Head Start, Taypayer-funded Child Care for a Select Few

Frederick County, Maryland, Commissioners Relinquish Local Head Start Grip; Costs Drive Vote to Send Program into Federal Hands

There are about 80 employees in Frederick County's Head Start program. Total appropriation (federal and local) was $4.4 million; of that amount, $3.9 million went for salaries and benefits. That averages to $48,750 per employee.

February 9, 2011

Frederick News-Post - The Frederick County Board of County Commissioners voted 4-1 Tuesday to turn over control of the county's $4.4-million Head Start program to the federal government, effective March 1.

Commissioner David Gray voted against the motion. His own motion — to delay the commissioners' vote until after the intended federal contractor could make a public presentation — failed for lack of a second.

"We're doing this completely blind," Gray said.

Tearful parents and teachers objected to the move, saying the program cannot be as good if a federal contractor takes over.

Margaret Nusbaum, director of the Citizens Services Division, said the contractor has already met with staff and Head Start teachers about the transition.

Community Development Institute, which will take over the grant-funded program March 1, has been involved in 130 Head Start programs for more than 10 years, Nusbaum said.

Gray, parents, Head Start teachers and others told commissioners that if the contractor uses only the $2 million federal grant to run the program, and does not have the $2.3 million that the county has put in, the program will suffer.

Opponents of the commissioners' decision also said Tuesday's meeting would have been attended by more than 11 supporters if the commissioners had announced the agenda more than 17 hours in advance and had held the meeting in the evening instead of at 8:30 a.m.

"Cloak-and-dagger" is how Head Start teacher Amy Dapsauski described the board's preparation. "Where was the freedom of speech?" she said.

Commissioners President Blaine Young and commissioners Billy Shreve and Kirby Delauter said after the meeting that the projected $11.8 million general fund budget deficit forces them to take immediate action and cut all possible expenditures. In this case, because there is a way to keep the program going, they said it is in a better position than other programs, some of which will be cut.

A packed public hearing would not have changed their mind about the cost-effectiveness of this decision, they said.

There are 282 3- and 4-year-olds in the county Head Start program this fiscal year, and it employs approximately 80 people, Nusbaum said. The program prepares at-risk preschoolers for successful performance in kindergarten.

Head Start teachers said the county's program serves as a unique model, held in high regard nationwide.

"Frederick County has always been a shining star ... in the early childhood community," Dapsauski said.

But Young said the program is expensive.

"Spending $16,000 per child is a little excessive," he said. [Editor's Note: This is taxpayer-funded child care for a select few.]

Gray countered that the amount wasn't much different from what Frederick County Public Schools spends.

Shreve countered that it is 22 percent more than the estimated $12,500 spent per student in county public schools.

Parents of Head Start students objected to discussing the cost per pupil instead of outcomes.

"I don't think it's fair you're basing a program on numbers," said Nanci Sacabo. "You're putting a price on my child's education. ... Would you put a price on your own child's education?" she asked Young.

"I do," he said. "It's what I can afford."

Sacabo said such reasoning leaves those who cannot afford an education out of luck.

Commissioners Paul Smith and Delauter urged parents to take a role in their own children's education and for churches, nonprofits and the private sector to get involved. Smith and Delauter said their wives stayed home when their children were young even though it was a financial sacrifice.

Under the proposal the contractor will run the Frederick Head Start program until a new grantee is selected, perhaps within 18 months. Changes to the program might occur, and employees could be paid less.

The contractor will have a job fair exclusively for current Head Start employees. Historically, 90 percent of existing employees have been hired by the contractor, Nusbaum said.

The county agreed to make an annual in-kind contribution of $94,000 -- letting the contractor use current Head Start spaces rent-free. It also agreed to perform building maintenance and facility services until the new grantee is named.

The savings provided to the contractor is possibly enough to fund two Head Start positions, County Manager Barry Stanton said.

County staff estimated costs of the transition at approximately $688,000: paying out annual leave balances, $210,000; severance packages, $178,000; and unemployment compensation costs, $300,000, spread over 2011 and 2012.

