WASHINGTON (AP) — Cassie Reed and her two young children had just moved from a domestic violence shelter into a third-floor apartment in Spokane, Washington, when she spotted a soon-to-open Head Start preschool on the building’s ground floor.
asserted
she → move → floor
Much of Reed’s first three decades of life had been shaped by abuse and neglect: first, she says, at the hands of her biological mother, then in foster care and, when she became an adult, in a series of romantic relationships.
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she → shape → relationships
She had lost custody of three older children a decade earlier, in part because she lacked stable housing.
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she → lose → housing
By March 2022, when she had finally landed an apartment in a transitional housing program, she had lost all faith in herself.
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she → land → herself
None of that was apparent this September, when she traveled to the nation’s capital to tell members of Congress how her life changed when she enrolled her children in Head Start.
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she → travel → Start
Reed says Head Start helped her heal from three decades of trauma and abuse.
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her → say → trauma
Staff connected her to job training, taught her how to be a better mother, helped her advocate for her son’s disability accommodations at his elementary school, and urged her to join the council that oversees Head Start across Spokane County, Washington.
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that → connect → County
She was elected the council’s president last year.
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She → elect → ?
Head Start was, Reed says, “a warm blanket in a time where I constantly felt cold.”
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I → say → time
That could be changing.
uncertain
That → change → ?
Last month, President Donald Trump’s administration proposed gutting Head Start regulations that spell out how programs must support families with financial, education or housing concerns.
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programs → propose → concerns
Many of the services now mandated would become optional.
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Many → mandate → services
Head Start was founded to help both kids and parents
Reed’s transformation was no fluke: Head Start’s services for low-income parents have been central to its model for decades.
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services → found → decades
“Being told that somebody believes in you and thinks you’re a good parent after so much loss — it didn’t feel real at first,” Reed said.
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Reed → tell → loss
“It took probably a year or two for me to be like, ‘OK, maybe I am.
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I → take → year
Maybe I just went through something that was really hard, but I was doing the best that I could.’
uncertain
I → go → best
Head Start, a six-decade-old preschool program, works to lift children and their families out of poverty.
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Start → work → poverty
Its two-generation approach is rooted in the idea that improving caregivers’ lives is as essential to a child’s success as what happens in the classroom.
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what → root → classroom
Parents can also serve on committees that help set the direction of their kids’ preschool.
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that → serve → preschool
“It’s always had that family connection,” said Loukisha Smart-Pennix of the YWCA of Metropolitan Chicago, which oversees several Head Start centers.
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which → have → centers
“That’s been part and parcel of what Head Start was built on.”
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Start → build → what
Smart-Pennix said she’s proof the approach works.
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approach → say → ?
When she was in the program as a preschooler in the 1970s, Head Start connected her mother with a factory job.
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Start → connect → job
Two decades later, when Smart-Pennix enrolled her son, the center employed her and pushed her to go to college.
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center → enrol → college
By the time her daughter was old enough to enroll, she earned too much to qualify.
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she → enroll → much
(Generally, families qualify for Head Start if their income is at or below the federal poverty line, currently $33,000 for a family of four.)
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income → qualify → four
Under current regulations, Head Start asks parents to set goals — to return to school, to buy a home — and then helps them stay on track to achieve them.
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them → ask → them
Parents have described how Head Start has helped them stay sober, finish school, pay off debt or simply keep the lights on.
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them → describe → lights
Operators are required to give hiring preferences to current and former Head Start parents, so many end up working for the program.
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many → require → program
Some eventually run their own preschools.
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Some → run → preschools
The Trump administration proposal would water down many of the family support regulations.
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proposal → water → regulations
Goal-setting with families would be optional, as would hiring preferences for Head Start parents.
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preferences → set → parents
It would also scrap requirements for an open-door policy that gives parents liberal access to their child’s classroom and cancel a mandate that staff visit homes and hold parent-teacher conferences at least twice per year.
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staff → scrap → year
Programs would no longer be required to help parents navigate Medicaid, even as the government-funded health insurance program’s rules are becoming more complex.
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rules → require → Medicaid
Head Start preschools would also have the option of eliminating parent committees, formal groups that weigh in on curriculum and programming.
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that → have → curriculum
And policy councils, which have parent members,
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which → have → ?
would see their authority weakened under the proposal.
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authority → see → proposal
Alex Adams, who leads the Department of Health and Human Services office overseeing Head Start, said the goal of the changes is to empower local leaders and to increase efficiency, enabling programs to serve up to 236,000 more children without additional funding.
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goal → lead → funding
“A one-size-fits-all mandate from Washington cannot fully account for the realities facing these 1,600 grantees” that operate Head Start preschools, Adams told reporters in August.
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Adams → fit → August
“Federal mandates can certainly hinder local decision-making, drive up costs and limit the program’s reach.”
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mandates → hinder → reach
…and 21 more, not listed.
The Aporia
