JEFFERSON COUNTY HEAD START

My godchild recently started attending this school, and I was very disappointed by a situation that occurred with her teacher, Ms. Jess. Her mother was told directly by Ms. Jess that she had contacted CPS over what she believed was a bruise. It was later confirmed to be marker, not an injury. While I understand and fully support the importance of protecting children, I believe it is also critical for educators to carefully evaluate situations before making such serious reports that can deeply affect families. Adding to my concern, the same day the teacher allowed the child to eat and play in mud without addressing it, which makes the lack of attention to detail even more troubling. There have never been any signs of abuse in this family, and as someone who regularly cares for these children, I can confidently say the parents are doing their very best. I strongly feel Ms. Jess’s actions unfairly damaged this family’s reputation within the community. Safeguarding children is essential, but accountability and thoughtful judgment must be part of that responsibility.

I’ve never seen a school like this! They truly care about the children, the environment, and the materials. The staff are helpful and always respond to parents quickly and reassuringly. I feel completely at ease knowing that my daughter is here and in safe hands. Thank you to everyone working here

Let me start with how amazing the staff is. I have two girls who start on EHS and HS programs. The ladies in the infant room are more then any parent can ask for and made the transition easy to toddler room. My older daughter struggles with social/emotional behaviors and the team listened to and supported me through getting and IEP and the support bothy child and I need for success. Second, the resources that were provided to my family were everything we needed to get back on our feet and become successful and self sufficient again. I couldn't be more grateful for everything everyone at this school has done for our family!!

So normally I would say good things about this head start because for the most part the first time around it was an ok experience for my son, however we didn’t have a good experience the second time with my second son. there were things that happened with my first son that nobody took accountability for just like they’re not taking accountability for things now. So my oldest son is autistic and we didn’t know at the time and he is the sweetest boy still is. He was bullied the entire time he was there and even got a concussion from one of the students. Staff didn’t even inform me of it until I picked him up. He threw up and passed out the minute I took him home to where I had to rush him to the hospital to find out he had a concussion from that student who pushed him into the concrete. The reason why I said we had an overall good experiment was because of the teachers. We absolutely loved his teachers they were great. And ever since they left things went south. Fast forward to my youngest son he is diagnosed with adhd/add he is very impulsive and honest so if someone bothers him he will let them know or if someone steals a toy he will get it back himself probably not in the nicest way possible but that’s just how it was before we were able to get him on medication. I’m not saying his behaviors were ok because they’re not and we have worked very hard on his behaviors. saying all that there was a boy in his class that would pick on him and irritate him steal his toys that he was playing with and just plane aggravate and poke him to the point where my son stood up for himself, in doing that he gave the boy stitches and again I’m not saying that’s ok however when someone reaches that point you have to think how bad was it really?…. the mother threatened me in the parking lot and the staff did nothing about any of it in fact blamed my son for everything didn’t even see that the other student was pushing my son to that limit so I pulled him out because I don’t want my son going to a school that’s going to punish my child for everything when he wasn’t the only one at fault. I know he was at fault I’m not making excuses just because he’s my child I know what that little boy is capable of. Fast forward to recently we were a part of JPP for years because the boys went there and I was struggling pretty hard with homelessness etc my favorite coach left and I’m so sad because she really kept me accountable and I love that about her. I am neurodivergent/auadhd I tend to bail a lot it’s something I can’t help. Well my new coach after being part of jpp for maybe 2/3yrs didn’t care to understand me as a person or that this is a thing I get very overwhelmed with life and shut down I have 0 energy and severe anxiety around people in general. I struggled to go to group sessions so life got a little complicated so I stopped seeing her for a bit but reached out and let her know I was ready life calmed down and I could add another thing to my plate. No response. I kept reaching out and no response. Okay well hint taken. I got an email talking about school supply give away and I was desperate. Since I haven’t been with JPP for about a year and nobody told me I wasn’t a part of it because I got the newsletters frequently nobody told me I was dropped or anything so I emailed back to see if we could come. No response. So we show up I speak to Jessica and she comes out with a full hard on attitude and stern face saying you’re not part of it after 3 months you get dropped. Well I told her I reached out to my coach about it all and never heard back and she said I should stop in next time. Like who has the time for that and when nobody will even be there by the time I can? Not a bright response. Gave her my information and she said they would reach out to me. Did anyone reach out? Nope…. They just removed me from the newsletter. Didn’t even have the balls to call me and explain what happened and take accountability for their mistake. I would not recommend this school to anyone ever.

My son goes here full time and today marks the 6th injury report that I've gotten. My son has been hurt by the SAME child 6 times now that I know of. They never call unless there's an apparent injury. They didn't call me today until 4 hours later since a bump showed up on his head because this same child pushed a bookshelf over onto my son's head. I know my son is not the only one that this child is bullying. A dad came in upset talking to this same child and told him it's not okay for him to hit his daughter. When I spoke to my case manager and told her my concerns and told her I know my son is not the only one I know this child is picking on because of the dad I saw confront the child, my case manager said and he's not the only one. So THERES MORE children this SAME child is bullying. And the school refuses to do anything. This is BULLYING. My son does not deserve this. This is why when kids get older and get bullied, self harm is an issue and schools refuse to do anything.