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Site Manager: "Well, this is
my 20th year being involved in Head Start. I started out as a Head
Start parent when my daughter was two years old, and now she's going
to be 24. I really believe in the Head Start program, because I have
recieved so much from it. Working for Head Start for the past 20 years
has been wonderful, because I've given that back to families and children.
As far as the collaboration...it was presented to us, I believe, in
the spring of 1999. We had a meeting with Fred Wohlenberg and Cathy Arentsen, and they presented the idea for an inclusive classroom, which
I believe in totally. Now, when it was presented, I was the classroom
manager, one of the teachers, and I didn't realize it, but I was going
to be promoted to site manager. So when I came back in the Fall, I
came back as Site Manager." |
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“ I think the project was a natural collaboration
of both my role as director as well as some of the Portage Project
resources we had within our agency and an interest to promote more
inclusive early childhood handicapped settings for young children.
I proposed this to a number of directors and fortunately, regionally,
some of the superintendents signed on to at least explore this concept
and one was the Wautoma district as well as some of the other districts.
All …had the Stevens Point Head Start project which was very
supportive of the collaborative effort. “
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“ I have been working in the Wautoma school district
for several years. I actually did have some dealings with the early
childhood program when they were at the school., but when they combined
forces with the Head Start program, I wasn’t asked to go on site
at all. I was still working in the district and aware of the teacher
and the program, but I didn’t have any official work to do there.
Apparently, in the second year of the project, I was asked to come
over and help with some of the supervision, collaboration, and getting
things in place. It was my understanding that some things were missing
and that’s why they asked me to come on board after it (the program)
was initiated. “ |
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Head Start Teacher: "I've
been with Head Start for six years. This is my first year working
in the classroom. I was a transportation specialist before this,
and this is my first year here at the Wautoma center. It's my first
experience working with an inclusion program, with the Head Start/Early
Childhood combined program. I see the children accepting the children
that have the special needs. They're looking out for the children...actually
helping them out. We had one child out on the gym set one time,
one of the little girls with special needs, and one of the children
went out there and stood by the steps to protect her from falling
down the steps. So I see the other children looking out for them.
I also see the children with special needs getting in with the other
children and trying to participate with them."
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Head Start Teacher: "Well, when
we first got into it we didn't really have a choice. Admin got together,
and basically said "this is what we're going to do". So
we did that. But we had been working with Early Childhood programs
through the school district for several years now, so there were the
same children who were dually enrolled. So we already knew the teachers,
we'd already worked together, so that was something that was good.
The teachers all got along, and we were all on the same page, so we
kind of knew what we were doing. Different this year is just the idea
that we're all together, down in the same classroom. Last year it
was really hectic, because we were at different ends of the building,
and the classrooms were split. We had the kids all day long, so that
Early Childhood-dually enrolled were here all day. This year they're
here half a day. So that's helpful for the children to get a different
perspective, for not doing the same thing all day..." |
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“ We put together a proposal in the grant to
look at doing some model sites as well as just exploring options
for programming for young children. That might include some of the
old tried and true home visit models, some support in day care and
some support in any kind of preschool settings and then to discuss
those issues with staff. Really, that’s been the challenge
of this project, to promote change for staff. The children are pretty
malleable, but as you all know, for adults, change is more difficult.
That has really been the challenge of the administrators who are
connected with both ends of this spectrum. “
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Head Start Teacher: "I feel
that this program allows children to be around others with special
needs, and they may not always get this opportunity. It may help
them, in the long run, not be prejudiced about it. They'll learn
that these people are individuals, and that they're capable of doing
many different things, and that this program helps everyone to realize
this. It even helps when the parents come in to see that these children
are involved in the classroom and that they're very capable of leading
productive lives, like all the rest of us."
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Wautoma Center Administrator: "And
being that it's our second year, we've seen some progress with the
barriers and obstacles that are presented with staff. What we've
tried to do is talk about a third way--we're trying to find a third
way to do things, rather than Head Start and Early Childhood being
the first two, we need to combine these programs, the goals, objectives,
and styles of each, and come up with a third way--and that's always
easier said than done. This project and the staff have been making
excellent progress towards blending their philosophies and approaches."
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