{"id":11913,"date":"2019-03-14T20:37:37","date_gmt":"2019-03-14T20:37:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucvbheadstart.org\/?page_id=11913"},"modified":"2026-01-29T20:02:43","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T20:02:43","slug":"our-staff","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.ucvbheadstart.org\/?page_id=11913","title":{"rendered":"Our Staff"},"content":{"rendered":"

Meet the Team<\/span><\/div><\/h1><\/div>
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Elsie Blaylock<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>

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Director: <\/span><\/em><\/strong>Supervises all program operations, overseeing all personnel, authorizing purchases, preparing the budget, and drafting the annual grant application. The director also promotes good relations with the community and serves as a resource person to the Policy Council.<\/span><\/p>\n

Education Specialist: <\/span><\/em><\/strong>Responsible for the quality of the educational program provided by the Center and oversees all Educational Staff.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>

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Rita Mayfield<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>

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Asst. Mentor Coach\/Education Supervisor:<\/span><\/em><\/strong> Provides for a process of equipping people with the tools, knowledge, and opportunities they need to fully develop themselves to be effective in their commitment to themselves, the program, and their work and Supervises all teaching staff and related services associated with teaching.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>

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Jessica Christenberry<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>

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Family Services Worker:<\/span><\/em><\/strong> Works closely with families, assisting with obtaining services, screenings, following up on services rendered home visits, and tracking services through the ChildPlus system.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>

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Cynthia Beasley<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>

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Safety Coordinator: <\/span><\/em><\/strong>Ensures safety in the <\/span>Head<\/span> Start<\/span> Center, assisting the Health Service Specialist to implement systems that will ensure child safety. Also responsible for making sure all the regulations are implemented and followed by staff. Staff is also kept updated with current changes to regulations.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>

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Kendra Heard<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>

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Family\/Community Partnership Specialist:<\/span><\/em><\/strong> Responsible for the areas of both Parent Involvement and Social Services. The Specialist provides guidance to individual parents, conducts parent needs surveys, supervises the parent areas and bulletin board, and works with the Policy Council. The Specialist recruits and enrolls children into the Program and helps conduct parent trainings. Aides staff in professional development activities, helps children and families with the transition to the school system. coordinates literacy related activities for the children, families and classrooms.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>

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Carrie Swafford<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>

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Disabilities Specialist: <\/span><\/em><\/strong>Oversees all services to disabled enrollees including scheduling and conducting IEP meetings, setting up contracts for therapy and other specialized services, and helping children and families make the transition to public school.<\/span><\/p>\n

Health Services Specialist: <\/span><\/em><\/strong>Supervises the dental, medical, and mental health aspects of the program. Serves as a liaison and advocate as well as assisting parents with any needs in these areas. Ensures the health and safety of the children and center.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nutrition Specialist: <\/span><\/em><\/strong>Ensures all nutritional needs of each child are met by making sure all meals and snacks served at Head Start meet the USDA regulations.<\/span><\/p>\n

MIS Specialist: <\/span><\/em><\/strong>Responsible for ensuring all data from each service area is received and accurately entered into the computer filing system, enabling daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and \/or yearly report generation in addition to tracking children and families.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>

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Hilda Starkey<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>

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Literacy\/Educational\/Mentor Support: <\/strong>D<\/em>evelops and tracks our Literacy program, including but not limited to Power-packs & Lending Library. M<\/span>entors the Teacher and Teacher Aide in the classrooms and if needed is prepared to assume the Teacher Aide\u2019s classroom responsibilities as needed.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>

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Brittany Warfel<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>

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Mental Health Services Specialist: <\/strong>P<\/em>rovides support for the social and emotional well-being of children, families, and staff within Head Start programs. Focused on promoting positive mental health, preventing mental health concerns, and facilitating access to treatment when needed.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>

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Classroom Assignments<\/b><\/p>\n

Our teachers plan the classroom activities, supervise volunteers and family members\/guardians in the classroom, supervise teacher\u2019s assistants, and conduct at least two (2) home visits to each family during the year. They also assess the child\u2019s developmental stages and, with the help of the parent\/guardian, work with the child to achieve individualized educational goals.<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>

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Classroom A<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>

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Brie Huddleston<\/div>

Teacher<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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Rebecka Songer<\/div>

Aide<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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Audrey McDaniel<\/div>

Aide<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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Classroom B<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>

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Jamie Wood<\/div>

Co-Teacher<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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Ann Wakefield<\/div>

Teacher Assistant<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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Dollie Thompson<\/div>

Aide<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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Support Staff<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>

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Florentino Avalos<\/div>

Custodian<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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Cynthia Beasley<\/div>

Cook<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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This website is supported by Grant Number 04CH011574 from the Office of Head Start within the Administration for Children and Families, a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Neither the Administration for Children and Families nor any of its components operate, control, are responsible for, or necessarily endorse this website (including, without limitation, its content, technical infrastructure, and policies, and any services or tools provided). The opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed are those of UCHRA Van Buren Head Start and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Administration for Children and Families and the Office of Head Start.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-11913","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ucvbheadstart.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ucvbheadstart.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ucvbheadstart.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucvbheadstart.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucvbheadstart.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11913"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucvbheadstart.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11913\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13258,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucvbheadstart.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11913\/revisions\/13258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ucvbheadstart.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}