rise of poverty

By Rachel Swick Mavity

More than 58 percent of Sussex County school-aged children received free and reduced-price lunches in 2010-11. That’s one of the findings of the annual Kids Count, released April 25, which also found the number of children living in poverty continues to rise.

According to the survey, which looks at risk factors for children including having a teen mothers, low birth weight, infant mortality and poverty, the recent recession was not only hard on parents, it was hard on children.

Janice Barlow, new director for Kids Count, which collects data about children and releases an annual report, said the recession and slow recovery are still affecting children living in poverty.

“After the recession ended, we continue to see an increase in poverty while the economy is recovering,” Barlow said. “In schools, the free and reduced-price lunch programs are continuing to rise in numbers.”

The data show poverty is increasing in Delaware, with more than 15.2 percent of children from birth to age 17 living in poverty, Barlow said.

Kids Count reports nearly 28 of 1,000 children in Delaware are born to teen mothers between the ages of 15 and 17. That number jumps to 58.6 of 1,000 children born to teen mothers from 15-19 years old. Sussex County has the highest rate of teen pregnancies in the state.

“As of 2010, a family of three would need to make less than $17,568 annually to be considered in poverty. Program data confirms the increased and ongoing need among Delaware children and their families,” Kids Count reports.

Race to the Top funds aim to help improve learning opportunities and quality for all children. Delaware will receive approximately $100 million to implement comprehensive school-reform plans over the next four years.

Kids Count is administered by the Center for Community Research and Service at the University of Delaware. This is the 17th year for the annual report, which is created and maintained by a board of child and family advocates from public and private sectors.

Copies of the 2011 report are available by calling 302-831-4966, by emailing kids-count@udel.edu or by visiting the website www.dekidscount.org.