Director's Message
Dear Parents of San Jacinto USD Head Start/State Preschool,
On behalf of the entire faculty, I would like to welcome you and your family to the 2024-2025 school year!
I am honored and feel very privileged to be the Director at San Jacinto Preschool for the tenth year. Beginning school is such an exciting time for you and your child. I am delighted that you considered San Jacinto Preschool to begin your child’s journey through his/her academic experience. Our commitment at San Jacinto Preschool is to support children’s growth and development in a positive learning environment through a variety of services. In addition, as the Director for Early Childhood Education/Universal Pre-Kindergarten (UPK), I also oversee Transition Kindergarten (TK). If you have any questions about TK, please do not hesitate to reach out to me.
Some preschool achievements for the 2023-204 school year were:
- Preschool received the highest rating of “5” within our two sites-Park Hill and Hyatt for Quality Rating Improvement System (QRIS).
- Preschool received 98% compliance during the Full Program Review.
- The preschool program opened two more classrooms(one at Hyatt DI and the other at Estudillo)
- The preschool started an Early Head Start Home-based program.
- We ended the 2023-2024 school year with installing two new playgrounds at Hyatt DI and Park Hill. These playgrounds will be shared between the preschool, TK and kindergarten students.
For this school year 2024-2025, we are planning to open an am class at Estudillo once we receive expansion slots. For the first time, we will start the school year with the district on August 6. Previous years, our Head Start program started towards the end of August. Our goal for this year is to be 100% enrolled in both State and Head Start programs. We are excited to be hiring a Teacher on Special Assignment (TOSA). The TOSA will be providing support to the classrooms.
This year and moving forward, Transitional Kindergarten (TK) will be offering extended day. The classrooms will operate from 7:30-11:50. To enroll in TK, your child must have their fifth birthday by June 2, 2025. Please reach out to the enrollment center to enroll your child into TK.
Family involvement is vital to the educational success of children. We will continue to have coffee with the Director. This is a time where parents/guardians hear the latest updates and events of the program. In addition, it is also a time for parents to hear about the instructional program, gain strategies to assist their children, ask questions and/or share concerns that will positively impact student academic achievement. I enjoyed meeting with our parents and sharing in celebrating our school’s progress. Hope to see many of you at this event- “Coffee with the Director.” In addition, both our Head Start and State programs conducts monthly Parent Policy Committee meetings (via Zoom and in-person). We hope you will become involved in attending these meetings because your input and ideas matters!
I encourage you to really dive into our website and learn all you can about our school. San Jacinto Preschool will ensure that our future ready learners are prepared for kindergarten. Here at San Jacinto Preschool, we create an environment where the strengths, hopes, and passions of families are valued and reinforced!
If you ever have any questions, comments or concerns, please feel free to come by and see me.
Sincerely,
Elizabeth Zaragoza
Director of San Jacinto USD Head Start/State Preschool
