Yvette Sanchez Fuentes announced she is stepping down as director of the Office of Head Start (OHS) after four years at the helm, during which she oversaw sweeping reforms to improve the quality of education for the nation’s low-income preschoolers.
Sanchez Fuentes’ resignation is effective Nov. 22. No replacement has been named at this report.
Mark Greenberg, the acting assistant secretary for Administration of Children and Families, said Sanchez Fuentes and her staff designed the reforms of how Head Start agencies must compete for funding based on the quality of their programs, which includes transportation service to and from centers, “to ensure that every child and family who walks through a Head Start door receives the quality early experiences they deserve, in a safe, enriching, and empowering environment.”
“As President Obama said, ‘Children that have the chance to go to the best Head Start programs have an experience that can literally change their lives for years to come.’ Over the past four years, Yvette and her team worked tirelessly to make sure that every Head Start child gets that chance. All the while, they made sure Head Start families were front and center in their children’s early education, serving as true partners,” Greenberg added in a written statement Friday to ACF staff.
“Her legacy will be the continuous quality improvement of Head Start programs across this country for years to come and the benefits children and families will reap because of it.”
Greenberg recounted that, on the day President Obama announced Head Start’s historic reforms, Sanchez Fuentes had to miss her son Alejandro’s birthday. President Obama signed his birthday card on Air Force One.
“Thanks to Yvette’s vision, hard work and sacrifices, the Head Start families of America are better off. Please join me in wishing her well in her future endeavors,” Greenberg concluded.
During her tenure, Sanchez Fuentes also navigated and implemented the 2007 Reauthorization of Head Start, noted Yasmina Vinci, executive director of the National Head Start Association, which works closely with OHS. Sanchez Fuentes was also instrumental in crafting President Obama’s proposal earlier this year for increasing preschool and early education enrollment.
“She and her team have been diligent in their responsibility to our nation’s poorest children and have fortified the 50-year commitment to providing a window of opportunity to our nation’s most vulnerable children,” Vinci added. “On a personal note, Yvette has been a wonderful colleague, and I will greatly miss her partnership and friendship. We all appreciate her service to our country, and our children, and wish her the best as she moves on to her newest challenges.”
Sanchez Fuentes, a former Head Start teacher, was named OHS director in October 2009. She is the former executive director of the National Migrant and Seasonal Head Start Association.
