The proposal to merge the Head Start programs with the Natchez-Adams public school district holds merit.

Public details on the proposal are sketchy — although we suspect both school district and local Head Start officials have more details in hand than they’ve chosen to share with the public.

But, the gist is that some 250 students in the AJFC Head Start program would attend classes and activities at at least two of three sites in the county: most likely Morgantown School and West Primary School, to start.

These youngsters — enrolled in the Head Start 4-year-old program — would continue to benefit from Head Start services while receiving the added benefit of being introduced to the public school environment. Ideally, as Superintendent Dr. Carl Davis pointed out, the sooner the public school system can begin working with the youngsters, the better chance educators have at providing a first-rate, valuable education.

And the proposal serves more practical purposes, too. Thompson School, which houses the Head Start program, suffers from on-going roofing and other structural problems. These problems are so compounded that the Head Start program’s state health department license has been restricted, until the structural deficiencies are ultimately resolved.

Neither Adams County — which owns the property – nor the AJFC Head Start program which leases it, are prepared to pay the thousands of dollars necessary to really fix the structural problems.

And so we have the opportunity to make a change for the better. The Head Start program, which is federally funded, is designed to boost early education efforts to at-risk and low income children. What better way to boost those youngsters’ odds by integrating that program into the public schools’ proven academic program?

Leaders at both AJFC’s table and the school district’s need to make a commitment to make this much-needed change happen — for the sake of our children.