County staff have spent months researching Head Start operations elsewhere as part of the goal to find $11.8 million that could be trimmed from the 2012 county budget, Stanton said. He said the decision was not rushed through in the past week.

Frederick County, Maryland, Looks to Hand Over Reins of Head Start to Save $2 Million

February 8, 2011

Frederick News-Post - The County Commissioners want to give control of the Head Start program back to the federal government to reduce annual county costs by $2 million.

Services will not be interrupted if the proposal goes forward, said Commissioners President Blaine Young. The intention is not to eliminate Head Start, which is a federally mandated and grant-funded program, he said.

Head Start provides early education intervention for at-risk preschoolers.

"Head Start will never go away," Young said. "How do you provide the service more efficiently?" is the question.

Young would like to see the program come under the auspices of a nonprofit organization like the Frederick Community Action Agency, which directs other programs for low-income residents.

The national Head Start program is administered by the U.S. Office of Head Start, Administration for Children and Families in the Department of Health and Human Services. Grants are awarded directly to local public agencies, private nonprofit and for-profit organizations.

Young said he and county staff had found no other county in Maryland that operates a Head Start program. All were handled by non-government foundations or nonprofits.

Today, commissioners will consider a proposal to relinquish the county's Head Start grant of about $2.2 million to the federal government. Young said the federal government has identified a contractor to take over Frederick's program starting March 1 if commissioners make the choice.

Young said that contractor is prepared to run the program with the federal grant money alone.

In fiscal 2011, the county contributed about $2 million to Head Start, and the total appropriation was $4.4 million, according to Mike Gastley, county budget officer. Of that amount, $3.9 million went for salaries and benefits, he stated by e-mail.

Young said there are about 80 employees in Frederick's Head Start program. The proposal would not necessarily eliminate their positions.

If the county relinquishes the Head Start program, the Region III Federal Office of Head Start will assign a federal contractor to take over the program's management and continue to do so until a new grantee is secured.

That contractor will work with employees, parents, children and community organizations associated with the program, Young said. An internal job fair would be scheduled to recruit current Head Start staff for positions with the contractor to continue program services.

Once the transition process is implemented, the federal government will begin procedures to rebid the grant for a new provider of Head Start services in Frederick County.

This latest cost-savings proposal is one of four in the past 10 days that involve layoffs, and reduced programs that will shave $3.6 million from the projected fiscal 2012 budget deficit of $11.8 million.

Young said all of the decisions have been made only after the full board has discussed them, although some personnel discussions are done in closed session.

"I did not do anything on my sole (authority)," Young said. "I don't do anything without the consent of the county attorney (John Mathias)."

Commissioners have directed County Manager Barry Stanton to make reductions to the budget, and he has directed department heads to select positions that have been eliminated in the past 10 days, Young said.

Staff decisions have never been subject to public hearings, but programs described in the budget will be after the budget is presented, Young said.

"I am not doing anything different" from previous boards with regard to handling staffing decisions, he said.

Women Outraged Over Frederick Commissioners' Comments

Two advise parents to stay married; women at home to raise their children

February 10, 2011

Frederick Gazette - Women are reacting with outrage over the comments made by two Frederick County commissioners Tuesday advising Head Start mothers to stay married and not hold jobs outside the home.

Commissioners Kirby Delauter (R) and C. Paul Smith (R) said during a meeting that the best way to help their children succeed in life is to stay married and stay home with their children. Both men touted their wives and the sacrifices they made by not holding jobs outside the home.

"I was horribly and incredibly offended," said Emily Woodruff of Brunswick, a married working mother of a 16-month-old daughter. "It was completely backwards to suggest to people that they have to work. They're completely out of touch. I was extremely offended."

Woodruff works as a customer service representative with Mr. Handyman of Metropolitan Washington.

On Tuesday, commissioners voted 4-1 to pull $2.3 million in county funding from the Head Start program as of March 1. Commissioners' President Blaine R. Young (R) and commissioners Delauter, Smith and Billy Shreve (R) voted in favor of pulling the funding. Commissioner David P. Gray (R) was the lone vote against the move, arguing that his colleagues were making a rash decision.

