Photograph: St. Landry School Board members Timmakah Hardy and Raymond Cashmere discuss Head Start program. (Photograph by Bobby Ardoin.)
BOBBY ARDOIN
Editor/Contributing Writer
St. Landry Parish school officials are appealing to federal and state lawmakers for assistance in order to help the District retain operational control of a parish wide Head Start program that has been awarded to another agency.
There is not much time remaining to launch any collective lobbying effort on behalf of the District, since the Office of Head Start has already designated Save The Children Head Start as the new five-year St. Landry grant recipient effective June 30..
School Board members discussed the matter on Monday night following a special meeting that named McGlinchey Stafford as the legal counsel for the District.
McGlinchey Stafford replaces the Hammonds & Sills law firm which had provided legal representation for the District since 2014.
During a presentation by parish Head Start executive director June Inhern, board members discussed the apparent loss of the Head Start program which currently educates 788 pre-school students annually and employs 160 workers.
Board members passed a resolution which asks U.S. Representatives Mike Johnson and Clay Higgins to appeal to the Office of Head Start to reconsider the decision that transfers the $8 million annual program to Save The Children Head Start.
Head Start Program Transfer
Inhern told board members last month that the St. Landry Head Start program had been under review by the Office of Head Start due to several previous student-employee-related incidents which were reported to officials that oversee the program.
However Inhern also noted that the District-operated Head Start program had recently received high student test scores and no deficiencies were reported when the program was monitored recently.
“Our scores have greatly improved over the last four years and the District received highly proficient scores on the observations and student testing,” Inhern told board members.
Inheren said that she has already contacted representatives for Mike Johnson.
Superintendent Milton Batiste III said that the Office of Head Start has two violations on record in connection with St. Landry Head Start.
“One of them occurred while I was here (as transportation supervisor) The other had to do with something not being done according to policy,” Batiste said.
Board member Raymond Cassimere questioned why the District hadn’t been apprised about the potential loss of the Head Start grant.
“We had no sign of us losing this program. I know I had no knowledge of what we hadn’t done in order to keep it. We had knowledge that something was even going on about it,” Cassimere said.
Inherent pointed out that the five-year awarding of the program became competitive due to the parish infractions that had occurred during the five years the pariah had the program.
What Lies Ahead
Inhern told board members that Save The Children Head Start will require employees previously hired by St. Landry to reapply for their positions.
Also Save The Children Head Start will acquire all the equipment and inventory that had been purchased by St. Landry over the past five years, if those items were purchased with Office of Head Start funding.
Save The Children Head Start is expected to address the School Board at a future meeting, Inheren said, and additionally provide informational meetings with parents whose children are eligible for the program this year.
Louisiana parishes which have Head Start centers operated by Save The Children Heart Start include Jeff Davis, Evangeline, Red River, DeSoto and Natchitoches parishes, according to a St. Landry Parish School Board press release.
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