“There is nothing being done to
fix it at the moment. There is a total
lack of understanding of what the
severity of the effects are.”
–Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.)
daily drip of depressing developments. In a two-week period this
June, it was announced that Head
Start was eliminating staff positions and student spots in Cincinnati, Hannibal, Mo., Hennepin
County, Minn., Cullman County,
Ala., Cicero, N.Y., and elsewhere.
Yasmina Vinci, executive director of the National Head Start
Association, said that her group
anticipates 65,000 fewer slots for
children and 11,500 Head Start
jobs being lost nationally. The
impact on the Head Start community, she said, has been demoralizing, so much so that the association has begun running a mental
health webinar to help with depression among Head Start staff.
“We built the whole system on
relationships, on holistic, sustaining, affirming relationships between the teachers and the family,”
said Vinci, “and then [Congress]
went and they cut it. People are
naturally upset about it.”
Indeed, even those who have
been minimally harmed so far
say that the cuts to Head Start
are taking an emotional toll. In
the town of Goldendale, Wash.
— population just under 3,500
— the Early Head Start program,
which works with children 3
years old and under, was forced
to shut down two weeks early
this spring to deal with sequestration. In all, 26 children were
affected, one of whom was Rebecca Boyer’s son, Will.
Boyer’s life didn’t change much.
She’s in the self-publishing business, which allows her to work
at home and tend to Will, 3. But
there is fear that the cuts to Head
Start are just beginning. It was
through the program that Will’s
astigmatism was first discovered.
A nurse found it during a checkup, and a doctor who volunteered
with the program confirmed it
later. Head Start also helped Will