The Leon County School District is moving full-speed-ahead to bring the county's displaced Head Start program into elementary schools that have unused space as enrollment numbers decline. Brooke Brunner, the district's Early Childhood programs head, provided an update to school board members at their Dec. 8 agenda meeting.
"This expansion includes an additional classroom at Pineview Elementary, three classrooms at Hartsfield Elementary - including an office space - and then a classroom at Sabal Palm with an office space."
Brunner said other Title One elementary schools with surplus room will be accepting Head Start tenants in 2026.
"Next year we expect to expand even more Head Start classrooms into our public schools. So this lease mirrors other previous leases that we've had with Head Start, so we're real excited to kick this off in January."
By taking Head Start into underutilized schools, the district is hoping to prevent the Florida Department of Education to force private and charter "Schools of Hope" to co-locate in public schools that have more space than students.
