Photograph: June Inhern, Supervisor of the early childhood program for the District addresses the School Board members.
BOBBY ARDOIN
Editor/Consulting Writer
Now that losing a parish-wide Head Start program has become a reality for St. Landry Parish School District officials, there is apparently an additional concern with securing funding to educate a large number of preschool students.
The issue of providing services for more than 200 four-year-old children that District educators think will no longer receive services concerns parish public school educators at the start of this school year.
June Inhern, supervisor of the early childhood program for the District, told school board members during an Academic Committee meeting last week that Save The Children, which on June 30 became the new grant recipient of the St. Landry Head Start program will focus primarily on educational services for children that are three-years-old and younger.
Save The Children does not plan to totally abandon services for four-year-olds, but their chief concern, Inhern said, are younger children.
The Save The Children agency which operates Head Start centers in four other Louisiana parishes including Evangeline, did not have a representative to provide additional comment at the Committee meeting.
Inhern said the problem for the parish now is how to fund and educate four-year-old students that will not be served under the new parish Head Start program.
“What will happen to our four-year-olds is a concern. The four-year-old pre-K program is important since it allows them to get services in other to take that next step,” Inhern told the Committee.
Inhern also pointed out that a program the District established for prospective teenage mothers who are still in high school is also being dropped as Save The Children assumes control of Head Start during the next five years.
Superintendent Milton Batiste III and Inhern each pointed out that school districts do not receive state funding for providing pre-school education.
That means, Inhern noted, that the District will be limited in the amount of services provided for four-year-old children.
“The number of seats (in four-year-old classes) will be limited,” Inhern said.
Inhern said the District is seeking a number of financial options in order to increase services for four-year-olds, such as grant funding.
There is a possibility, Inhern said, that the United Way agency might be able to secure a grant program to fund pre-k students.
Other Transitional Matters
Inhern told the Committee that under the Save The Children program, educational instruction is expected to be reduced by 1 ½ hours daily.
The Save The Children educational model also does not provide the rigorous educational requirements that were required under the direction of the School District.
A decreased number of children served by Save The Children will be reflected in the number of employees hired, said Inhern.
Inhern said previously during an interview that about 160 employees had been hired when the District was the grant recipient during the past five years. Each of those employees are scheduled to undergo a reapplication process, said Inhern.
What’s Being Lost?
In 2022-23, Inhern said the District educated 788 Head Start students who were taught from 8 a.m. until 3 p.m.
Spring classroom observations by officials with the Head Start program, indicated that St. Landry Head Start students scored 70 percent or higher in their literacy, math and language skills.
“We are working hard and tirelessly to improve. We sent a letter to Head Start which lists all that we have accomplished. I think we have done a phenomenal job. We love what we do and we are seeing the progress because we are very passionate,” Inhern told the Committee.
