By Amanda Pevey
Elmore/Autauga News
Top Photo: Sherry Spigener, at left, and Terry Carrico, at right.
The Elmore County Board of Education has hired a new HIPPY coordinator, Sherry Spigener, who has been the school’s District ESL Coordinator, Homeless Liaison, Parent Liaison, and Community Education Coordinator. HIPPY stands for Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters. This is a FREE program offered by the ECBOE to parents of children who are two, three, or four years old that live in Elmore County. Terri Carrico is the HIPPY Supervisor for Elmore County Board of Education, and this is her third year of being a Supervisor for the HIPPY program.
Sherry Spigener and Terri Carrico spoke to EAN about their careers, and their goals for the HIPPY program.
“I have been working in education since 1991,” said Sherry Spigener, HIPPY Coordinator.
She continued, “I started my career as a secretary for the Elmore County Board of Education. I served in that role for five years. I left the workplace to stay home with my daughter until she started Kindergarten. I then enrolled at Auburn University in Montgomery to earn a degree in Elementary Education. I returned to Elmore County as a fifth-grade teacher in 2001. I taught third grade to sixth grade students. In 2009, I went to the Central Office, Federal Programs Department. During my tenure in Federal Programs, I have served as the District ESL Coordinator, Homeless Liaison, Parent Liaison, and Community Education Coordinator. I am currently serving as the HIPPY Coordinator, Homeless Liaison, and Parent Liaison for Elmore County Public Schools. I am so excited to work with the HIPPY program. Children learn from their first and most important teachers, their parents. We currently have the capacity to serve sixty children. My goal for this year is to retain the families who are enrolled. My long-term goal is to increase enrollment so we can serve more families. The way we can do this is to provide evidence of the need to increase our numbers.”
Terri Carrico, Supervisor of HIPPY, said, “I have worked in Early Childhood Education for 26 years. She continued, “I have worked for the Elmore County Board of Education for 22 years in various roles to include teaching preschool, acting as the Director of the Holtville Child Development Program, and now overseeing the operation of the five Child Development Program locations. I have worked in the Child Development Centers overseas for the military while my family was stationed in Germany. This will be my 3rd year as the HIPPY Supervisor for the Elmore County Board of Education. We served 60 families within the Elmore County communities last year and hope to serve 60 this year as well. I would love to be able to increase the number of families we are able to serve in the upcoming years. The HIPPY program is a great free resource for parents to ensure that their children are school ready.”
Superintendent Richard Dennis said, “I am excited to have Sherry Spigener taking over the HIPPY program. “We will be potentially growing the program once she re-organizes and starts moving us in the direction that we’re hoping to move in. Terri Carrico also does an incredible job of supervising the programs that is under her. She is very detail oriented, and I think you will see programs under her grow in the future.”
What is HIPPY?
Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) is a school readiness program that helps parents prepare their preschool child for academic success. HIPPY is a home-based, family-focused program that is provided for parents of two-, three- and four-year-old children in English and Spanish, free of charge. HIPPY empowers parents to teach their children at home with fun and easy activities. HIPPY children start elementary school ready to learn and prepared to excel.
HIPPY lessons are delivered by Home Visitors who are active parents in the community. These visitors are trained to cover a highly structured, 30-week curriculum in English or Spanish in the parent’s home.
Who can apply?
Families living within the Elmore County School District who have a two-, three-, or four-year-old child can apply. If you are interested in the HIPPY program, please express that interest by completing and submitting a pre-registration form which is on the back of our brochure. You may also send an email to the new HIPPY Coordinator requesting a brochure. Sherry Spigener email address is: [email protected]
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For more information about the ECBOE HIPPY program you can visit their website at: https://www.elmoreco.com/hippy
.You may also contact the HIPPY Coordinator, Sherry Spigener at: (334) 567-1200, ext. 24009 or e-mail: [email protected]
You can find their Facebook page under Elmore County HIPPY-Official.
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