Avia Collinder, Gleaner Writer

Jerome King was a diretcor of the Head Start Programme in New York for eight years.

Jerome King, named for the son her parents never had, is grateful to them for the energy and values which they transmitted to her and her two sisters in their upbringing.

Raised in the heart of Kingston by the business people, she recalls, "My parents were very spiritual people together. They grew us up in church and taught us to love and be humble." These attitudes proved to be the best that her parents could do.

It is Jerome King's skill in human relations which has permitted her to succeed and soar where others would have stumbled.

King has been an educator for more than 25 years, reaping early success as a specialist in early childhood education in New York, where she spent over 13 years and held positions as one of the first black woman and Jamaican to be director of the Head Start Programme.

The Head Start Programme catered to inner-city and economically disadvantaged children in the municipality.

former principal

King is also the former principal of Priory Preparatory who lobbied for, and succeeded in introducing programmes for disabled children to be enrolled.

At Belair Prep, where she is now a vice-principal, her colleagues believe that this woman is the cat's pyjamas, and called Outlook to propose that she be profiled so others could get to know her.

Apple-cheeked with youth and enthusiasm, Jerome King left Jamaica in 1984 to pursue training in early childhood education which she loved, but for which there was no training programme in Jamaica.

The graduate of Shortwood Teachers' College arrived at North Eastern University in Boston, Massachusetts, where, after what she describes as "four wonderful years" learning, she moved to New York to begin working.

Jerome King was in the right place at the right time.

The Head Start Programme in New York of the late'80s was the flagship programme in early childhood education.

"In the '80s, the importance of early childhood training was just being promoted. Head Start was the baby programme of the federal government with lots of funding," Ms King recalls.

She started out as a classroom teacher, but not for long.

An enthusiastic and creative participant in the teaching process, King was soon spotted by the head of the Head Start Programme who thought she had the potential to be an administrator.

Jerome was sent for training as an education coordinator and was effectively groomed to step into the role of programme director.

When the young educator became the director of the Head Start Programme a few years later, she was the only black director in Westchester county.

"They had to get used to the fact that a Jamaican could lead," King recalls.

Eventually, they did, according respect to the administrator for her difference and her ideas.

Jerome King remained director of Head Start for eight years during which, she states, she experienced "a lot of personal and professional growth".

student life in Jamaica

But, in 1997 she decided to return to Jamaica for the sake of her three sons whom she wanted, she says, to experience student life in Jamaica and "to see people of colour in different positions which they themselves could aspire to".

She had also been infected with homesickness for Jamaica. She loved, she says, "the creativity and intelligence of the people, architecture, the smells, the sea".

She also had the idea, she says, that she could share some of what she had learned.

In Jamaica, however, she was to discover that she was "before her time".

"The system was not as advanced and the people were not ready," she says about her early efforts to get into early childhood training.

Early attempts to introduce a training programme for early childhood educators "above the level of babysitters", therefore, failed.

Later, she was able to make a contribution through HEART, the National Training Agency, helping to create their certificate programme in early childhood education, and also began her own company, Early Childhood Training Solutions, in the year 2000 by putting on workshops for personal and career development.

But first, Jerome King worked in public relations with CARA Limited in Kingston and the Sports Development Foundation.

Meanwhile, the trainer was challenged to provide an education for her youngest child, Lewis, who was autistic.

Jerome King decided to go back to education to help her son and other children with special needs.

special needs unit

She accepted the post of principal at Priory Preparatory School in St Andrew and helped to develop a special-needs unit, which her son became a part of.

It was an integrating effort which saw those with special needs included in normal classroom routines with other students.

"A few parents resisted but most parents were supportive. The teachers also signed on. Children moved on with an understanding of how to live with other children who were different."

Jerome King left Priory in 2003 to place her sons in high school abroad where, she says, they would find an easier path into college.

On her return to Jamaica, she worked with the Organisation of American States (OAS) to develop a special-needs programme, based on South Camp Road in Kingston, which catered to students who were mostly autistic, and including teens and adults as well.

But, funding ran out, and Jerome King made to the move to the Belair group of schools, where she currently works as a vice-principal in charge of the preparatory school and early childhood centre.

At the preparatory school, she says, the educator uses the abilities and strengths of every one for the strengthening of the organisation. "We have to lean on each other," Jerome explains.

Her leadership in this school has been marked by out-of-the-box thinking and the involvement of everyone in the process of development and change.

Since her return to Jamaica, Jerome King has also completed the children's book, A Father for Friday, which communicates to children the knowledge that the father in their lives are those who fill that role.

King is also author of Big Yard, another reader which is on the Ministry of Education literacy programme list.

Big Yard is a book about a dog born into a large litter in a big yard, where he is treated badly. Eventually, however, he is adopted into a family which thinks he is beautiful and treats him as such.

"The books teaches children that even if they are from unpleasant backgrounds, they can survive in the world. It is a story looking at people who are different in a positive way.

"I am really passionate about children living happy lives," King explains, adding, "it is not happening now."

Although she was not able to contribute to early childhood education in Jamaica in the way that she envisioned, she does not regret her return to the island.

sports enthusiast

The educator is a sports enthusiast who loves to play tennis, to write, dance, interior decorating and loves to 'help people', especially the young.

"Hats off to all the children of the world," she cheers.

"The importance of helping people and loving people is one of my priorities in life."