Rep. Rush Holt, D-12, might agree with Dr. Seuss: “A person’s a person no matter how small.”
Holt emphasized the positive effects of Middlesex and Somerset County Head Start programs Sunday at a story time event at the Barnes & Noble bookstore on Route 1 in North Brunswick.
“The Head Start program … is one of the most successful programs to come out of Washington,” Holt said. “The kids who have gone through the Head Start program do better in elementary school, they do better in middle school, they do better in high school and in fact they end up being more productive adults.”
Holt read aloud two books with environmental themes: “Michael Recycle,” by Ellie Bethel and Alexandra Colombo, and “The Lorax,” by Dr. Seuss.
About 30 children aged 3 to10 years old of various ethnicities surrounded him in a semicircle on the floor, looking up aptly at him or squirming around. Parents huddled around them, many speaking to each other in Spanish.
Holt addressed the children directly throughout the reading.
“You can’t have too many books,” he said to them, also encouraging to set aside time with their families to read to each other.
The event kicked off the store’s Holiday Book Drive to benefit Community Development Institute Head Start of Middlesex County and Head Start of Somerset County. Until Dec. 31, customers can buy selected preschool-age books to donate to Head Start.
The Head Start programs of Middlesex County and Somerset Counties serve nearly 1,000 children, CDI Head Start Program Director Sari Workman said. Head Start is a community-based program catering to families by providing them with services in health, education, mental health, nutrition and more.
“Children cannot learn without the help of their families,” Workman said. “We work as partners with families, and that sets us apart from other preschool programs.”
The federally-funded program provides grants to local public and private non-profit and for-profit agencies to provide child development services to low-income children and families, with a special focus on helping preschoolers develop early reading and math skills, according to the Office of Head Start’s Web site.
“Head Start is more than just a literacy program, because it works with families,” Holt said. “Instead of just teaching the kids sounds or letters or words, they work with the family to help develop good learning habits … [and] good hygiene.”
Holt is unsure if the gubernatorial election results will affect the continuation of Head Start in New Jersey, noting that preschool became a campaign issue in this year’s election.
“Chris Christie, in an inattentive moment, or a moment of weakness, called it … ‘babysitting.’ If Christie meant anything like that, then he’s really wrong,” Holt said.
Executive/Head Start Director of Somerset Community Action Program Isaac Dorsey is a successful product of Head Start, earning his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the University.
He said he knew he could count on Holt to participate in the Barnes & Noble event.
“Congressman Holt is a real strong supporter of Head Start, and whenever I’ve called on him to be a part of something, he’s always shown up,” Dorsey said.
Middlesex County has about 650 children per year in Head Start, Workman said. The amount of North Brunswick Head Start students is catching up quickly to the number of New Brunswick students.
Head Start’s seven-classroom center on Livingston Avenue in North Brunswick now has about half of its students from North Brunswick and half from New Brunswick, she said.
Holt said about 900,000 kids are enrolled right now in Head Start, and the program has served 25,000,000 children since its founding in 1965.
“Head Start serves roughly about a third of all eligible children in the country,” Dorsey said.
To be eligible, families must be at or below poverty level, determined by the federal government in the ’60s under former President Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty, Dorsey said. Ten percent are special-needs children, and they also work with homeless families and Division of Youth and Family Services cases.
Head Start was last reauthorized in December 2008, just before President Barack Obama was inaugurated. Head Start was not reauthorized during the eight years of former President George W. Bush’s administration, but Dorsey expects it to be reauthorized every five years from now on.
Barnes & Noble’s Holiday Book Drive has taken place since the store opened in 2000. Last year, the store collected more than 5,000 books for the Global Literacy Project, Barnes & Noble Community Relations Manager Miriam Libove said.
“This was a great opportunity to make something really local,” she said.
Critics assert that effects of Head Start wear off by high school, but Holt said he thinks that is a weak stance.
He said in a comparison of kids from the same neighborhood, side by side, there is a definite difference between those who went to Head Start and those who do not.
“Head Start works,” Holt said.
