Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 11, 1979)
Page 12 THE BATTALION WEDNESDAY, APRIL 11, 1979 Head Start helps disadvantaged Bryan project has ‘long way to go By STEVE LEE Battalion staff David’s family is poor. And yet, there are many kids his age who are not as fortunate. He is 3 years old and he goes to school each day. He is given free medical and dental attention and the school provides him with two free meals. He plays on a large playground, the kind that kids dream about. And most important, he is subjected to schooling that many kids don’t experience until kindergarten. David is one of the few disadvan taged pre-school children in Texas who is given the opportunity to enjoy the Head Start program of fered by the federal Department of Health, Education and Welfare. The government can only serve 18 percent of the “total need’’ in Texas, according to Mike Arredondo, community representative of the Administration for Children, Youth and Families, HEW. This means that 82 percent of all children who come from disadvantaged families can’t be served by the program due to lack of funds. And locally, it may first appear that the Bryan Independent School District isn’t doing its share to help overcome the problem. After all, the A&M Consolidated Indepen dent School District, about one- third the size of the Bryan district. has a nine-month program while Bryan’s is only an eight-week sum mer program. There is another nine-month pro gram offered in Bryan by the Brazos Valley Community Action Agency. But Dr. H.R. Burnett, assistant superintendent at Consol and coor dinator of funds for both Consol and B.I.S.D., is quick to defend the B.I.S.D. program. “They (the B.I.S.D.) feel like they can serve more students this way,” Burnett said. Indeed, Bryan serves consid erably more children than the Con sol and Brazos Valley centers com bined. The B.I.S.D. expects 275 students to enroll this summer. The Consol program currently admits 80 students and Brazos Valley serves about 51. “If they went to a nine-month program, they could serve only about 60 students with the money they have,” Burnett said. Burnett directs traffic for the flow of funds to both the local districts. Consol, known as the grantee agency, applies for the funds and gives Bryan a certain portion. This fiscal year, which begins this month. Consol receives $153,648, of which $68,983 is given to Bryan, the dele gate agency. Claudia Bures, elementary arts and language supervisor at Bryan and coordinator of last summer s Sun Theatres 333 University 84t The only movie in town Double-Feature Every Week Open 10 a.m.-2 a.m. Mon.-Sat. o 12 Noon - 12 Midnight Sun No one under 18 Ladies Discount With This Coupon BOOK STORE & 25c PEEP SHOWS 846-9808 Head Start program, said the dis trict has “not identified a need” for a nine-month program. She said Bryan holds full class-day kindergarten classes, while Consol holds half-day classes. She said this goes beyond what the state requires of the district and tends to make up for the lack of a nine-month Head Start program. Dr. Wesley K. Summers, Bryan school superintendent, justified the summer program by saying Head Start programs in general were orig inally intended to be summer ses sions anyway. He said when Consol applied for the nine-month pro gram, Bryan decided to stay with the summer classes. Also, he said as long as there are other agencies in the area, such as the Brazos Valley center, there is no need for a nine-month program. He said it is permissable for children to participate in the other programs before coming to the one at Bryan. Julie Legett, education coor dinator with the Brazos Valley pro gram, said in some cases services have been duplicated between that program and the Bryan summer program. She said on occasion a child who has already been through physical examinations at Brazos Val ley will go through them again at Bryan. The funds received by the Brazos Valley branch are not in cluded in those received by Consol and Bryan each year. “We’ve tried not to let that hap pen,” he said. “We had hoped that wouldn’t happen. If a child comes to Bryan from another center, we want all his records. We don’t want to duplicate. We ask that we swap in formation.” Does the summer curriculum match up with the nine-month pro grams in the area? Is there a differ ence in the purpose? There appears to be a difference in scope and pur pose. For example, the Consol and We would welcome the opportunity to suggest lasting, meaningful and appropriate Easter gifts for the special people in your life. Bibies/Books/Gifts/Music/Jewelry/Teaching Aids hide me in the shadow of Thy wings” Ps. 17:8 205 Sulphur Springs Road Bryan, Texas 77801 / (713) 779-6560 INC. Wyatt’s Daily Specials Good from 11:00 a.m. til closing Wednesday Thursday . .Baked meat loaf topped with creole sauce, hash , brown potatoes and seasoned carrots SI.89 . -Tender broiled chicken