Saint John’s Episcopal Church in Chula Vista closed its school last summer.
The closure gave Saint John’s Church a vacant building that is now occupied by Episcopal Community Services.
Now the location of the former K-8 school at 760 First Ave. serves as a Head Start and Early Head Start as part of the Episcopal Community Services’ School Readiness program, which assists children of low-income families in preparation for preschool and kindergarten.
“We believe that education is the key to success and self-sufficiency,” said program director Buffie Boyer. “We believe that education is the way to overcome poverty.”
Early head start is for 2- and 3-year olds while head start is aimed at 4- and 5-year-olds.
The program, Boyer said, has a curriculum that focuses on social, emotional, health and developmental skills.
The early head start and head start programs are designed for dual language speakers for both English and Spanish.
Lesslie Keller, CEO with Episcopal Community Services, said that Episcopal Community Services recently signed a 10-year lease to occupy 16 classrooms of the old Saint John’s School.
Most classrooms are currently under renovation with only two of them operable at the moment, with eight children in each class room. Currently there are six staff members and one part-time parent aide on site.
The federally funded Head Start program is designed for children of families living below the federal poverty which for a family of four is less than $25,000 annually.
The program gets funded by Neighborhood House Association. Boyer said because Congress just passed their budget she won’t know for another few weeks what the head start’s budget will be. Funded by Neighborhood House Association.
Episcopal Community Services runs various Head Start and Early Head Start programs from National City down to the border and west of the 805.
In all, Episcopal Community Services serves about 2,009 children.
“This (location at Saint John’s) will ultimately be our largest center,” Keller said.
Despite being located on Saint John’s property, Boyer said it is not a requirement for children of families to be members of Saint John’s church.
“This is not religious, no religious instruction,” Boyer said. “We can’t incorporate religion anyway because we are a federally-funded program.”
Keller said the programs are essential for the future of children.
“There have been studies that (demonstrate) if you go to a quality preschool or a Head Start that children are more likely to go to graduate from high school, children are more likely to go to college, children are less likely to be incarcerated, children are less likely to end up in a special education program in a public school because we were able to help the children at a younger age,” she said.
