Head Start Center Committee

THE HEAD START CENTER COMMITTEE

WHO IS ON IT?

In Head Start, parents work together with teachers to decide what kind of education and learning experiences children will receive. This is not an easy job. If it is done well, it will require a lot of hard work and good thinking by both parents and staff. There are many important questions which need to be answered. Some of these are:

a) What do we want our children to get out of Head Start?

b) What kinds of activities should be included in the daily program?

c) In what ways are children in the program growing and learning?

d) What things are the staff learning about the children that could be shared with the parents?

e) What are the parents learning about from their children that could be shared with the staff?

t) What are the areas in which both parents and staff would like to learn more about the development of young children?

One of the purposes of parent involvement in Head Start centers is to help develop the best possible child development program. If this is to happen, parents and staff must meet together regularly. Meetings should be held at least once a month. Some centers have found that more frequent meetings are helpful.

All parents who have children enrolled in the center are members of the Head Start Center Committee. Because of this, meetings should be held at a time and place that is convenient to the greatest number of parents in the center. In centers where there are a large number of classes in one center, parents may want to organize parent classroom committees. This way they work more directly with staff to develop the program for their children. It is important for Center Committee meetings to be friendly and informal. This way people can help each other to come up with good ideas for the program. Many groups find that serving light refreshments helps people to be more relaxed and comfortable.

In most programs, Center Committees elect parent representatives to the Policy Council. When this is done, the Center Committee should provide support for the person(s) they elect or represent them. This support is provided in two ways. First, the Center committee tells the representative their ideas on matters coming before the Policy Committee or Council. Second, the Center Committee should ask their representative(s) to report on the meetings of the Policy Council or Committee.

WHAT DOES IT DO?

The Head Start Parent Involvement Guidelines list four functions of Center Committees. Local groups may negotiate for additional functions and a greater share of responsibility if all parties agree. The Guidelines state that the Center Committee:

a) Assists teacher, center director and all other persons responsible for the development and operation of every component including curriculum in the Head Start program.

Parents and staff should work together in deciding both the general day-to-day activities for the children. These are decisions for parents and staff to make together. Parents bring to these meetings a knowledge of their own children and their needs which are necessary to make decisions about the program. Because of their education, training and experience working with the program, staff should be available to provide assistance and recommendations to parents, but they should not dominate the discussions. Parents and staff working together should make the final decisions.