But Gray's colleagues said they will take the county's share — $2.3 million — and put it toward a $12 million projected deficit for the county's projected $440 million fiscal 2012 budget.

The program is designed to serve children ages 3 to 4 in families that fall below the federal poverty line: $22,050 in salary for a family of four. The program serves nearly 280 students annually throughout the county and has existed for 39 years.

Commissioners listened Tuesday as emotionally distraught parents begged them not to pull the county's share of the funding. Delauter and Smith said they understood their concerns, but then proceeded to offer their own advice.

"As many of you know, I had a lot of kids and my wife stayed home at a significant sacrifice in those early years, because she knew she had to be with those kids," said Smith, who is the parent of 12 children. "I know everybody isn't able to survive doing that, but clearly if we can strengthen marriage, we can decrease the number of children we have to reach."

Smith, an attorney, said his comments were fitting since the board had just issued a proclamation earlier that morning supporting the institution of marriage.

"I think it is very significant that we did make this Marriage Week announcement today because that is the best long-term way to help our children," he said.

Smith said on Wednesday he has yet to receive any complaints from angry women, and he stood by his comments. But Smith said he did get a call from Channel 7 in Washington, D.C., asking for interview to explain his comments.

Meanwhile, Delauter, who did not return phone calls today, said Tuesday during the meeting that he agreed with Smith.

"I'd just like to say that I have four kids that graduated from Frederick County Public Schools," he said. "My wife is college educated and could go out and get a very good job. She gave that up for 18 years, so she could stay home with our kids and we gave up a lot to do that. I agree with Commissioner Smith. The marriage thing is very important."

Delauter told the parents that they should not rely on the government to educate their kids.

"I never relied on anyone else to guarantee the education of my kids," he said. "My wife and I are the ultimate decision makers on the education of our kids."

Shreve could not be reached for comment today, but Gray and Young both said they received calls from WTOP radio in Washington, D.C., asking for an opinion.

"He asked me my opinion, and I said that part of the deterioration of our country is the government raising our kids," said Young, who referred to "latch-key kids" who are forced to be home alone while their parents work. "Then there are those parents that don't take responsibility for their kids."

Gray, who was unable to be interviewed on radio, said he thinks Delauter and Smith have no idea how some families struggle to live.

"I think they failed to understand how other people live," Gray said. "One [Delauter] owns a construction company and the other guy [Smith] is a lawyer. I guess they had the means to do it [marry women would could stay home]. There are a lot of people that can't."

Sue Oehmig, executive director of Hope Alive, a shelter in Sabillasville that serves homeless women and their children in Frederick County, reacted with shock when she learned about their comments Wednesday.

"I'm speechless," Oehmig said. "I don't know what to say. It's shocking in this day and age when life is difficult and challenging for so many families. I would like them to say that to the hundreds of single women that call us every year asking for help. I'm embarrassed for Frederick County. We've just been set back 20 years."

Antonette Hoffman, a stay-at-home mom from Brunswick, agreed.

"They [Delauter and Smith] make it sound so easy," she said. "Do they think the parents of children in Head Start work for the government? They seem to forget that some of these women are single mothers."

Hoffman herself was a single mother at one time and remembers when she needed help.

"When I was pregnant with my first child his father left me," she said. "I'm married now and I have a four-month-old baby girl and I stay at home. But I'm truly disgusted by what they said."

Frederick County resident Amber Hagan is equally angry over the comments.

"I cannot believe that we stand here in 2011 and still have situations like this occurring," Hagan said in an e-mail. "...Kids will be just fine if parents stay married? They can't seriously think it is that black and white."

Former City of Frederick Mayor Jennifer Dougherty (D) reacted much the same upon hearing the comments.

"Really? They said that?" she said. "The reality is that people are struggling to make ends meet with two incomes. ... That's why foreclosures are up, that's why short sales are up and that's why homelessness is up."

"What does family and marriage have to do with the economy or creating jobs, which is what they ran on?"

