Head Start gave parents like me a seat at the table. We cannot give that seat away.

By Samuel L. Radford III

Chairperson, National Parents Union

When I hear people talk about Head Start, I don’t just think about an early childhood program. I think about where my journey as a parent leader began.

More than 35 years ago, I was a young father dropping my children off at St. Adalbert’s Head Start in Buffalo, part of the Community Action Organization’s Head Start program. One day, Geraldine Artis, our Family Partner, stopped me and said, “We need you to be involved in your children’s education.”

I asked, “How?”

She invited me to a parent organization meeting.

I went.

That invitation changed my life.

I eventually became President of the Parent Organization at St. Adalbert’s and later President of the Policy Council for CAO’s Head Start program. I was sent to trainings and began to understand something I had never understood before: parents could have real power in the institutions serving their children.

Head Start didn’t just invite parents to meetings. It gave us a formal role in governance. Federal law requires parents of currently enrolled children to make up the majority of the Policy Council, and those parent representatives are elected by other Head Start parents. Head Start’s parent committees are made up entirely of parents of currently enrolled children. Through the Policy Council, parents have a formal leadership and policymaking role where they can influence spending, programming, and community partnerships.

That experience shaped my expectations when my children entered public school.

I had seen what authentic parent partnership looked like, so I wasn’t satisfied with a system where parents were invited in but didn’t have meaningful power.

There is a big difference between parent involvement and parent power. Head Start taught me that difference.

That belief eventually became central to my leadership in Buffalo’s District Parent Coordinating Council. We organized parents, challenged policies, filed complaints, held the district accountable and even organized a parent-led school boycott. Our advocacy resulted in state intervention and millions of dollars being withheld over parent complaints. A successful complaint ultimately resulted in three underperforming schools being closed and five new schools being launched.

That journey eventually took me from a Head Start parent meeting in Buffalo to representing parents on a statewide education task force appointed by Governor Andrew Cuomo and serving on President Obama’s Community Leadership Council on Education.

And it all started because Geraldine Artis, a Head Start Family Partner, stopped a young father dropping off his children and said, “We need you.”

That’s why I’m deeply concerned about the proposed changes to Head Start.

The Administration for Children and Families has proposed dramatically reducing federal Head Start requirements, including eliminating the requirement for parent committees and eliminating the family partnership process.

For me, that last part is especially personal. It was a Family Partner who reached out to me and opened the door to parent leadership. I know firsthand what can happen when Head Start intentionally builds relationships with families instead of simply providing services to them.

Some people may look at those requirements and see bureaucracy. I see the structure that helped build a parent leader.

There is a big difference between asking parents what they think and actually sharing power with them.

A survey is not shared power.

A suggestion box is not shared power.

An occasional parent meeting is not shared power.

Partnership means parents are at the table when decisions are being made.

There are other serious concerns in these proposed changes, including larger class sizes, fewer required program hours, changes affecting children experiencing homelessness, reduced requirements around developmental screenings, and eliminating federal protections limiting suspensions and expulsions.

But we should not overlook what weakening parent participation could mean.

When you remove the structures that guarantee parent participation, eventually parent voice can become optional too.

And parent voice should never be optional when decisions are being made about our children.

The proposed changes are not final. Families and advocates still have an opportunity to speak up during the public comment process.

I encourage Head Start parents—past and present—to tell your stories. Tell them what Head Start meant to your child. Tell them what parent leadership meant to you. And tell them why these protections matter.

There is another young mother or father dropping their child off at Head Start today who may become tomorrow’s parent leader.

I know, because I was one of them.

Samuel L. Radford III is Chairperson of the National Parents Union and a longtime parent advocate whose leadership journey began more than 35 years ago as a Head Start parent in Buffalo, New York. He went on to lead Buffalo’s District Parent Coordinating Council and has spent decades organizing families and advocating for educational equity and authentic parent power. Radford has represented parents on New York State education initiatives and participated in national education leadership efforts during the Obama administration. He is also co-convener of the Western New York Education Equity Task Force and host of We The Parents on WUFO Radio. Samuel is part of NPU’s Parent Power Collective.