Head Start Ending Partnership with LCS

posted 2/2/23 -- Lorain County Community Action Agency and Lorain City Schools will end their partnership to provide Head Start preschool services in LCS buildings at the end of this school year. Partnership between the two organizations in three classrooms at Central Plaza will end Feb. 16.

“Historically, this partnership worked well and has prepared several thousand children for kindergarten since 2008,” said LCCAA Head Start Director Shauna Matelski, Ed.D. “Enrollment in Head Start programs across the country, including LCCAA is still rebounding to pre-pandemic levels and staff turnover has increased.”

Staff turnover strains any early learning program, Matelski said. Head Start grantees and their partners must comply with Head Start’s standards at all times. That includes knowing where Head Start standards exceed state or local standards. Out of necessity, the agency and the district operate on different training calendars, she added.

“Trained and experienced staff have been the backbone of our partnership,” Matelski said. “The growing number of new hires meant more frequent training and increased oversight in the partnership which we just couldn’t sustain.”

“We had amicable discussions with LCS,” added CEO Jackie Boehnlein. “Delivering services has always been a balancing act. We took a realistic look at the increasing demands being placed on our staff. LCCAA and LCS staff have truly stepped up, but the magnitude of the change is huge. However difficult, we served LCS with the regrettable news our changes to programming will not include LCS classrooms next year.”

The LCCAA and LCS partnership expanded through the years and presently includes preschool classrooms in 11 LCS buildings. LCCAA employs 16 classroom and family service staff who work in the 11 buildings. LCCAA has informed those staff that they will be assigned in LCCAA’s directly operated centers next school year.

A new, separate classroom arrangement at LCCAA’s newly-opened Central Plaza location will end February 16 at LCS’ request. Those classrooms have only been serving children since October.

Central Plaza’s classrooms are not closing. Families who wish to remain in Central Plaza classrooms after February 16 will be accommodated and children will be taught by staff directly employed by LCCAA, Matelski said. LCS is making arrangements for those who wish to remain with their LCS employed teacher or in an LCS classroom.

The partnership at LCS elementary buildings will end July 31. LCCAA and LCS are working collaboratively to avoid disruptions to children’s learning.

Ties between the agency and the school district are expected to remain strong. The agency’s Disabilities Manager works directly with the district’s disabilities teams to serve children with disabilities or delays. Approximately 30 of LCCAA’s Head Start children are placed on individual education plans by LCS staff each year. This year, that number increased to 46 children as of January. Disabilities staff are monitoring the increase and making appropriate plans to serve more children if the increase continues. LCCAA is also a partner in Rising Titans, a collaborative initiative of United Way focusing on preschool parent engagement with LCS.

“We all want and need young children school ready so they can thrive in kindergarten and beyond,” Matelski said. “That idea created the Head Start program back in 1966. The importance of early learning has only become clearer in these changing and difficult times.”