livers served with french fried onion rings and corn on the cob $1-75 Friday Deluxe seafood platter — 1 piece of fish, 2 fried shrimp, 2 fried crab rolls, tartar sauce, hush puppies, french fries and creamy cole slaw $2.89 Saturday One-fourth chicken with barbecue sauce served with hot potato salad and baked beans $1.89 Join in Our 9th Anniversary Celebration register to win: Free Color TV register to win: $440 in free meeds One $20.00 meed book given away each day. Must be 18 years or older. Need not be present to win. No purchase necessary. , Wyatt’s Cafeterias 804 Texas Avenue Brazos Valley programs intend for the child to enter at age 3 and spend two years in the program. Bryan of ficials indicate that the child should enter at age 5 and that one eight- week summer orientation is enough time. “A lot of our (Consol’s) goals wouldn’t fit an eight-week pro gram,” Burnett said. However, Bryan stresses certain needs. The most important purpose of our program (Bryan’s) is to provide health and medical needs for disad vantaged kids entering kindergar ten,” Bures said. Burnett agrees. “Some families just cannot afford doctors,” he said. “This is the most important factor of the Bryan pro gram.” But while medical needs may be the most important, a “major thrust” of the Bryan program is to associate the child with teachers and other children to condition him for kindergarten, said Edward Aycox, a counselor at Jones Elementary School who will be the coordinator for this summer’s program at Hen derson Elementary. He said the program teaches the child to get along with people other than par ents. Although the program is an orien tation for kindergarten, Aycox says “we don’t try to make it just pre kindergarten.” He said the Bryan program is a condensed version of the nine-month programs. The center teaches social skills, like sharing and group participation, aside from emphasizing medical and health needs, he said. The program is “not over structured,” and allows the child to learn on his own, aside from direct instruction, he said. Bures said a typical day at the Bryan center begins with breakfast at 8 a.m. After a flag raising cere mony, the children are divided up into groups for circle discussions wfth teachers. They discuss various subjects, ranging from the weather to personal hygiene. Bures said this gives the child a chance to see and TRAFFIC VIOLATION Anyone receiving unjusti fied traffic CITATIONS from College Station Police De partment is encouraged to report incident to Congress man Phil Gramm, 1609 Longworth House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515. appreciate himself as having self worth. Next, the kids are allowed to spend some time in their area of interest in the classroom, be it building blocks, science, art or play ing house. Teachers then lead the children in games, such as “red rover.” Later on comes a snack, then story time. Teachers identify the value of books by reading stories to the children. After a full lunch, the kids are taught to brush their teeth and allowed to rest a bit. But they jump back up and participate in act ive singing games, where they react to music. At 1 p.m., they are dis missed. This daily schedule is strikingly similar to the ones at the two nine- month centers. But although the curriculum is similar, don’t look for the Bryan program to conform any further. There are no intentions, at present, to broaden the program to nine months. Aycox says the present program is adequate. “I haven’t given that (program expansion) any consideration,” he said. Summers feels a nine-month pro gram wouldn’t be feasible. And again, Burnett agrees. “You would be talking about a lot of money,” he said. “There are 15 certified teachers and 15 aides. You’d have to pay teachers’ salaries for a year, and also meals. It would be about $350,000. “I grant you that there is a need for another agency,” he said, “but I don’t know where it could come from.” At HEW, Arredondo said that when the cost of living went up in 1978, the department received additional funding to go toward ex panding Head Start programs. But, he said, there is still not enough to go around. Consol happened to apply for the funds at the right time — when dollars were available. It is for this reason that programs are subject to yearly visits by the HEW for evaluation. As the grantee agency. Consol is responsible for seeing that Bryan complies with all guidelines. Arredondo indicated that it is not unusual for a school district the size of Bryan’s to have a summer pro gram, instead of the nine-month. He said there is no correlation be tween the size of the school district and size of Head Start programs. There are currently 25 summer pro grams in the state. Does Arredondo ever get dis couraged with the fact that HEW can only serve 18 percent of the total need? “Sure,” he said. “But there are constraints in all programs.” He said now there are only about 150 of 254 counties in Texas that have Head Start programs. “We still have a long way to go.” f ALTERATIONS) 1 THE GRAND TRADITION OF [OLD TEXAS WHERE MOTHER [TAUGHT DAUGHTER THE FINE [ART OF SEWING — SO HELEN MARIE TAUGHT EDITH MARIE j THE SECRETS OF SEWING AND I ALTERATIONS. DON’T GIVE UP — WE LL MAKE IT FIT!’’ AT WELCH'S CLEANERS, WE 'JOT ONLY SERVE AS AN EXCEL LENT DRY CLEANERS BUT WE SPECIALIZE IN ALTERING HARD TO FIT EVENING DRESSES, TAPERED, SHIRTS, JEAN HEMS, WATCH POCKETS. ETC. (WE RE JUST A FEW BLOCKS NORTH OF FED MART.) WELCH’S CLEANERS 3819 E. 29th (TOWN & COUNTRY SHOPPING CENTER) Free Pregnancy Testing Pregnancy Terminations West Loop Clinic 2909 West Loop South 610 Houston, Texas 622-2170 IJ AMERICA S FAVORITE PIZZA what’s up at A&M Wednesday THEATER ARTS PROGRAM: “Equus” will be shown at 8pj tonight through April 14 and April 18-21. Tickets are $2 for# dents and $3 for others. EASTER EGG HUNT: The Aggie Players have hidden easierej around campus. Find one today and you will win a free ticket Equus. JUDGING CONTEST: The Saddle and Sirloin Club will sponsorj Spring Judging Contest at 5 p.m. today and Thursday in theAi mal Science Pavillion. OPAS: The Brazos Valley Children’s Symphony Concert will be 9:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. in Rudder Auditorium. ENGLISH SOCIETY: Officer elections will be held at 6:30 p.m. Room 510, Rudder Tower. GONZALES COUNTY HOMETOWN CLUB: Will meet at" p.m. in Room 607, Rudder Tower. SMITH COUNTY HOMETOWN CLUB: Will meet at 730 pm the Willowick I Apartments party room. For more information!; 845-6452. HILLEL CLUB: Will meet at 7:30 p.m. in the Foundation Butt at 8Q0 Jersey St. BETA ALPHA PSI: Will have a meeting at 7 p.m. in theTreehm Apartments. Beer, cokes and chips will be served and all memli and pledges should attend. CLASS OF ’79: Tickets for the Senior Bash, Banquet andRingDu are available at the Rudder Box Office. SPEECH: Texas Monthly’s associate editor, John Bloom, willsp at 7:30 p.m. in Room 229, MSC. SWIM TEAM: The men’s and women’s teams will swim ini A.A.U. Nationals in Los Angeles today through Thursday, CEPHEID VARIABLE: Dr. Glendon Weir will speakatSpm Room 504, Rudder Tower. AGGIE CINEMA: “The Robe,” will be shown at 8 p.m. in Ruth Theater. Thursday CAMPUS CRUSADE FOR CHRIST: Ray Anderson will speaki “Responding to the Faithfulness of God” at 7 p.m. in RoomS! Rudder Tower. GREAT ISSUES: James Estelle Jr., director of the Texas Deps ment of Corrections, will speak on “Texas Prisons: How Go# 12:30 p.m. in Room 601, Rudder Tower. JUDGING CONTEST: The Saddle and Sirloin Club continues! Spring Judging Contest at 5 p.m. today in the Animal Scies Pavillion. TEXAS AGGIE BAND SENIORS: Will be inducted intoanassod tion of former bandsmen at a barbecue at the A&M Consolidati Middle School cafeteria. For reservations call 845-1031. “NAME THE ORGANIZATION CONTEST *: The OffCamp Student Association and Hassle Free are merging into one orgai zation. Those who have a name for the new organization $W submit their entries to the Off-Campus center in the MSCl today. Prizes include certificates to Pelican’s Wharf and Last Ji tional Bank. OFF-CAMPUS STUDENT ASSOCIATION: There will bei apartment managers get-together from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m i Room 145, MSC. All students who wish to meet and talksd apartment managers are welcome. TAMU FENCING CLUB: Will meet at 7:45 p.m. in Room 261,£ Rollie White Coliseum. j TAMU ROADRUNNERS: Will meet at 5:30 p.m. at G. RollieWi! Coliseum for a weekly 1-, 3- and 5-mile runs after a short busini meeting. TENNIS TEAM: The women’s team will play TCU in Ft. Wortk SOFTBALL TEAM: The women’s team will play Sam HoustonSli here at 6 p.m. F riday AGGIE QUARTERHORSE SHOW: Will begin at 8 a m today# tomorrow at the Equestrian Center on FM 2818. BASEBALL TEAM: The men’s team will play SMU at3p.m.i Olson Field. TENNIS TEAM: The men’s team will play Arkansas here at l:i p.m. SWIM TEAMS: The men and women’s teams will swim in the Ail Nationals in Los Angeles, California. AGGIE CINEMA: “Heroes,” starring Henry Winkler and Sil Field, will be shown at 8 and 10 p.m. in Rudder Theater. If you have money to invest . . . Optional Retirement Plan Tax Sheltered Annuity Deferred Compensation Financial Planning GAYLAND MOULDER BOOKKEEPING & TAX SERVI INCOME TAX PREPARAHl Call Hays Glover GUGGENHEIM GLOVER, ASSOCIATES 779-5555 4103 S. TEXAS BRYAN PLACE 2 blocks north of Lubys 846-4774 „ SUPER GUITAR SPECIAl Yairi, Alvarez, Yamaha, Buy a guitar at Key board Center's already low price and . Ventura, & Others m for only $10.00 morr we will include l accessories: guitar case, chordbook,, pipe, capo, polish, polffl cloth, peg winder, and to' midifer. (this offer has cjuantihi limitations) KeyboARd Cents Manor East MaII Layaway Monthly Terms Bryan • 779-7080 Randy Stuart, Owner Baldwin, Pi" 1 * Organs, Fun Afe*® and Playrt Open 6 Days TUI 6