Local Head Start program celebrates new expansion

TOME — It was a cloudy, chilly morning, one better suited for staying inside, but the youngsters at the Tomé-Adelino Head Start were outside, quietly lined up to watch the flag raising over their new building on campus.

Members of the Los Lunas High School Army JROTC raised the U.S. and New Mexico flags on the morning of Thursday, Jan. 8, “christening” the flag pole in front of the new classroom building.

After several years of saving, the project broke ground in 2022 and finished late in 2025.

James Shiplet, CEO of Mid-West New Mexico Community Action Program, the nonprofit which administers the Head Start program in Valencia, Socorro, McKinley, Cibola and Catron counties, said due to the high groundwater level in the area, there was some delay since the building had to be raised several feet.

“To get the proper compaction, they had to raise the building and bring in a lot of fill dirt, so that delayed it a little bit,” Shiplet said.

Now complete, the new building has nine classrooms — five Head Start classrooms, serving 62 children and four early Head Start classrooms, serving up to 32 infants and toddlers.

Shiplet said since 2022, NWNMCAP has significantly expanded its Head Start and Early Head Start services. In 2022, the agency operated four Head Start classrooms, serving 62 children and three early Head Start classrooms, serving 24 infants and toddlers.

This growth reflects increased community need, strategic planning and strong program management, he said.

The old Adelino school is still a part of the campus, with plans to use it for administrative office space, the CEO said.

In addition to the campus on N.M. 47 in Tomé, NWNMCAP has Head Start sites in Meadow Lake and at Gil Sanchez and La Merced elementary schools.

Head Start is a federally-funded early childhood program that focuses on school readiness, health and developmental screenings, nutrition services and family engagement and support. Services are provided at no cost to families, with parents treated as partners in their child’s education.

“We bring money from the federal government into the community and when we did the expansion, positions opened for staff,” Shiplet said. “We have teachers and axillary staff. We do have some Head Start slots open, so we encourage anyone who’s age-appropriate or has any questions to give us a call.”

Early Head Start serves children 6 months to 3 years old, and those classrooms are full at this time, while Head Start takes 3 years old to kindergarten age, usually just shy of 6 years old.

“If we have somebody who turns 6 mid-year, they can still qualify for Head Start. It’s based on school age,” he said.

With the expansion of universal child care in New Mexico, Shiplet said the Head Start programs have seen less demand, but the program does stand apart in that it is curriculum based.

“We’re not child care. We have a curriculum we have to adhere to. Our funding sources require that,” he said. “It’s very age-appropriate. It’s learning through play. We like to have family involvement, the parents as a partner in the education of their children.”

The Head Start and EHS programs do prioritize families and children living below the poverty line, but there are enrollment slots available for those who exceed that income level.

“This is for the neediest of the need first, but once we get those filled everyone is welcome as long as they’re withing the age guidelines,” Shiplet said.

Children are provided breakfast, snacks and lunch, “all of which meet or exceed the nutritional guidelines and we like to exceed them. We do a little more. We are getting back to making everything from scratch. We got away from that during COVID, but it makes everything we serve a lot more wholesome and nutritious and it just tastes really good.”

The program also has regular health screeners at sites, making sure children have a “medical home,” a “dental home,” and receive basic hearing and vision screenings.

The whole purpose of Head Start is to make sure children are kindergarten ready, Shiplet said.

“Most most kindergarten teachers know what Head Start is because the kids that came from here, they see ‘Oh, that was a Head Start kid. They know how to stand in line. They know how to write, numbers, their words,’” he said. “Their vocabularies so much more enhanced, right? It’s giving them a head start.”

For more information about the Head Start program, visit ourkidzrock.com, or call 505-864-6700 for information about the Valencia County programs specifically.