In rural Alaska, the federally funded Head Start preschool program has helped parents earn college degrees. It has put parents with drug addictions on paths toward recovery and educated children who have ended up in foster care. And, of course, it has readied youngsters for kindergarten.
As a teacher shortage grinds on, what is unfolding at this center for pre-Kindergarten education offers a preview of what other programs could face, closing doors and not serving students at all. The day of the school’s closure is marked on a calendar as children, including Mariah Wallen, 5, march in a circle to music in the Stars classroom at the Meadow Lakes CCS Early Learning, a Head Start center, Monday, May 6, 2024, in Wasilla, Alaska .
Which is why it was so wrenching when CCS Early Learning closed the Chugiak Head Start, where Bayne had sent her children. In January, it announced it was shuttering another center — this time in Meadow Lakes, where Bayne’s granddaughter Makayla, who is now in her care, was enrolled.The impending closure is not for lack of need. This is the fastest-growing part of the 49th state, and the nonprofit’s Head Start program has aworking at the nearby Target, which hiked its pay during the pandemic.
They came from households where their caretakers were often struggling with problems too complex for them to understand: poverty, illness, financial strife, homelessness. Their caregivers included teen parents daunted by the responsibility of raising children, and grandparents who had unexpectedly taken in grandchildren.Its pioneering, multigenerational approach sought to build healthy environments for the children it served — and that meant supporting the adults in their lives, too.
Wayne’s childhood has been marked by instability as Mitchell struggled with addiction and sent him to live with relatives. Wayne returned to live with her when she started recovery. When she enrolled him in Head Start, she said staff embraced her without judgment and helped connect her with resources as she got back on her feet. She told staff she was living in a cabin without running water; they got her a voucher so she could take Wayne to the neighboring laundromat for showers and laundry.
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