HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — Federal officials were on the island last week to review the Guam Department of Education Head Start program’s progress in addressing a number of deficiencies that jeopardized funding.
The local Head Start program had until March 5 to correct deficiencies found by a federal review team last year related to the supervision, health and safety of prekindergartners on school campuses.
“A review team from the Region 9 Head Start office, Administration for Children and Families, was on island last week for a comprehensive review of the program to determine the progress made by the GDOE in addressing a number of deficiencies identified last year in a previous review,” GDOE announced Monday in a post on Facebook.
With the deadline of a second extension expiring on March 5, Guam Head Start officials needed to show that students were, among other things, supervised at all times, that Head Start areas such as playgrounds were properly fenced in and secure, and that water for young children was safe from lead contamination.
The Region 9 team wrapped up its visit with an exit meeting with stakeholders, but GDOE officials are waiting for the findings of the review.
“The visiting team could not provide a final determination but did note that they were pleased with the progress that was made in the relatively short amount of time (90 days),” GDOE said on Facebook.
Sen. Chris Barnett, chair of the Legislature’s Committee on Education, said he was not present at the meeting, but staff members who attended on his behalf noted “there was no indication one way or the other.”
The Head Start program sent the following information to Barnett: “They reviewed the process and said that the team was on island this week to collect evidence, interview stakeholders and make observations regarding our efforts to correct the findings of the March 2023 reports. They will write their reports and submit their evidence to (Occupational Health and Safety) which will route it through their internal control process and make a final determination on whether the deficiency and areas of noncompliance have been corrected. It will take about 45 days for the approved report to be issued.”
Barnett told The Guam Daily Post, “I know there were some issues raised during the visit, but I’m thankful the Head Start team was able to get help from GDOE facilities and maintenance. We were able to accomplish a lot in 90 days. A lot of people worked really hard in the small window we had to correct noncompliance issues, and now we have to wait to hear back from the Feds to see if what we did was enough.”
GDOE said the final report normally takes 30 to 45 days to complete after a review.
Officials from the Region 9 Head Start office inspect perimeter fencing at D.L. Perez Elementary School as part of the review team’s visit.
