Navajo Head Start director explains resignation

Wednesday, September 5, 2007  

Francis Becenti, the former director of the Navajo Nation's Head Start program, resigned last month after less than a year on the job.

Becenti, 55, said he left because the tribe's school board fired Tommy Lewis as the tribe's first superintendent of schools. He also said he was still considered a temporary employee, without any benefits, and that he wasn't given enough support.

"You just can't work under those conditions on a daily basis," Becenti told the Associated Press.

Becenti was hired to help the tribe restart its troubled Head Start program. The U.S. Administration for Children and Families suspended funding after a review turned up employees with serious criminal records.

The tribe has been able to restore funding. Head Start centers across the reservation began reopening last October.

Get the Story:
Navajo Head Start official quits (AP 9/5)

Relevant Links:
Navajo Nation - http://www.navajo.org
Head Start - http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/hsb

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