by Joe PIasecki
Pasadena Sun
Looking to stabilize preschool programs that slipped into chaos in the fall, the Pasadena Unified School District is proposing to take charge of area Head Start programs next year.
District officials are seeking a $10.7 million annual grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to serve about 1,100 low-income children from Pasadena, Altadena, Sierra Madre and South Pasadena.The PUSD-run Head Start centers would provide preschool instruction, meals, health checkups and other social services starting in August 2013.
The centers would operate out of two shuttered schools — Allendale Elementary in Pasadena and Burbank Elementary in Altadena — as well as the Hodges and Washington children’s centers in Northwest Pasadena, said Kathy Onoye, the district’s director of elementary education.