Children involved in the Head Start program in Helena are getting a solid foundation on their education, according to a recent federal review process.

The Rocky Mountain Development Council Head Start program received a perfect score from federal reviewers. The program also received a perfect score three years ago, the last time the review was conducted.

“We are really excited,” said Head Start director Patty Dahl.  “This also happened in 2006, which is pretty amazing.”

Only a small percentage of Head Start programs nationwide get perfect scores.

Dahl said the successful review was due to the staff and supervisors who are dedicated to their jobs, the board of directors and policy council that are highly involved in the decision making, and Head Start’s community partners.

“It’s a combination of all those,” Dahl said. “We cannot do it alone. It has to be owned by the community — that’s the bottom line.”

The review highlighted community partnerships as one of the program’s strengths, citing financial support from Mountain West Bank and the Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation. It also identified several important partnerships that serve families of Head Start, such as AWARE — a community mental-health agency that provides students with ongoing mental health screening and treatment.

It also noted efforts by the Lewis and Clark County Jail to coordinate family visits for incarcerated Head Start parents.

“The grantee had a strength in community partnerships because it engaged in highly effective community outreach to encourage volunteers from the community to participate in the program operations,” the report said.

Dahl said that in order to receive federal funding, Head Start must comply with more than 2,000 rules and regulations.

“This is not a burden,” she said. “Those regulations keep us focused on helping children and their families be ready to learn mentally, physically and emotionally.”

Kim Nash, a teacher at Head Start’s Early Learning Center, said those in the program do an assessment each year to see if there’s something that needs to be fixed.

“It keeps everyone on top of everything,” Nash said. “It’s a good system that keeps us aware of what we need to be doing.”

There are 18 children at the Early Learning Center, a full-time site. Children arrive there at 7:30 a.m. and stay until 5:15 p.m., unlike the half-day Head Start program at the Neighborhood Center.

“We do our curriculum teaching in the morning and have lunch and rest time, and then it’s just more laid back,” Nash said. “The parents or guardians pick them up and bring them every day. It’s nice to have that contact because we try to be partners since the parents are the children’s first teachers.”

Nash said the families and teachers work together on goals, a staple concept of Head Start programs.

“We are getting them ready for kindergarten,” she said.

Head Start serves 248 children at eight sites in three counties, and there is a waiting list of close to 100.

Andrea Edger is the parent of a child in the program and also policy council chairperson. Her first encounter with Head Start was in Missoula, when her daughter, now 14, was involved in the program there for two years.

“They caught her speech and language issue, and through their advocacy we were able to get speech therapy,” Edger said. “And combined with surgical intervention she wasn’t as delayed as she potentially could have been. Now she’s a very successful student in middle school.”

Today, her third child is in the program in Helena, but she became more involved in the program when her second daughter attended.

Edger said she wasn’t surprised that the Head Start got a perfect score.

“The program is filled with dedicated folks (whose) passion is early childhood development and their approach is they welcome diversity and are so sincere to help each child succeed and help the family succeed as well,” she said. “It’s more than just a day care or preschool.”

Paul Smith said as a single father the program was a life saver.

Smith’s oldest child was in the program at the Lincoln School for two years, and now his two sons attend the Early Learning Center.

“Before I got them into the program I was a mess and my kids were a mess,” he said. “Through Head Start I’ve found not only stability but resources that are in this town that I never knew existed. They gained learning abilities I wasn’t able to give them because I was always working.”

Reporter Alana Listoe: 447-4081 or alana.listoe@helenair.com