KSFY News - Sioux Falls, SD News, Weather, SportsGetting a "Head Start"

Getting a "Head Start"

Educators say children begin learning from the moment they arrive in this world.  One early childhood learning program in the Sioux Falls School District is proving successful in helping that process along.

Head Start is meant for underprivileged children, ages 3 to 5 and here in Sioux Falls, the people who teach the program are getting A's on their report cards.

The early childhood development classes at Terry Redlin Elementary School are just finishing their snack.  Teacher Andrea Sukut says, "then the kids will make a plan about where they want to play or work for the day."

Sukut says the classes are a mix of Head Start children, special education and Title One, which just means, they're funded differently, but she says the learning is the same, it starts with academics, "then we spend a large portion of our day working on those social skills, working on how to play and interact."

It looks like those skills are being taught well here.  Since Head Start receives federal funding, onsite reviews are done.  The latest report gave the district a 99.8% compliance score.  Principal Mitch Shaeffer says that is outstanding.  He says, "the report that came through definitely showed that we do well in that area of providing instruction for our youngest of learners in our community."

Sukut says it's a service that's greatly needed, the district currently has 414 Head Start students, with 298 on a waiting list because of a need for more funding.  She says, "most of these kids in our program, if it wasn't for us, the wouldn't be able to have any kind of preschool program before they started kindergarten."

Sukut says once they reach kindergarten, the children who have access to these programs come out months ahead of their peers who do not.  She says, "they can always teach them the academics, but some of those social skills we're teaching them are just invaluable."

According to Sukut, learning something as simple as sitting and sharing a snack is just the start.

The onsite head start review did show three areas for the Sioux falls school district to improve.  Those include, documentation systems, staffing or consultation by a registered dietician or nutritionist and documentation of hiring requirements.

Committees are working on action plans to fix these areas and will submit those plans to the regional federal Head Start office by this Thursday.