Head Start could face changes under federal act
Marion County's Head Start classrooms may be in for a change if new federal guidelines take effect.
That was the message Friday afternoon at the Communities in Schools monthly interagency meeting, held at Olde Towne. Mary Ann Conyers, of the Marion and McPherson county Head Start program, was the featured speaker.
According to Conyers, the No Child Left Behind act, signed last year by President Bush, would move the Head Start program from the Department of Health and Human Services to the Department of Education.
Head Start is a federally funded preschool program for three-, four-, and five-year-olds in low-income families. Marion County has two Head Start classrooms, one in Hillsboro and one in Marion. Together the classrooms can serve 45 children.
If Head Start were to move to the education department, that could eliminate some of the program's key services to children, Conyers said.
"We're not just education," she said. "We're a very comprehensive program."
Head Start helps children with health issues too, such as teaching them how to brush their teeth, Conyers said. Family advocates work with parents to make sure the children are getting proper nutrition. Children are offered breakfast and lunch.
The program also deals with mental and social issues. Head Start has mental health consultants to talk with families. To help children learn social skills, they practice eating at a table together.
Conyers fears that a Head Start run solely by the education department would eliminate these extras.
Also, under the new No Child Left Behind guidelines the Head Start programs would be funded through "block grants" given to the states. Instead of being independent of local school districts, programs would be aligned with local schools, she said.
That would result in "basically a public preschool," Conyers said.
"This group of children isn't ready for a school setting," she said. For example, many of them don't know how to sit still for periods of time — they've never had those expectations before.
"Bush's whole purpose is to totally dismantle Head Start," Conyers said.
Head Start will be federally funded for two more years before the new system kicks in, she said.
Conyers is also concerned that preschoolers may be required to take a test before entering kindergarten that would assess how much they've learned in preschool. But no one knows how such a test would be developed, she said. This would be in addition to the current developmental test.
Conyers acknowledges that the new guidelines could benefit struggling Head Start programs or those that haven't met established guidelines.
Even though each Head Start is independent, the programs are regularly monitored by the federal system, Conyers said.
Overall, the move to the education department could be good — but she doubts it, she said.
