In rural Alaska, the federally funded Head Start preschool program has helped parents earn college degrees.
Discover incredible Insider Deals that will make your life a little bit easierThe 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. – She was a teenager, and the mother of a 2-year-old, when a knock came on the door of the trailer she called home.
As a teacher shortage grinds on, what is unfolding in this corner of the state — a region that contains both massive tracts of untamed wild and a booming Anchorage bedroom community — offers a preview of what other programs could face.of Head Start teachers left their jobs, some retiring early and others lured away by higher-paying work in retail or at school districts. Without those teachers, the preschools cannot serve as many students as they once did.
Kendra Mitchell, whose mother had her at 16, also went to Head Start, and sent her son Wayne to the Meadow Lakes school. He’ll head to kindergarten next year, but she said she’s seen how it’s shaped both his life – and hers. In a school day, there was so much more than met the eye. Every activity was loaded with lessons large and small. As they talked about the calendar — it was May 6 — they practiced saying “sixth.” Teacher Lisa Benson-Nuyen instructed them to “pretend your tongue is a little turtle head, sticking out of the shell.” She taught them, too, that the last day of school could bring a mix of emotions.At breakfast, the children learned blueberries do not belong in their ears.
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