Title
Head Start Birth to Five Monthly Report - January - Districts 1, 3, 4, 5, 7 and 8
Description
This report provides the Economic Development and Housing Subcommittee, which serves as the City of Phoenix Head Start Birth to Five Governing Board, with an updated summary of the Head Start Birth to Five Program's financial and programmatic status.
THIS ITEM IS FOR INFORMATION ONLY.
Report
Summary
The Improving Head Start for School Readiness Act of 2007 requires each Head Start Grantee to share monthly information with the Governing Board and Policy Council on program planning, policies and operations. In compliance with the Act, the Head Start program provides a monthly report on the following areas:
- Fiscal expenditures.
- Enrollment reports.
- School attendance.
- Medical/dental exams.
- Program information summaries.
- Nutrition.
- Child Incident Reports.
- Program Instructions or Information Memorandums.
Fiscal Expenditures
Attachment A shows year-to-date expenditures for the Fiscal Year 2024-25. The report includes a breakdown of each Education Service Provider, Child Care Partnership, Policy Council and the administrative support budget.
Enrollment Reports
The Office of Head Start requires programs to report the total number of children enrolled on the last day of each month. At the end of January, the total program enrollment was 2,198 out of 2,209 available slots, or 99.5 percent.
Enrollment at the end of January for the Preschool Education Service Providers was 1,952 slots filled out of 1,957, or 99.7 percent.
Early Head Start, which includes home-based and center-based year-round programming, ended the month with 246 slots filled out of 252, or 97.6 percent. The home-based program filled 92 out of 64 slots, or 143.8 percent, and the center-based program filled 154 out of 188 slots, or 81.9 percent. Due to lower enrollment in the center-based program, additional families have been enrolled in the home-based program to maintain full enrollment.
Full Enrollment Initiative
The Full Enrollment Initiative for the Head Start Birth to Five Program concluded on April 4, 2024. On October 1, the program received a final letter from the Office of Head Start designating it as chronically under enrolled. The letter noted that, due to measurable progress towards achieving full enrollment, the Office of Head Start will not reduce the base grant for the Head Start Birth to Five Program at the time.
The Head Start Birth to Five Program received official notice of an enrollment reduction from the Office of Head Start on November 28, 2024. As a result, the program is fully enrolled for the months of November and December 2024, as well as January 2025. To finalize the Full Enrollment Initiative, the program must maintain full enrollment for six consecutive months, ending April 2025.
Risk Assessment Notification Review
The Head Start Birth to Five program received a Risk Assessment Notification in April 2024 due to a violation by a provider of the Head Start Program Performance Standards, specifically regarding the Standards of Conduct. Training and technical assistance to enhance the Birth to Five's current policies and procedures for ensuring the safety of children has been provided through Region 9 Head Start Office. The final task on the Quality Improvement Plan is one last round of monitoring conducted by the Education Service Providers in each of their classrooms. Attachment B illustrated the key findings and trends identified through the monitoring process.
The Risk Assessment Notification process officially concluded on February 6, 2025. The follow-up review team from the Office of Head Start Region IX conducted an on-site visit February 11 and 12, 2025. During this review, 19 classrooms were visited, and documentation was provided to demonstrate evidence of compliance. The information collected by the Region IX review team will be compiled and submitted to the Office of Head Start, who will determine whether the Head Start Birth to Five Program has successfully addressed the deficiency. The official determination will take approximately four to six weeks to receive.
School Attendance
The annual target for attendance set by the Office of Head Start is 85 percent. Attachment C indicates the year-to-date average attendance through the end of January. Head Start Preschool was 70 percent. The Early Head Start Center-Based program was 52 percent.
Medical/Dental Exams
Head Start regulations require all children have medical and dental exams annually. At the end of January, 2,324 medical and 2,054 dental exams were completed, totaling 4,378 exams, as illustrated in Attachment D. The target goals have been updated to reflect the new enrollment number.
Program Information Summaries
Please see Attachment E.
Nutrition
Each program must design and carry out nutrition services that are culturally and developmentally appropriate and provide children with up to two-thirds of their daily nutritional requirements. Nutrition services must meet the nutritional needs and feeding requirements of each child, including children with identified food allergies, children with disabilities, and children who have special diets due to religion and family preference. In addition, a program must serve meals and snacks that meet U.S. Department of Agriculture dietary patterns and are high in nutrients and low in fat, sugar, and salt. Children in the Early Head Start Center-Based classrooms receive protein, fruits, vegetables, and low carbohydrates during breakfast and lunch with milk or water. Snacks include protein and low carbohydrates with milk or water.
Child Incident Reports
The Head Start Program Performance Standards require programs submit reports, related to any significant incidents affecting the health and safety of the program participations. This includes injuries requiring hospitalization, emergency room treatment, or doctor's visit, as well as inappropriate discipline, potential child abuse or maltreatment, lack of supervision, or unauthorized release of a child. There were no Child Incident Reports submitted to the Office of Head Start in January.
Department of Child Safety Reports
All Head Start and Early Head Start staff are required to report suspected child abuse and neglect to protect children and help children and families connect to services. During the month of January, one report was made to the Department of Child Safety.
Program Instructions or Information Memorandums
Periodically, the Office of Head Start needs to provide information or programmatic updates to all Head Start Grantees. This is done through Program Instructions (PIs) and Information Memorandums (IMs). PIs provide information or recommendations from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families to States, Tribes, grantees, and others on various issues of child welfare that usually result in guidance or policy changes. IMs provide up-to-date information but do not establish requirements or supersede existing laws of official guidance. In January, one IM was released, see Attachment F. There were no PI's released.
Locations
Alhambra Elementary School District, 4510 N. 37th Avenue
Cartwright Elementary School District, 5220 W. Indian School Road
Deer Valley Unified School District, 20402 N. 15th Avenue
Fowler Elementary School District, 1617 S. 67th Avenue
Isaac School District, 3348 W. McDowell Road
Laveen Elementary School District, 5601 W. Dobbins Road
Murphy Elementary School District, 3140 W. Buckeye Road
Pendergast Elementary School District, 3802 N. 91st Avenue
Phoenix Elementary School District, 1817 N. 7th Street
Riverside Elementary School District, 1414 S. 51st Avenue
Roosevelt Elementary School District, 6000 S. 7th Street
Washington Elementary School District, 4650 W. Sweetwater Avenue
Wilson Elementary School District, 3025 E. Fillmore Street
Council Districts: 1, 3, 4, 5, 7 and 8
Department
Responsible Department
This item is submitted by Deputy City Manager Gina Montes and the Human Services Department.