PATTON HEAD START BEGINS

Patton Head Start begins

By Melissa Moore

SEMO News Service

On Oct. 11 the Patton Head Start opened its doors for the first time to the children in the area.

Head Start is a pre-school learning experience for 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old children. The children are taught to have good attitudes toward learning and toward themselves.

There are 20 children who attend the Patton Head Start Center, 10 boys and 10 girls. The children are chosen by a certain criteria at the central office in Park Hills. Some of the criteria is income eligibility, age or if the child has a disability. However, once a child is accepted into the program, they are in for both years.

The lead teacher and site manager is Joan Sebaugh. Brenda Wagner is the teacher assistant and the bus driver is Dee McCutchon.

The Patton Head Start Center will be hiring a family advocate. The job description is to visit families once a month to see if the family needs any help. The family advocate can refer them to the proper resources if help is needed, such as heating assistance, counseling or parenting classes.

Head Start encourages a lot of parent participation. "Parents are welcome to volunteer at the center," Sebaugh said. Parent involvement is a major focus because parents are the most important influences in a child's life. This includes volunteering, working on center committees and specialized parenting classes.

The center conducts one health screening and one screening test each year to know what areas need to be worked on.

The four major components of Head Start are education, health, parent involvement and social services.

Head Start's educational program is designed to meet each child's individual needs.

At the Patton center the children arrive around 8:30 a.m. Breakfast is served at the center, then the children go on to the day's activities. The center receives lunch from the Meadow Heights School through a contract between the school district and East Missouri Action Agency. After lunch, the children are transported home around 12:30 p.m.

There are currently 11 centers serving 577 children and their families statewide.