Head Start History: ChildPlus’ Tynisa Hicks

As a part of Head Start Awareness Month, ChildPlus is introducing several members of our team who have a rich history in Head Start.

ChildPlus Software Implementation Specialist Tynisa Hicks has a strong history with both Head Start and ChildPlus.

Tynisa worked for two years in St. Louis at what was then known as the YWCA St. Louis County Head Start, but later changed to YWCA St. Louis Early Education Program. Before working in Head Start, she worked at a bank and said that it was a total blessing that she ended up working for a Head Start agency.

A friend was leaving her job at the local Head Start and told Tynisa that the job would be perfect for her since they both majored in Management Information Systems in college.

Tynisa got the job and for two consecutive weeks, she was taught all about Head Start, including the performance standards, PIR, agency policies, and more. Tynisa was even taught how ChildPlus helped the agency track records from recruitment to transition. 

Tynisa’s worked as the Management of Information Systems (MIS) Specialist. Her job included being responsible for anything that plugged into the electricity, she said.

“I entered all data for 942 children and families into ChildPlus III and ChildPlus Pro,” she said. “I assisted all staff with running reports and interpreting the data.”

Even though she was the MIS Specialist, she still felt like she was helping people and she loved that.

“Even as the MIS Specialist, I could see how the data helped staff do their jobs better. ChildPlus helped Head Start agencies be ahead of the game with helpful reports to interpret and analyze data to improve services to children and families,” she said.

Tynisa worked for Head Start for two years before making her way to ChildPlus Software 25 years ago.

“My first day at ChildPlus was October 23, 1995, under the leadership of Dr. Tom McMurrain, President,” she said. “At the time, we did not have a training department, so I was a Tech Support Representative.”

Accoring to Tynisa, the Training Department started as a group of Head Start staff serving as consultants for ChildPlus Software.

“Sandra Moore, the Director of Head Start services at the time, and myself, started the internal training department for ChildPlus. Sometime between 2001 and 2002, I was named the Director of Training. When I had my first and only child, I stepped down and became a ChildPlus Consultant.”

Tynisa turned 25 just before coming to work at ChildPlus and it was the same year that ChildPlus introduced the Windows-based and Mac-based systems, ChildPlus 5.0.

“I like to say I’ve grown up at ChildPlus and I’ve seen ChildPlus grow,” Tynisa said. “Back then, we had about 15 employees serving about 400 clients.”

As someone who has worked in Head Start and now ChildPlus, Tynisa can see how the software helps agencies with data entry.

“Data entry into the system has the logical flow of recruitment of families, enter service area data while still tracking staff, trainings and monitoring checklists.  Also with ChildPlus Mobile, data can be entered quickly from any type of device. This will free up time for the staff to be more interactive with children and families,” Tynisa said. “As a company, we listen to the client’s needs and wants. Over 2,000 Head Start/Early Head Start agencies have the same rule book, the Performance Standards, but are allowed to implement according to their community needs.”

According to Tynisa, the ChildPlus reports allows agencies to analyze data for monitoring program goals. The customization tools also allows agencies to make ChildPlus their own.

“It makes my heart happy to see agencies using ChildPlus,” Tynisa said. “Just as Head Start/Early Head Start prepares children and their families [for] success in school and in life beyond school, ChildPlus is here to prepare Head Start/Early Head Start staff to succeed at managing the children/families’ information for day-to-day operations and beyond.”