When COVID-19 Shuts Everything Down, Head Start Steps Up
Community-embedded, multi-generational model of support remains a beacon of hope for vulnerable families during crisis
The COVID-19 public health crisis is affecting every community across the country and Head Start families and staff are confronting unprecedented challenges with creativity, bravery, and compassion. These stories from Head Start staff and parents illustrate the new challenges programs are facing and the ways in which they are adapting to meet the needs of children, families, and their broader communities:
Adapting to a new normal
At the Baker Center Head Start in Punta Gorda, Florida, Stephanie Van Tassel is adapting to a new normal as both a parent and Early Head Start teacher at the program.
“I would like to bring awareness to the Baker Center in Punta Gorda, Florida, and what all their staff are doing to support families in this time of uncertainty and need,” she recently to wrote NHSA. “Not only is the school partnered with the Public Schools Champs Cafe to provide nutritious meals for all children in the area, but they are also providing much-needed supplies to those families that need it the most. The wonderful staff are sending home activities for the children to do with their families and providing as much support as possible to the community they serve.”
She added, “As a parent, I am proud to be a part of this amazing family of people. The staff and teachers are going above and beyond what anyone would expect with everything in the world going on right now.” Baker Center staff have been distributing learning materials to families who line up in cars outside the school so that their children have what they need to continue learning at home.
In addition to providing classroom resources, nutritious food, and household necessities like diapers, Baker Center teachers are reaching out to families by phone multiple times a week to check in with them. “On top of teacher communication, family advocates are making calls as well,” Stephanie explained. “Our director just read a story live on Facebook for our families to log in and watch with their children, and other staff members will be posting videos of activities and read alongs for the children too,” she said.
In terms of the challenges the coronavirus has created, “As a teacher myself in the Early Head Start program, I really miss seeing my children and families every day,” Stephanie says. “I wish there was more that I could do to support my families, but with the current CDC recommendations, I am not able. I am looking forward to the day that our classrooms can reopen and I can give a big hug to each of the children in my care.”
Stephanie Van Tassel is a parent and Early Head Start teacher at the Baker Center in Punta Gorda, Florida.
Empowering parents as their children’s teachers
The Head Start community is resilient, and it has never been clearer than now, in the midst of the COVID-19 public health crisis. Despite all the challenges of the current situation, Head Start staff find reasons to stay positive. Head Start teacher Valerie Spooner, for example, is celebrating the incredible family engagement she’s seeing in her students’ homes.
“After touching base with families, and giving them resources to work with their child, I found that families were sharing stories and pictures of what their child is doing,” she says. “I was so impressed and then realized I could input their info into my TS gold assessment. As I started this, I was able to individualize what each child really needed to work on.”
Valerie shared that her students’ parents and caregivers, who are usually pulled in many directions to meet their families' day-to-day needs, are finding their strength as their children’s teachers. “As I gave parents specific things to look for, they became even better teachers in the home. They are bonding with their children and realizing that they are, and have always been, the expert and best teacher for their children.”
Valerie reflected on how this increase in family engagement made her feel. “I just can’t describe how proud this makes me. I have been telling them this every day. I joke that they will be putting me out of a job, but they reassure me that I am still an important part of their lives. This, in turn, has given me a very needed pat on the back as I feel isolated. It is my hope that these habits will become part of the families’ everyday lives and we all become stronger together while apart.”
Valerie Spooner is a teacher at NEKCA Head Start in Vermont.
Meeting evolving needs in the COVID-19 crisis
The Head Start model is based on educating the whole child, partnering with the whole family, and individualizing services to meet children and families’ specific needs. These core elements of Head Start continue even as those needs change as a result of COVID-19.
One Head Start teacher in West Virginia shared how her program is doing their best to continue giving families and children personal attention, even while they are not meeting face-to-face. “I formed a chat group through Messenger to keep in contact with my students and their parents and guardians, Rheenetta Bennet said. “A couple of the students don’t have internet access, so I call them so I can keep in touch with all of them.”
In addition to keeping the lines of communication open, Rheenetta and her colleagues are posting activities online everyday for children to do at home and distributing physical at-home learning packets to families. “Every evening, the parents post pictures of the students doing an activity,” Rheenetta said.
“I send messages to each one complementing their work, telling them I am still thinking of them, and that hopefully we will be together soon.”
Rheenetta Bennett is a teacher at Clay County Schools Head start in West Virginia.
