San Juan Head Start program again earns high marks

San Juan Mayor Miguel Romero Lugo

By The Star Staff

San Juan Mayor Miguel Romero Lugo announced Tuesday that the Early Head Start & Head Start Preschool Program of the Municipality of San Juan received a second exemplary evaluation from the Office of Head Start, achieving the highest rating in each of the areas evaluated during the most recent unannounced federal review, corresponding to the third and final phase of the national monitoring process.

“This result reaffirms our administration’s commitment to excellent early childhood education, where every child receives comprehensive services and every family is supported with respect, sensitivity, and professionalism,” Romero said. “We are proud that the federal government has validated our work with a report recognizing full compliance and quality of service. The team at the Integrated Municipal Education System and the Head Start Program deserves our deepest gratitude.”

The achievement is part of a profound transformation process initiated during Romero’s first four-year term. Following the successful completion of the first federal evaluation last month, the second monitoring review reaffirmed the work done by the municipality, the mayor said, confirming that administrative stability, educational excellence, and fiscal transparency are here to stay.

The San Juan Municipality Head Start Program serves 969 children and families, including pregnant women, through more than 30 centers, many of them located in public housing communities in the capital.

The second federal evaluation covered six key areas that comprise the program’s operational structure and impact: program design, management and improvement; child education and development services; health services; family and community participation; fiscal infrastructure; and eligibility, recruitment, selection, enrollment and attendance system.