Speechless

This week I was speechless. It doesn't happen very often and doesn't last very long, but this week there were just no words I could find to adequately describe the decision and comments made by Frederick County's Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) at Tuesday's work session regarding the relinquishing of the federal Head Start grant. As a result of the commissioner's 4 to 1 vote to relinquish the funding back to the federal government, the Frederick County Head Start program will be turned over to a new federal contractor effective March 1, 2011. Commissioner David Gray was the only vote against it arguing they were making a rash decision.

Here are the facts presented by County employees at the BOCC worksession. Frederick County's Head Start program has operated in the county for nearly 40 years as a federal grantee and is a nationally recognized model. It's a 10 month program now serving 282 three and four year olds who are income qualified based on the federal poverty level. This is a national program that promotes school readiness by enhancing the social and cognitive development of children through the provision of educational, health, nutritional, and social and other services to enrolled children and families. The program employees 80 people and operates with an annual budget of $4,516,442 of which $2,223,451 comes from grant revenue including $2,003,686 from a federal Head Start grant. The county's contribution to run this model program is $2,293,093.

So by cutting this program, the savings to the county are $2.3 million which is the sole purpose for relinquishing the federal grant and all other associated grants.

What leaves me speechless is the decisions they made to relinquish the federal grant with seeming disregard to the impact on the children and families served. As of March 1, 2011, Head Start will be operated by a federal contractor as the interim operator (Community Development Institute Head Start - a Denver-based contractor) for about a year or more until a new contractor and federal grantee is awarded. Eighty county employees will loose their jobs effective February 28, but "hope" to be picked up by this new operator. I guess it's supposed to be comforting that this new operator will hold a "job fair" for these 80 employees slated to loose their jobs at the end of the month. These are not only "county employees", but teachers and advocates dedicated to serving disadvantaged preschoolers and families in Frederick County - including our very own Hope Alive children!

What leaves me speechless is that the BOCC believes the nationally recognized Head Start program won't be significantly impacted by the $2.3 million cut from county funding. With the move back to the federal government, funding will be limited to the $2 million federal grant, but the County Commissioners assured citizens that services for county children and families in the program would continue. The math doesn't work and and no program can sustain that
level of funding cuts and maintain the quality of its program and core services. In a meeting with Head Start parents Thursday night, the new interim operator warned parents that "without the county funding, he is unsure if all the services Head Start provides will be available when it takes over." It's also surprising that Commission Young believes that nonprofits should pick up this program. I guess he's not aware that nonprofits have been struggling to survive for the past three years to sustain critically needed county services that the government doesn't provide.

What also leaves me speechless is that all the preliminary discussion was done behind closed doors. Tuesday's BOCC worksession was the first opportunity for public comment on the proposed cut and parents and teachers only received word the day before that this program was up for final vote at Tuesday's work session. The interim operator is already at work transitioning the program back to the federal government. The cost for the county to relinquish the Head Start program is estimated to be between $650,000 and $695,000 to fund annual leave payout, severance pay, and unemployment insurance.

I'm sure most folks realize this is just not a preschool program, but it ensures every disadvantaged preschooler that's enrolled is prepared for kindergarten and has the best chance at school success. I speak and write often about the needs of very low-income including homeless children - even through this blog - and the great disadvantage they have compared to children from moderate income families. The Head Start program prepares disadvantaged preschoolers in Frederick County for school readiness and is used and needed as a supplement to Hope Alive's child development program to address the unique needs of homeless preschoolers and ensure they have the best start in school and chance for success in life.

And finally, what really left me speechless were the comments made by two of the County Commissioners in response to tearful parents' pleas to preserve county funding and operation of the program. I'll let their comments speak for themselves. I don't even want to reprint them here. I know the Commissioners' comments were not intended to be offensive, but they were. Check it out for yourself on the BOCC work session video at http://frederick.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=5&clip_id=2541, the County press release at http://www.frederickcountymd.gov/documents/Board%20of%20County%20Commissioners/Press%20Releases%202011/February%202011/Head%20Start%20Transition.PDF, and the Gazette articles at http://gazette.net/stories/02092011/frednew175041_32611.php and http://gazette.net/stories/02112011/frednew110429_32547.php. The Frederick News Post articles are also available on their website.

It wasn't long before I found my voice again and I've been talking about it ever since. I'd love to know what you think. Better yet, let the Board of County Commissioners know what you think and let your voice be heard loud and clear! Thanks for reading. Until next week ...

Sue Oehmig
Founder and Executive Director