There’s good news for parents looking forward to enrolling children in the Lovelock Head Start program. The Inter-Tribal Council of Nevada preschool will open this month at the Stepping Stones Academy, a private daycare and preschool operation close to downtown Lovelock.
Stepping Stones owner Jennifer Montes said she’s agreed to sublet her preschool classroom to ITCN so Head Start will be up and running for the school year. The lease agreement starts on Aug. 15 and ends on June 15, 2019. The first day of school at Head Start is scheduled for Aug. 20 but that could be delayed until the preschool setup is complete, Montes said.
Head Start staff are in training this week at the ITCN headquarters in Reno, Montes said. Enrollment for the Head Start program will begin next week at the Stepping Stones Academy.
“We don’t have the (Head Start) paperwork on hand at the moment but that is something we will be doing,” Montes said. “The Head Start staff has four days of training in Reno next week then they will be in the building setting up and enrolling students and all of that good kind of stuff.”
Montes said her preschool staff and preschool students will participate in the Head Start program. If the arrangement succeeds, it could become permanent with Stepping Stones and Head Start sharing the facility and teachers working together to meet the community’s needs.
“My goal, and I believe their goal, is to keep Head Start in Lovelock, if at all possible,” Montes said. “As of right now, we’ve signed a lease for the school year and, if it comes down to where they don’t have a place to go and everything works out this year, maybe it could be permanent.”
After more than 20 years, Head Start was forced off the Lovelock Paiute Colony last month due to the
Tribe’s plans for a marijuana farm and dispensary. The state does not allow such facilities within 1,000 feet of schools. As a result, there was no longer room for the Head Start program.
The Head Start building is vacant and still belongs to the ITCN. The group intends to move the modular building off the Lovelock Colony to tribal land elsewhere in Nevada, Montes said.
Since Head Start must serve hot meals, a commercial stove may be installed at Stepping Stones or students may be bussed to the elementary school for meals. There is little room for expansion of the building without diminishing the outdoor playground area, Montes said.
“The building could be expanded but not a lot,” she said. “We don’t have a very big lot and if we cut into the playground space then it cuts down on how many kids we can provide for.”
Montes said up to 36 preschoolers can be enrolled at Stepping Stones and Head Start can take up to 20 students. Stepping Stones preschool staff will work together with Head Start staff and follow the Head Start curriculum in a combined early childhood education program, she said.
“We already provide a preschool program,” Montes said. “It’s not the same as Head Start but we are going to follow their curriculum with our kids. The kids we already have will be included in those (Head Start) services. My preschool teacher will work alongside their preschool teachers. It’s just kind of changing the way we do things.”
The combined preschool could be a new and improved educational tool for the community.
“We’re all really excited about it,” Montes said. “If I thought it wasn’t going to be helpful for my program then I would be a bit more apprehensive. My job is to provide services for Lovelock and Head Start is doing the same thing. We’re just working together to find a way to do that the best way we can with the little amount of time and the resources that we have at the moment.”
Stepping Stones will continue to be open five days a week from 5:15 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. The Academy provides daycare for toddlers and after school care for children up to 12 years old.
“We are open year-round and we provide before and after school care,” Montes said. “Our hours will stay the same and our age group will stay the same. From 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Monday through Thursday, Head Start will teach the preschool alongside of our preschool teacher.”
It’s good news for Tina Lilly who said Head Start helped her daughter get ready for kindergarten. If space is available, Lilly will enroll her three-year-old daughter in the program this month so she will learn to write her name and interact with other children before attending public school.
“Head Start is important because it teaches children how to share and how to get along with others if they don’t have many kid friends in their lives,” Lilly said. “My daughter learned to write her name, shapes and colors. There’s so many kids in town, we need the Head Start program.”
Lovelock Paiute Colony resident Debbie George, who said her children benefited from the Lovelock Head Start preschool program, was also pleased the program will continue.
“Oh, that’s great news! I hated to even think they wouldn’t start up!” she said last week.
