Schools

Head Start Wins Approvals, Students Arrive Monday

The youngest Head Start students, those six weeks to three years old, will arrive Monday at the new Head Start school at the corner of Foster and Bank streets downtown.

The early Head Start teachers were decorating their rooms and arranging furniture Thursday.

"The environment is more inviting to the parents and the students and for the teachers," said Tara Willis, the Early Head Start Education Manager. The students had originally been located in classrooms around the distict, but were consolidated at Mill Ridge School last year.

"This is totally different," said Carmen Prybylski, a early Head Start teacher. The first few pieces of their furniture arrived Thrusday. The bulk of the school's furniture will arrive Friday. 

Although the early Head Start program will start operating Monday, the rest of the program won't start until the end of June, said Thomas Hughes, the superintendent of Construction for Danbury's Public Works Department. The construction division oversaw the $5 million project.

"We were able to help the city save money," Hughes said. The building had added security measures added after the Dec. 14 Sandy Hook Elementary School attack. A person at the front desk can hit a button that locks doors blocking access to the children and alerting the city's police department at the same time.

"At that moment, nobody can get in. They can get out, but nobody can get in," Hughes said. The security system also includes a camera on Foster Street and a camera on Bank Street that the front desk person can monitor on a split screen.

"They will know what's happening on the street outside the school," Hughes said.

Danbury wanted all day kindergarten for all children for years, and moving Head Start out of the schools was part of that process.

Hughes and Daniel Reisert, also of Public Works and the Construction division, said what is left is punch list items and the building has its certificate of occupancy from the City Building Department and it has its approval from the State Department of Education.





Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here