OFFERING CHILDREN OF LOW INCOME FAMILIES A HEAD START

For 3- to 5-year-olds in low-income families, the Head Start program is providing exactly what the name says -- a head start.

Leola Twiggs, site manager and lead teacher for Cape Girardeau Head Start, says that start is not just to prepare children for school, but for life itself, and to let parents know how important they are in the learning process.

"We're just trying to give them a head start," explained Twiggs. "We try to develop the children; develop their social skills, emotional skills, physical skills and cognitive skills. And we want to let parents know that children learn best by doing and experimenting."

Head Start, a national program, was started about 1965. It began in Cape Girardeau in September 1969. Twiggs was on the job the first day.

Twiggs said she Head Start is a sound program that is accomplishing its purpose.

Said Twiggs: "We want children to have fun and want them to have a good concept of school, so we try to help them have lots of fun; and we listen to them, let them explore, make their own choices and decisions on some things. We try to develop a good outlook on school so by the time they go to kindergarten and all through school they will still have a good outlook and continue to get as much education as they possibly can."

Cape Girardeau Head Start has 18 children participating in the morning session from 8:30 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. and 18 in the afternoon session from 11:30 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. Classes are held at 1111 Linden, where Head Start seems to finally have a permanent home after years of moving to different facilities.

Twiggs, who has each session divided into two groups with a teacher and teacher's aide, prefers to call the teachers facilitators.

"We try to set our environment so children will become motivated and want to learn because of the activities we have in their environment," explained Twiggs. "We like them to just explore. Hopefully by doing certain things they will learn to set goals for themselves and be motivated and bring out their self-esteem.

"Hopefully, they won't be behind middle-class children when they enter school."

Parental involvement is a key part of Head Start. Parents' meetings are held monthly with guest speakers to make them aware of resources available and how they can help their children learn. An effort is made to involve parents in all areas of Head Start.

"We want to make them aware that they have been the child's teacher all these years and that they are first and foremost their main teacher," said Twiggs.

"We need the help of parents. They are with parents more than us, and without parents we are fighting a losing battle. We want to win this battle and encourage parent participation."

Cape Girardeau Head Start has a staff of 15, including cooks and bus drivers. Its overseeing agency is East Missouri Action Agency based in Park Hills. Cape Girardeau County is the southernmost county in the eight-county region served by East Missouri. In the entire region, 546 students are enrolled in Head Start, and at many places, like Cape Girardeau, there are waiting lists of parents wanting to participate.

Twiggs said the waiting list in Cape Girardeau is longer than it has been in the past, and she hopes funds will be available to expand the program. There are no other Head Start sites in Cape County, though efforts have been made to start one in Jackson. Interest has not been strong enough.

"We have tried to have a center in Jackson, but we never come up with enough children who are interested," said Twiggs. "If we find out that there are enough children interested in other parts of Cape County, we would make our director aware of it."

There are also home-based programs, but only one in Cape Girardeau. Under the home-based program, a staff member visits a parent once a week to suggest activities and helps with progress.

Twiggs said Head Start is a good program, and her experience has been that it gives children a good chance at succeeding in school and life.

"We're trying to get them ready for life. That's more what we are doing than just getting them ready for school. We are trying to get them ready for what lies ahead for the rest of their lives," said Twiggs.

"I know sometimes there is a lot of negativism about it, but I think people speaking negative about our Head Start program should visit and see what we are all about. They should visit us at the start of classes and then come back later in the year to see the improvement. We get a lot of positive comments that outweigh the negatives. We have a warm, friendly staff and have the children's best interests at heart."