Teresa Cunningham of Jefferson was having lunch with two of her friends at Dougherty's downtown Frederick restaurant, Maggo's Pub & Eatery, when she learned of the comments.

"Oh my God!" Cunningham said. "I am astounded that they would make statements like that. Many families would prefer to have two parents in a family, but that is often not possible."

Cunningham's friends Moira Finefrock of Frederick and Claire Negas of Braddock Heights, agreed.

"How can these representatives be so out of touch with economic conditions of people?" Finefrock said."Taxes should be kept to a minimum so one parent can stay home, but that should be their choice if they want to stay home. ... And why can't it be the man who stays home?" Negas said.

Meanwhile, Head Start teachers and staff are meeting with Mitch Hose, director of the county's Human Resource Department on Thursday to go over the benefits and severance plans that they may be entitled to receive after Feb. 28, their last day of work with the county.

Commissioner Smith, Frederick Commission for Women closer to understanding

February 16, 2011

Frederick News Post - An afternoon with County Commissioner Paul Smith brought the Frederick Commission for Women and him closer to an understanding about women's issues, said Jennifer Charlton-Shuldes, women's commission president.

Charlton-Shuldes said by telephone Tuesday she had a good dialogue with Smith during a radio call-in show Monday on WFMD. She now believes that he and her group better understand each other's point of view.

***For a transcript of the commissioners' comments from the Feb. 8 meeting, click here.***

"Commissioner Smith still believes that marriage is the best long-term way to help our children, and we respect his personal opinion," the women's commission said Tuesday.

Charlton-Shuldes said she respectfully disagrees with Smith's belief that mothers should primarily be the ones who take care of their small children. She said Smith's personal views should not affect his decisions about county policy.

"It's one point of view," Charlton-Shuldes said. "It's not the only point of view."

Charlton-Shuldes said Smith's view discounts the economic impact of single and married mothers who have professional skills, start a business, work outside or inside the home and contribute to the economy.

On Monday, Charlton-Shuldes and women's commission member Amanda Haddaway discussed many family dynamics with Smith.

"We came to the middle on the conversation," Charlton-Shuldes said Tuesday. "In the middle of it, there was a good exchange. ... It was just really great to be with him."

Smith said Tuesday that he also came away from the meeting with a sense that he and the Commission for Women have more in common than they differ on.

His comments during and following a discussion of the Head Start preschool program Feb. 8 insulted many working women, Charlton-Shuldes said. What some women took from Smith's several comments was that he said all women should stay home, that their lives would be right if they just stayed married or just stayed at home, Charlton-Shuldes said.

"The implications ... fired people up," Charlton-Shuldes said.

The Commission for Women, which is appointed by the Board of County Commissioners, said that the most inflammatory statement Smith made was reported during a television broadcast: "The mother's role is primarily in the home."

Smith said Tuesday he is not certain he said it exactly that way, but it is close to what he believes.

"I think the most important work that a father and mother will ever do will be in their own home," Smith said. "That is what I believe. I don't decide for (other) people. One thing I did not say is women have to come home to take care of their children."

His own experience with 12 children and his wife staying home with all of them does not represent the possibilities or preference for every Frederick County family, Charlton-Shuldes said. She was concerned that Smith might not recognize the situations that make marriage impossible, undesirable or dangerous for some women, and of the reality of single mothers, fathers or grandparents who raise young children.

Children live in a variety of circumstances where adults are doing the best that they can, and what works in one family does not in another, she said. What she objects to is the idea that women "should" stay home to take care of their children.

"There are many ways, many family dynamics ... which can have children turn out all right," Charlton-Shuldes said. "We want all women to feel honored to choose what is appropriate for (them)."

None of Smith's comments were meant to criticize single or financially strapped parents, Smith said Tuesday: "They are heroes."

Smith said he has spent half of his 30 years practicing law working with families and single parents facing custody battles, visitation disputes and financial hardship.

"I know of single women in difficult situations. ... I actually have been in the trenches," he said. "I have no desire to pile on these people."

