Angela Hayes gives the welcome to the City of Chattanooga Office of Early Learning’s Seats for Success program at the Bessie Smith Cultural Center on Wednesday, April 3, 2019 in Chattanooga, Tenn.Every year, about 3,800 children start kindergarten in Hamilton County Schools – but only about 42 percent of those children are prepared for success in kindergarten, Angela Hayes of the city of Chattanooga’s Office of Early Learning told a crowd at the Bessie Smith Cultural Center Wednesday night.
But in the past year, since Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke set the goal to add 1,000 high-quality early learning seats to the school system at his 2018 State of the City address, childcare facilities, educators and community partners have been working to change that.
“What happens when you start any journey under-prepared?” Hayes said. “You aren’t set up for success. It is so important that we not only understand, but we also share with our neighbors and our friends, the importance of these seats. These are super seats.”
Staff photo by C.B. Schmelter /
Three-year-old Aubrey Scott-Jackson, center, excitedly sings the alphabet song with fellow Head Start children during the City of Chattanooga Office of Early Learning’s Seats for Success program at the Bessie Smith Cultural Center on Wednesday, April 3, 2019 in Chattanooga, Tenn.The Office of Early Learning celebrated almost reaching that goal Wednesday, just a year since Berke set it. It the past 12 months, the 365 high-quality seats have been added at several facilities and another 600 seat commitments were announced.
“We know a lot of kids start out at school behind,” Berke said. “It’s hard to win a 200-yard race if you start out behind. Education is a moral responsibility we have to our kids. It’s the right thing to do.”