Millersburg’s Head Start program available to help
Millersburg’s Head Start program continues to provide early childhood education opportunities for many families in the area.
Not only does the program offer education, but also it can provide dental, vision, and lead and hearing screenings to offset any potential learning delays.
“The No. 1 goal of Head Start is to give the students and families opportunities to advance in education, health and parenting skills,” said Joanne Miller, Millersburg site supervisor. “Our staff members are here to walk families through the education system.”
Miller said there were a few areas she wanted the public to understand about Head Start.
“We are a program with the goal to give low-income children and families a head start in education, health and parenting skills,” she said. “Parenting classes and information is given to our parents, and the health of our families is very important. Students are required to have a physical and dental on file, so our program provides a health fair where the parent can bring the student to complete these. During the fair, physicals, dental, vision, and hearing and lead screenings are completed.”
She said social and emotional screenings are provided as well.
Funding for these programs continues to be a problem, she said, as well as finding dedicated staff. The lack of qualified dentists in the surrounding area was just one example.
“Due to the shortage of dentists in our area, finding dentists to work with our program has been challenging,” Miller said. “We like to collaborate with other community members as much as possible, such as Holmes County Training Center Dental Clinic and the Kno-Ho-Co Dental Clinic.”
Miller said the program would like to accept more children who are over a family income threshold, but Head Start does not allow them to enroll students with more than 10% over income throughout the agency.
“The income guidelines need to be increased to reflect our current economy,” she said. “A single mother working at a fast-food restaurant can be over income in this economy.”
If a family is interested in applying a child, they may use one of four steps: call the office at 330-377-4567, visit the website at www.knohoco.org, visit the Facebook page at Kno-Ho-Co Ashland CAC Head Start, or scan the QR code provided on cards or flyers.
“When calling or completing an application, have your household income amount available,” Miller said. “The ERSEA specialist will verify the income on the application and accept it. Once this happens, proof of income will be needed when enrollment forms are completed.”
Miller said the program has many excellent teachers on staff who are highly trained, from bus drivers with CDL bus endorsement to teachers and assistants taking many additional hours of early childhood education training throughout the year.
“Staff members are required to pass a background check before they are hired and every five years thereafter,” she said. “They are required to have training in CPR, first aid, child abuse and communicable diseases, plus 45 hours of training in ECE. Every staff member has a professional development plan, which is updated yearly.”
A child’s educational success, health and well-being is the main goal.
“My No. 1 goal as a teacher is to keep our students safe and instill the love of learning in my students so they become lifelong learners,” Miller said.