Women are divinely enabled to bear children and nurse them, and it is best if mothers can care for their young children, Smith said, adding he realizes that it is not possible in some families. Single mothers often must work, and there is a role for public or private groups to assist them in those instances, he said.

In two of the cases he is handling now, he said he has significantly reduced his fees for one, and the other is not paying him at all.

The discussion Monday allowed Smith and the Commission for Women to "take the first steps in building a mutual understanding," the commission said.

A candlelight vigil the commission had planned for Thursday will go on, but Charlton-Shuldes said it will not be a protest against Smith's views. The commission said it would "bring together men and women from the community to stand together and recognize that women fulfill many roles in our community."

Charlton-Shuldes said she wants it to "be a stand for the kids ... It's all about the kids."

She invited Smith to join in the vigil and promised it would "not be a barbecue of Commissioner Smith."

He said he would attend if it was not going to be a protest.

Head Start Cutting Pay; Staff Levels Uncertain

February 22, 2011

Frederick News-Post - Preschoolers in Frederick County's Head Start program may not see so many familiar faces in their classrooms starting March 1.

On Friday and Saturday, some of the program's existing 80 employees found out that they could expect 25 to 50 percent less pay and fewer hours if they go to work for Community Development Institute when it takes control of Head Start, a preschool program for 282 local low-income families, from the county next month. On Feb. 8, Frederick County Commissioners voted to turn over control of the program to the federal government and withdraw the county's annual $2.3 million contribution. The institute will run the program for the federal government until a new operator is selected through the federal government's bidding process, commissioners said.

Other grants could be added or offered to the program, but the only predictable annual funding is a $2 million federal grant. Until a new grantee is named, the county will let the institute operate the program from its classrooms rent free, and receive technology support and maintenance service as an in-kind contribution worth $94,000, Commissioners President Blaine Young said.

"County taxpayers are still contributing," Young said.

With half the funds originally budgeted to work with, the institute had little room to maneuver before the job fair Friday, teacher's aide Annie Bolyard said Monday. The institute was doing the best it could to help employees, she said.

"They're not the bad guys," she said. "They were very nice people."

Bolyard, who has worked for Head Start for eight years, and Joyce Farley, a teacher assistant/bus driver for two years, said they will accept unemployment compensation rather than try to live on the reduced income offered. Farley said her pay would have dropped from $14.35 to $8.94 per hour with 10 fewer hours per week, and Bolyard said hers would drop from $14 to $8.98 per hour with five fewer hours per week.

Amy Gaeta, a teacher, has not made up her mind, but said at the job fair only five of the program's total 15 teachers were considering their offers.

Mira Ivanova, a teacher assistant/driver who has worked 10 years for Head Start, said she will stay on. Ivanova, who holds a master's degree in English, said daycare centers consider her overqualified. To keep her Head Start job, she will accept a pay cut that will bring her wages from $19.44 down to $12.12 per hour.

The institute's job fair for current employees showed how funds would be stretched, Bolyard said.

"Everybody was just shocked," Bolyard said.

Health insurance costs would be more than Bolyard makes, she said.

"I just couldn't afford to do it," she said.

"It was very frustrating," Farley said. "I care for those kids deeply. I've bonded with those kids."

"I would love to work with those kids," Bolyard said. "We were more than just a daycare."

"Most child care centers offer more money than this," Farley said.

Ivanova said she is not sure how many of the program's 16 classrooms will be able to function starting March 1.

Parent Daun-Te Dottery said he and his wife work full time and are worried that next year the program will no longer be able to serve their children, 5-year-old Daun-Te or 3-year-old Aria.

"We don't know," Dottery said.

Five-year-old Daun-Te is learning Spanish and sign language, and picking up facts on field trips to museums that he shares at home, his father said.

"It's working for our children," he said. "This is crazy to cut education. We really believe in education."

Dottery and Ivanova said they hope a meeting with the institute Thursday will answer some of their many questions.

The cost to turn over control of the program was estimated at about $688,000: paying out annual leave balances, $210,000; severance packages, $178,000; and unemployment compensation costs, $300,000, spread over 2011 and 2012.