| Joe Piccolo explains to the young children at Head Start the duties of a mechanic. As part of the presentation, Piccolo brought along wrenches, tires and various other tools for the children to examine and touch. The presentation was part of an ongoing effort to get more males involved in the learning process at the early educational facility. |
In an attempt to get males more actively involved with the Head Start program, a monthly “male homework” program has been incorporated into the curriculum.
Each month the male involvement representative comes up with a male-child activity. Dads or other males in the community are invited to speak to the children at this time.
In February, Price mayor Joe Piccolo, who owns and operates Supreme Muffler spent time at the center and talked to the children about being a mechanic.
The children enjoyed handling the wrenches, tires and other tools that Piccolo brought from the shop as part of a learning tool.
According to Head Start family advocate Lorrie Andrews, the early education program was seeing a lack of involvement from the general male population.
“The first thing we realized we needed to do was change our own mind set,” stated Andrews who went on to explain that without realizing it, the staff at Head Start were excluding the males in the program.
Andrews made reference to the center often contacting mothers and not fathers when setting up meetings or conferences.
“Once our staff became aware that we were adding to the difficulties of the boys in the program, we made a conscious effort to change our way of thinking,” explained Andrews.
“The dads as well as the children have had a lot of fun with the various activities. The children are especially proud when their dad comes into the center to show the project they have worked on together.”
There has been a significant increase in male involvement since these changes have been made and the center hopes to increase the current male involvement in the program.