The ‘Great Society’ lives on in Head Start.

Henrietta the dinosaur wields an outsize toothbrush to the beat of a rap ditty:

“First I brush my outside bottom/They’re my teeth and I’m glad I’ve got ‘em.”

Head Start teacher Sue Dunagan opens the mouth of her hand puppet to brush its prominent molars, and her 15 preschool students, each with his or her own toothbrush, mimic her motions.

At the end of the session, aids Shelby Mox and Dolly Leibov collect the brushes.

It’s a daily event at Bainbridge’s Head Start program, one of many activities designed to foster healthy habits or to pave the way for grade-school academics.

“We’re constantly doing pre-kindergarten activities,” Dunagan said. “We count the days of the week or count how many kids are here. We do name recognition – all our kids have their names in about eight places in the classroom.”

The Bainbridge Head Start program, now in its seventh year, was moved to a modular classroom next to Woodward Middle School after its old home in the Commodore building was slated to be torn down.

Head Start was established in 1965 as one of the cornerstones of President Lyndon Jonhson’s “Great Society.”

Developed to compensate for the disadvantage of poverty, the program gave low-income children a boost at the start of the 12-year course of public education. Nearly four decades later, Head Start serves about one million children nationally, at a cost of $6.7 billion in 2003.

Like the other Head Start programs nationwide, Bainbridge’s program receives federal funding through grants to local organizations – in this case, Kitsap Community Resources, a Bremerton-based nonprofit.

KCR’s Head Start/Early Head Start/Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program provides preschool and family development programs to some 250 Kitsap children from low-income families.

With 18 kids ages 3-5, Bainbridge Head Start is at capacity for the first time; it had to “borrow” two slots from an under-enrolled Bremerton program.

“Historically, we haven’t filled the class, but now we have a waiting list,” said Cindy Burke, Bainbridge Head Start family development specialist.

Head Start families on the island include divorced parents getting back on their feet; young, single working moms who need the services as they try to find better employment; foster families, who automatically qualify; and one family who recently traded Bainbridge for Poulsbo because they could no longer afford to live here.

Diversity

The current class is more diverse than most Bainbridge classrooms, with children of Vietnamese, Russian, Lebanese, Filipino, Chinese, Pacific Island and Hispanic heritage.

For island families who qualify, the program is free; federal poverty guidelines set a maximum income of $12,120 for a family of two, with that threshold increasing by $3,140 for each additional family member.

Some families may qualify under other criteria, including those receiving federal assistance for the disabled, or Medicaid. Special education students are also accepted into Head Start.

But the program is distinct from the school district’s special needs preschool, which operates several hours a day to give intensive remediation to disabled children.

“The special needs preschool provides services to the child,” Burke said. “(In Head Start), we also develop the family.”

The families who lose out, Burke says, are the ones whose income level isn’t low enough for Head Start, but who can’t afford to pay for preschool.

“And we have a lot of families who are the ‘working poor,’” she said. “They can cover costs of daycare – but because they have to pay for that, they can never get ahead.”

Head Start provides access to dental care and offers other basic health care. The program may provide emergency money for rent assistance or even to repair a family’s car. It also offers free parenting classes and family counseling through Helpline House.

Parents take an active part in planning – charting a course for their own children, and overseeing the program as a whole.

“Parents on the ‘policy council’ can vote for hiring and changing policies,” Burke said. “We want them to be involved because it’s their school.”

One of the joys of working for Head Start, she says, is watching graduates flourish; she enjoys running into those who’ve moved on to Ordway Elementary School.

“In seeing these families later, it just further proves that the program works,” she said.