BRATTLEBORO — Early Education Services, an arm of the Brattleboro Town School District, and provider of Head Start, Early Head Start and Parent-Child Center services throughout Windham County, opened their 2016-17 program year with two new Early Head Start classrooms for a total of 16 infants and toddlers.
The classrooms will be offered at the Canal Street School in Brattleboro and at the Westminster Early Head Start site on Buck Drive, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., year-round, according to a news release.
According to Debra J. Gass, executive director of Early Education Services, families and staff are excited.
“We know that there is a great need for infant/toddler childcare in our community, and these new classrooms will address that need,” she said in the release.
Early Education administrative staff worked with parents, Windham Southeast Supervisory Union Superintendent Ron Stahley, the Brattleboro Town School Board, and the regional Head Start office to create the new classrooms.
The program restructuring converted some of EES' Early Head Start Home Based slots into classroom slots. Gass said there is a greater need for center-based slots for working families, while the numbers of at-home families available for a home visiting program has fallen over the past few years.
Early Education Services provides 40 Home Visiting slots for Early Head Start pregnant mothers, infants and toddlers, 72 Early Head Start slots in full-time classrooms and 60 classroom based Head Start preschool slots.
The organization also provides a menu of parenting workshops, support groups, committees, and playgroups, along with their Welcome Babies program, which offers a home visit to new families in the county to share information and referrals for community resources.