Head Start program moves to Hillsboro
By JENNIFER WILSON
News editor
Hillsboro youngsters who were once bussed to the Marion Head Start program will have a much shorter commute this fall.
For the 2002-03 school year, the Head Start classroom once located in Florence is moving to Hillsboro.
The center will be located in the Hillsboro Elementary School, in a classroom on the northwest end of the building. The room was used last year by teacher Vera Isaac, said Hillsboro Superintendent Gordon Mohn.
A shift in the number of eligible three- to five-year-olds has made it necessary for the classroom to move to a more central location from its former home in southeast Marion County.
And a big reason for that is an increase in youngsters from Goessel, according to Mary Ann Conyers, director of Head Start for McPherson and Marion counties.
The county has two classrooms: one in Marion, and now one in Hillsboro.
Head Start used to have many children from the Peabody-Burns area, Conyers said. Now, that number has decreased and the number of Goessel students has increased.
The population "just kind of floats around," Conyers said.
Head Start is a federally funded preschool program for three-, four-, and five-year-olds in low-income families. The Marion County program serves 45 children, Conyers said.
County children are bussed to wherever the nearest Head Start classroom happens to be. Marion holds two sessions per day, and the Hillsboro center will hold just one session in the morning, which runs from 8:30 a.m. to noon.
Fifteen children are allowed per session, Conyer said. As of now, all the slots are filled. Children can attend Head Start for two years, or until they're the right age for kindergarten.
Admission to Head Start is based on need — it's not a "first-come, first-served" program, Conyers said. Head Start accepts applications year-round.
The same staff from the Florence classroom will conduct the Hillsboro classroom. Sharon Hake of Marion is the main teacher, and helping her are three paraeducators: Kathy Crane, Roseanne Scott, and Joetta Betz.
The classroom will follow the basic schedule of the Hillsboro school district, Conyers said. But because they're still moving equipment over from the Florence center, classes won't start until Sept. 3.
