HUFFINGTON
07.21.13
JOHN MOORE/GETTY IMAGES
“FRUSTRATING ... CLAUSTROPHOBIC ... HELPLESS”
to come in the fall, when many
parents hoping to enroll their kids
won’t find any space available.
“There are a whole plethora of
people sitting on the wait list who
won’t be getting a call,” said Joel
Ryan, executive director of the
Washington State Association of
Head Start.
In Ramsey County, Minn.,
where Head Start serves only
10 to 15 percent of 3- to 5-yearolds, the waiting list to get into
the program ranged from 900 to
1,500 children prior to sequestration. A $488,000 cut means
120 fewer slots and desperate
pleas from local parents.
“I get calls every day from par-
ents crying, in every language, because they want their child to learn
English before they get to kindergarten,” said Deb Moses, who runs
the Ramsey County Head Start program. “It is a daily occurrence.”
B
ecause much of the
Head Start harm
caused by sequestration lies in what
won’t happen (a
child who could have been enrolled, money spent on day care
that could have been spent elsewhere, etc.), assessing the overall
damage is a difficult task. But one
place to start is by observing local
news coverage, which provides a
Securing
a spot in
Head Start
is crucial
for many
families, but
officials can
do little to
appease the
desperate
pleas from
parents when
the newly
downsized
classes fill up.