For Read Across America Week, Russellville Head Start invited special guest readers to its classrooms, including Fire Chief Joe Mansell.

For children ages 3-4 in Russellville and Franklin County, there’s a pre-school option that comes without a price tag: Head Start and Pre-K Head Start.

These programs, offered through the Community Action Agency Partnership of North Alabama, provide learning opportunities free of charge to children whose families meet the income requirements.

“We’re taking applications now,” family engagement specialist Brandie Mitchell said. Family engagement specialist Debbie Willis said they actually accept applications all year long and maintain a waiting list of children to admit to the program as often as spots become available.

Fire Marshal Justin Green reads to the kids at Head Start.

Children with special needs and/or disabilities are given priority for the available spots.

Head Start, which was founded as part of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s War on Poverty in 1965, is administered locally in centers located in Russellville at 515 College Ave. NW., and in Tharptown at 145 County Road 80.

For more information call 256-332-5912.