Head Start closing prompts discussion at Monday meeting
The Aurora School Board agreed Monday to authorize the job posting for a new preschool teaching position in response to last month’s announcement that the Head Start program in Aurora will be closing at the end of the school year.
Supt. Jody Phillips explained that he views the development as a critical issue for the community, citing already limited options for young families seeking pre-school programming.
“If you haven’t heard, CENCAP (Central Nebraska Community Action Partnership based in Loup City) which is the entity that runs the Hamilton County Head Start program, made a decision to close the Head Start program here in Aurora,” he began. “So with that you have roughly 18 kids who were enrolled or are set to be enrolled in a placement for next year for early childhood services. We already have a little bit of a shortage with early childhood so the number of opportunities is dwindling for those students that are ages 3 to 5.”
According to Head Start officials interviewed shortly after the April announcement, the decision to close the Aurora facility was based on financial considerations. No other details have been provided.
“We’ve had a little bit over a month to work on this and nothing is finalized but obviously we want to bring it to you,” Phillips told the board. “This is not good for our community, it’s not good for our parents, not good for our families and it’s not good for our kids. Preschool has become a very important program, especially when you talk about kindergarten readiness, so the elimination of this program is a shock to the community.”
Jessica Block, the district’s special education coordinator, reported that Head Start administrators gave her a list of current students and talked briefly about a potential partnership with the school district. She said there has been very little communication on that issue since the announcement.
Asked if the district has the space or staffing capacity to accept some of the former Head Start preschool students, Phillips and Block agreed that the answer is no.
“There is no space within any of our current buildings to put a preschool classroom,” Phillips said.
Two options
Board members began discussing options during Monday’s three-hour meeting, coming to the conclusion that there are two ideas needing more study. One is to find out if the Head Start location, which is the former Assembly of God Church on L Street, is available for lease.
“The first option is there at that building, if they are willing to give us a lease,” he said. “We haven’t heard much from them, but were told they would be selling everything in the building.”
Block noted that leasing the building would also require the district to meet Head Start standards since federal grant money is involved, in addition to the district’s own state-mandated requirements.
The other option is to purchase a modular building now available from the Blue Hill School District. The cost of relocating the building was estimated at $15,000, plus site preparation and purchasing the furniture and supplies necessary.
“I see any action that we take as a long-term commitment, because if we’re going to add a classroom we’re not going to be ever taking it away,” Phillips said. “The only thing temporary about this would be the physical space. I think the conversation goes to what is our long-range plan for early childhood education in our district, and I would say our long-range plan is we need to expand our early childhood programming. I just wasn’t expecting it to be in the month of May this year.”
Pursuing either option would require additional staffing. Based on her initial estimates, Block said the need is there to support another preschool class, including both a morning and afternoon session. Asked about the staffing requirements, she said it could be done with a full-time teacher, with additional support from para-educators.
The board voted unanimously to approve the job posting to seek candidates for the full-time position. That hiring decision would have to made at the next board meeting in June, unless a special board meeting was scheduled.
Board member Brock Wyatt asked Phillips if he had an estimate of what financial impact this decision would have on the district. No estimate is available on leasing the Head Start building since those discussions are still in the preliminary stages, though on the modular facility option Phillips offered a figure of $75,000, which would cover salary, benefits, as well as cost of moving the building and setting it up on district property. The cost of furniture and supplies was not included.
“I do think that’s a critical component to this,” Wyatt said of the funding question. “I do think there’s a short-term solution and a long-term solution, but they are separate from each other. I think funding is a component of that long-term solution and I’ve seen what this community can do when their backs are against the wall with the buildings that have been put up and purchased in the last couple of years.
“The dollars are out there,” Wyatt continued. “I don’t think it’s going to be difficult to find money for the long-term solution, and maybe even for this short-term solution. I’m supportive of doing something here, but I think there’s a longer community conversation that needs to happen of finding community support for a long-term solution so we’re not using modulars and we’re doing this the right way.”
In the meantime, Block said she needs some direction from the board so she is able to better answer questions from parents trying to make plans for their preschool children this fall.
“I haven’t let any of my repeat families know when they’re coming because that all determines if I’m going to add more students, and that looks very different,” she said. “What I’m telling them now is I’m working on it. As you can assume a parent of a young child doesn’t know what’s going to happen and I don’t know where they are going to go if every other preschool in town is full.”
The board discussed that message briefly before voting to authorize the posting of the new position.
“I think the message can be we’re going to have a solution for next year,” said board member Chad Svoboda. “We just don’t know exactly what that looks like right now for your schedule in August. I think that’s the message, because we’re going to do something.”