Prince William County Schools and Manassas Park Schools will receive 1.7 million dollars from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act which will buy classroom time for an additional 216 head start children for 2 years.
The grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will pay for 14 new Head Start teachers in the county and two teachers in Manassas Park, said Kathy Channell, the administrative coordinator for Head Start and the Virginia Preschool Initiative
This money will be used at Manassas Park, Westgate, Potomac View, Bel Air, Sinclair and Yorkshire elementary schools. It will also buy a bus for transportation. Students will be selected according to eligibility.
In order for a child to be eligible, she/he must turn 4 by Sept. 30, live in one of the districts listed, and live below the federal income guidelines of $22,050 for a family of four.
Additional information at Manassas News and Messenger.
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Awesome! Free Money! Oh, wait, it’s not free?
Good lord, can you imagine trying to live on $22,000 a year if you are a family of four in this area?
So what is gained from this iniative? Why is it to our advantage to put poor kids in school earlier than everyone else?
Well, some parents cannot afford private pre-school which puts kids behind. Kindergarten is no longer just coloring, and if kids can’t identify letters in Kindergarten, they are at a serious disadvantage and more prone to repeating which is expensive.
If kids go to school earlier, there is also more opportunity for parents to work.
Then, there is the nutrition aspect. If you are making that little money, your kids might not be getting things like a healthy breakfast. We know how important nutrition is for growing little minds. These kids would probably end up getting free meals at school, which they need.
Before anyone starts citing welfare, let me tell you that studies show the majority of people in homeless shelters are the working poor. Talk to anyone at SERVE and they will tell you that.
Some kids come to school not knowing even what a pair of scissors is. Often no one has read to them or done other development activities. These kids, at whatever age, enter school at a disadvantage to their classmates.
Think of it as buttoning your shirt. If the first button and button hole are out of alignment, you will never get it right. These kids stay behind their entire school careers and they are often the first kids to drop out.
An educated society is very much to our advantage as a nation. If these kids get a year’s headstart, there just isn’t as much catching up to do.
Pinko is correct about the nutrition. The school lunch program has been in place since 1946. Even though it has undergone many changes, it still tries to make sure there are no hungry children at school. It is a federal program.
I’m wondering, though, what will happen to the new teachers once the money dries up. Will there be another source?
RIF if not.
That is one of the fundamental flaws of the stimulus payouts–no real idea what will happen once the money dries up. To wit, states that are being required to extend unemployment insurance to part-time workers have no idea how they will continue to do that.
I guess they will just drop them, like they do full timers when benefits run out.
Many part time workers are part time workers because they couldn’t find full time work. Seems like a double kick in the teeth to me.