The Preschool Services Department (PSD) administers the Federal Head Start, Early Head Start, Early Head Start - Child Care Partnership and State Preschool programs in 70 locations throughout San Bernardino County. PSD’s mission is “to improve the well-being of children, empower families, and strengthen communities.” This mission has been carried out by dedicated staff in San Bernardino County for over 53 years. Our goal is to continue to provide the highest quality services to families countywide.

Our program primarily serves low income and disadvantaged families with children from the ages of 0 to 5. This population also includes children in foster care, those who are homeless and children with special needs and/or disabilities. Many of these children would have no access to preschool without our program.

The service we provide is vitally important because research shows that children who attend quality preschool, do better in grades K-12, exhibit better behaviors in school, are more likely to graduate high school, earn more money as adults, and are less likely to be involved in crime as adults.

So we invest in the children we serve by ensuring that they are ready for kindergarten when they leave us. To accomplish this we have focused on providing web-based tools for our teachers to assist them with capturing and analyzing assessment data; web-based literacy software to enhance our children’s literacy attainment whether at school or at home; streamlined processes for determining eligibility; support from county and community partnerships under the banner of the Countywide Vision and the cradle to career initiative; and so much more.

None of what we do would be possible without the support of our Board of Supervisors, our Chief Executive Officer and our partners in the county and the community. Our most valuable asset and the “magic” behind our program are the team members that work for PSD. Out of the nearly 800 PSD employees, approximately 200 are current or former PSD clients. The impact that the program has had on their lives is evident in the passion that they show for helping enrolled families.

Accomplishments:

• Held the first commencement for parents of enrolled children who graduated from the newly established Online High School Diploma Program.
• Successfully completed two comprehensive federal monitoring events that evaluated multiple areas of program compliance.
• In collaboration with the Transitional Assistance Department, Preschool Services started the Home Visiting Program in March 2019. The Home Visiting Program provides in-home services to pregnant mothers and first-time parents and their children and provides educational services on child development, social and emotional developments, and cognitive development of children birth to three years old.
• Increased the enrollment opportunities for Foster Children by enrolling 420 foster children, exceeding our goal by 70 children.
• PSD sites received a four out of five on the Quality Start San Bernardino (QSSB) rating scale which measures quality care for children.

Goals:

• Identify the number of Head Start/State Preschool children ages 3 – 5 scoring below building level in literacy skills on the assessment, and reduce this count 50 percent by the end of the program year.
• Promote School Readiness by providing individualized instruction ensuring children are ready for Kindergarten.
• Increase enrollment opportunities for foster children.
• Reduce obesity in children enrolled in Preschool Services programs.

Phalos Haire
Director, Preschool Services