Pasadena Unified looks to take over troubled Head Start centers

Looking to stabilize preschool programs that slipped into chaos in the fall, the Pasadena Unified School District is proposing to take charge of area Head Start programs next year.

District officials are seeking a $10.7 million annual grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to serve about 1,100 low-income children from Pasadena, Altadena, Sierra Madre and South Pasadena.The PUSD-run Head Start centers would provide preschool instruction, meals, health checkups and other social services starting in August 2013.

The centers would operate out of two shuttered schools — Allendale Elementary in Pasadena and Burbank Elementary in Altadena — as well as the Hodges and Washington children’s centers in Northwest Pasadena, said Kathy Onoye, the district’s director of elementary education.

Federal officials are seeking new Head Start providers after the nonprofit group running 10 centers in Pasadena, Altadena and Glendale surprised parents in October by abruptly quitting its contract. Some locations went dark for weeks until reopening under a temporary operator, leaving many parents scrambling for childcare options.

The Center for Community and Family Services, which had received $12 million each year for its Head Start programs, was targeted for audit after the group appeared to develop a $5.1 million deficit, according to federal officials.

Pasadena schools officials are not seeking to run Glendale Head Start centers or Pasadena-area Early Head Start programs for infants and pregnant women, but federal officials are also taking offers for those contracts.

It is unclear whether the PUSD would continue to lease Head Start centers that are currently operating, but many would likely move to district-owned property.

Head Start contracts require operators to cover 20% of their program’s total cost, and the district would meet that requirement through use of its own facilities, said Supt. Jon Gundry.

School board members voted unanimously on Tuesday to support submission of a Head Start proposal.

Board President Renatta Cooper, an early childhood education specialist, said running Head Start would help the district accelerate achievement among English learners and special education students before they arrive at public schools.

“Kindergarten has become the new first grade. It’s possible to have kids for two years before they get to kindergarten, and that’s time to get them socially proficient in English so that in kindergarten we can focus on academics,” she said. “It also allows us to work developmentally with children with special needs. We need to get them younger … and build partnerships with parents.”

The school district already operates state-funded preschool classes and recently partnered with Los Angeles Universal Preschool on a program for autistic children.

Schools leaders began considering adding Head Start to the mix when families locked out after the previous operator’s departure started seeking openings in district-run preschools, said Cooper.

Before he was hired by PUSD, Gundry supervised the largest Head Start program in the country as interim superintendent of the Los Angeles County Office of Education.

At that job, Gundry cancelled two Head Start contracts with nonprofits that ran into financial difficulty. He said school districts are generally considered to be solid Head Start providers.

“Because school districts have very public financial systems, it’s much easier to monitor what school districts are doing,” said Gundry.

Chief Academic Officer Brian McDonald previously helped run a Head Start partnership with Houston public schools.He said Head Start is part of a strategy to close the achievement gap between poor and minority students and their wealthier peers.

“When you talk about some students coming in and starting off behind, Head Start lets us get them caught up,” said McDonald.
-- Joe Piasecki, Times Community News

Twitter: @JoePiasecki