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BOE declares October as Head Start Awarenesss Month
The CNMI Board of Education declared last Friday that October 2018 was Head Start Awareness Month.
Both instructors and parents involved with the CNMI Headstart program witnessed last Friday at the Chalan Kanoa Head Start Center Board of Education acting chair Janice Tenorio proclaim October 2018 to be Head Start Awareness Month.
PSS Head Start coordinator Lathania Santos noted that the program, which was first launched in 1965 by former president Lyndon B. Johnson, first sought to provide comprehensive health, nutrition, and education services to children living in poverty.
“Over the last 53 years, the Head Start model has been built on evidence-based practices and is constantly adapting,” she said. “As a comprehensive early learning education program, Head Start helps children at risk of being left behind build the abilities they need to be ready for kindergarten and life,” she continued.
She further noted that since the program’s inception in the CNMI, it has helped more than 17,000 children since its opening in 1964.
“In February 2015 the CNMI PSS was awarded the Early Head Start Child Care Partnership Grant. Four years later, we continue to be the lone grantee in the outer Pacific that serves children ages six weeks to three years of age,” she said.
Interim Education commissioner Glenn Muña noted that PSS altogether has the main goal of pursuing the “best quality education” for the NMI’s youth.
“Students who have attended preschool do better when they enter kindergarten. It is because of the hardworking men and women, teachers and staff who work tirelessly with our students and their families to ensure that our children are ready,” he said in a brief statement.
Tenorio, in a brief statement, noted that the program was near and dear to her heart through the course of her career in the BOE, similar to that of long-time former chair Herman Guerrero.
“…I am passionate in regards to the early Head Start and Head Start Program,” she said.
Tenorio is also the BOE representative for the Head Start Program.
