It was a tale of two playing fields — one literal and the other figurative — for the Monongalia County Board of Education Tuesday night.
The figurative telling came during a progress report delivered by Debbie Jones, who directs early childhood programs for Head Start and early Head Start for Mon’s school district.
Both are federally funded programs with an aim to promote school readiness and healthy development — that figurative leveling of the field.
In a county known for its relative prosperity compared to the rest of the Mountain State, Jones oversees the effort for Mon’s sometimes overlooked low-income families.
Head Start and its ancillary programs promote school readiness and healthy lifestyles for children up to age 4 who come from such households.
Head Start has been familiar to West Virginians since 1965.
That was when President Lyndon Johnson launched it during his War of Poverty in the country.
“Country,” in this case mainly meaning Appalachia and a Mountain State mired in middle of both the geographic and economy straits of it all.
BOE member Nancy Walker praised the work of Head Start’s “family resource specialists” who fan out across Mon for wellness visits.
Poverty can be generational, Walker said.
That’s why specialists here often see more than one child in the same family.
Bonds are forged, she said, and the positive that comes with them eclipse any federal paperwork.
“It really is all-encompassing,” Walker said.
Those resource specialists, Jones said, are de facto first-responders or social workers, carrying Head Start’s Day One mission of 53 years ago.
Because they get to know the families, the director said, they can chart the milestones that are being marked — or missed.
“Are children having those wellness checkups? Are they getting those immunizations?”
Jones said the specific one-on-one time with parents or other caregivers also bridge mountains, making the work of talking to a teacher or a principal less intimidating.
“A lot of our families started out having bad experiences in school,” she said.
The literal telling of the playing field tale came when BOE awarded a contract to replace the artificial turf in University High School’s Mylan Pharmaceuticals Stadium.
Field Turf submitted the winning bid of $494,583.61 for the project.
The Canadian company supplied the original turf when the school moved to its new campus on Bakers Ridge in 2008.
Mon Schools Superintendent Eddie Campbell Jr. said the money will come from the school levy’s line item for athletic facility maintenance.
The turf at Morgantown High’s Pony Lewis Field is scheduled for replacement next year, he said.
Field Turf’s Pittsburgh plant will set the “Classic HD 2.5 Inch” weave after University’s football season.
“So it’ll be down in time for spring sports,” the superintendent said.
In other matters, board member Mike Kelly announced VH1, the cable TV entertainment network is down with the arts in Mon County Schools.
The network will present two $35,000 grants from its “Save the Music” initiative to Westwood Middle School and Clay-Battelle High School on Thursday morning, Kelly said.
Both schools will use the money to buy marching band instruments, he said.
Tweet @DominionPostWV. Email jbissett@dominionpost.com.
