It was a beautiful early summer evening. I sat at a picnic table at Gooseberry Park
with five Head Start moms. The
End-of-the-Year picnic had come to a close.
It seemed like a great time for a Transportation Committee meeting. We’ve just lost $80, 000 in state funding
and need to drop a bus route.
The EOY picnic is a
bittersweet time and the mood is right. Parents are glad school is out for summer,
but terrified of what they are going to do with these kids all day. The children dash off hand in hand, oblivious
to the fact that they just saw their friend an hour ago. But
I’ve never played with you here before!
It’s a joy to see how fast they can climb to the top, how quickly they
find friends, how much less needy they are than when we first began.
Teachers feel the
relief of being nearly done-- done with the burden of risk, done with assessing
school readiness, done with high overlook and the dizzying sensation it
brings. Look how much they’ve changed.
As a manager, I’m ready to be done with daily operations for
another year. There’s a sweet sameness about this annual
event. I have to hug the past Head Start
siblings that tag along for the picnic. When
did you get so tall? When did I get so
old?
The Transportation Committee stays late to brainstorm, to
problem-solve, to be solution-focused, to
make it work.
How are we going to get 144 kids on two 38- passenger buses
two times each day for 128 days?
The parents are beyond the feelings they had when they approved the program changes at Policy Council a couple of weeks ago. The wheels have been goin’ round. “What if we had designated pick up spots? What if didn’t pick up within 2 blocks of the Head Start sites?” One of the most discussed ideas was what one parent called “Operation Stop, Drop ,and Roll.” It involved Head Start teachers watching the children for 30 minutes before and after class to allow working parents more flexibility to beat the clock. All good, well-thought out ideas.
The women were so earnest, so determined. I asked those with older children how they managed the giant step to public school transportation---no curb-side pickup, no reminder call, no bus monitor, no harness. “You just do what you have to do.” Their descriptions were a little scary, a little like the tales my parents told of walking three miles through deep snow to get school. I was not aware that a baby monitor had a signal reaching a city block.
While the committee was sympathetic to the plight of the parent with a junker car, a new baby, an unsympathetic boss, no money for gas---one thing was certain---there was no sympathy for the parent who just couldn’t find the drive to get up, the parent passed out on the couch, or the parent who just didn’t like to walk in the cold.
“If you care about your kid’s education, you will do what you have to do to get them to school.” They made no excuses. The moms reminded me that it was not up to us to figure it out, but it was up to the parents to make it happen.
The conversation reminded me of a recent newsletter article done by Acelero Learning. Acelero is a corporate giant standing poised to pick up the spoils of small Head Start programs who “can’t figure it out” in an age of Re-Competition. Anyway, in an article titled “Contracting with Families to Close the Achievement Gap,” author Lori Levine writes,
“This past week, we held our Annual Joint Planning session between members of our Board of Directors and Policy Council---a meeting that includes parent representatives from each of our delegate Policy Committees. As the group reviewed proposed revisions to our annual short-term goals, an animated discussion regarding parent involvement erupted in the room. Policy Council parents didn’t feel that we held our parent’s accountable for actually achieving our parent involvement goals! Why couldn’t we be clearer about both our expectations and how parents were doing in terms of meeting them?....Parents went on to suggest giving parents “report cards” showing their progress in meeting the expectations in several areas that help children succeed in school, such as bringing their children to school, attending meetings, and volunteering in the classroom.”
In this age of accountability and doing more with less, is it possible we’ve been working too hard to solve every problem? We worry so much about whether we are going to get everything right that we forget the equation.
The conversation around the picnic table reminded me that the Head Start children are not ours. We have to let go sometimes.
Shanna Grefsrud
Community &
Parent Engagement/Transportation Manager
Lakes & Prairies Head Start
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