Laura Young
ECB Publishing, Inc.
Young children who receive services through the local Capital Area Community Action Agency/Head Start program (Community Action) should experience more continuity of support when they begin to attend Jefferson County K-12 (JCS), due to a new partnership agreement between the two entities.
Florida's Head Start programs receive federal funding to “help prepare young children from low-income families, ages birth to five years old, and their parents for the social and educational challenges that young children face as they develop. Each head start program focuses on providing comprehensive services designed to enhance a child's emotional, social, cultural, language, reading, mathematics, science, health and nutrition education.”
When children graduate from a Head Start program and enroll in school, they may continue to need special services they had been receiving. To ensure that this transition happens locally without a gap in services, the Jefferson County School Board unanimously approved a partnership agreement with Community Action at its Dec. 12 meeting.
At the meeting, Superintendent Eydie Tricquet explained that the agreement was developed in response to a concerned parent whose child had experienced a gap in services because certain paperwork had not followed the student from Head Start to JCS.
“Now we can have a seamless service-providing for the students,” said Tricquet.
The agreement establishes a process of cooperation and information-sharing between JCS and Community Action. It includes provisions for coordination of developmental screenings/evaluations; joint participation in establishing, reviewing and updating Individual Education Plans (IEPs); and shared responsibility for the implementation of educationally relevant services for eligible students.
Both JCS and Community Action agree to follow each other's procedures and “share information and training opportunities, technical assistance and resources for parents and staff.” They further agree to participate in the Child Find system, an aspect of the Florida Diagnostic & Learning Resources System that locates children who may be eligible for services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
When children who receive special services during their time at Head Start then reach the point of making the transition from Head Start to JCS, both entities agree to participate in transition meetings.
The agreement is for the 2022-23 school year, with the expectation that it will be revised and updated annually going forward. According to Tricquet, there should be no financial cost incurred in implementing the agreement, because the personnel and services are already in place. Its purpose is essentially to close a communication gap so that transitioning students' needs continue to be addressed without delay.
The full contents of the “Partnership Agreement Between Capital Area Community Action/Head Start and the School Board of Jefferson County, Florida” can be viewed by following the BoardDocs link on the JCS website: www.jeffersonschools.net. A video recording of the board's Dec. 12 meeting is available in its entirety on the school's Facebook page: www.facebook.com/JeffersonCountySchoolsK12/videos.