Head Start at risk, Shelly says
By Erny Zah
Navajo Times
WINDOW ROCK, Oct. 17, 2011
Addressed to Head Start parents and staff on Oct.
7, Shelly's two-page memo addressed the possible loss of federal funding, without which the tribe cannot keep the program going, due to continued deficiencies and low enrollment.
In July, Yvette Sanchez Fuentes, director of the federal Head Start program, told the tribe that funding would be cut nearly in half because of low enrollment, which has never recovered its previous levels after the program was defunded in 2006 due to acute safety deficiencies.
Once the tribal program promised reforms, federal funding was restore and continued at about $28 million annually, despite the reduced enrollment.
But with Washington preoccupied over budget cuts, Fuentes said the funding could be cut to $14.5 million per year, which would match current enrollment numbers.
Shelly stated in the memo that he is still in negotiations with Fuentes regarding fiscal 2012 funding, but didn't specify details.
Dawn Yazzie, a Shelly aide, said she couldn't release any details about the ongoing negotiations with Fuentes.
"I can only speak to the memo," she said in a phone interview.
She added that she would direct questions about the negotiations to the president's legal team.
No further details were released by press time.
The memo also referred to troubles Head Start has had since it reopened after the 2006 shutdown.
An April 2010 review found 11 deficiencies and non-compliance issues and the federal officials were on the reservation in September to do a follow-up review.
In an exit meeting, the memo stated, the reviews found that none of the deficiencies and non-compliance issues had been corrected.
Shelly is scheduled to host a meeting Friday, Oct.
14, starting at 9 a.m.
at the Window Rock Sports Complex to update Head Start staff on the situation, said Emerald Dahozy, Department of Dine Education spokesperson.
When asked about the specific subject matter he will cover, Yazzie said she would forward questions about the meeting to the presidential legal team.
No response was received by press time Wednesday.
However, one Head Start parent told the Navajo Times she has called Head Start, the president's office and the agency Head Start office seeking answers about the memo and potential effects on her child's school.
Lynette Charley, 35, of Indian Wells, Ariz.
, said she didn't get any clear answers, but plans on attending Friday's meeting.
"I'm scared.
I don't know what the future is for my son at his school over there," she said.
Her son, Sequoia Houck, 3, attends Indian Wells Head Start.
The Indian Wells center was one of a handful of Head Start classrooms facing closure at the beginning of the school because of low enrollment.
Parents and staff rallied to bring in more students, and the center remained open.
Shelly's memo has sparked new fear about the program's future, Charley said.
"If it's not one thing, it's another.
It's ridiculous," she said.
Charley said her son is on a waiting list for a Head Start center in Flagstaff, but in earlier an earlier Navajo Times report, she emphasized that she chose Indian Wells Head Start because of its strong Navajo language curriculum.
"He is picking up Navajo, just like I wanted him to," she said.