HEAD START AIDES, CLASSROOMS CUT DUE TO ENROLLMENT

Fewer children will attend the Cape Girardeau Head Start program next year because of poor recruiting results.

The federally funded educational program, housed at the East Missouri Action Agency, 1111 Linden, will serve just 60 children in the fall, down from 72 the previous year.

At least two classroom aides have been laid off because of the lowered participation, and one of the program's four classrooms will be shut down.

Renee Killian, director of Head Start programs throughout EMAA's eight-county service area, said the reductions are being made because not enough eligible children were registered before an early May deadline.

"It's everyone's responsibility in Head Start centers to recruit," Killian said. "When you lose children, you have to lose staff. It's logical."

This isn't the local program's first brush with poor recruiting results. Last summer, EMAA shut down an early Head Start program operated by Greater Dimensions Ministries after two years of operating in the red and massive enrollment declines from about 18 children to about three daily.

Aleisha Harris, whose 5-year-old son attends Head Start, said she sees little evidence of recruitment by the staff. She said more needs to be done to inform parents about the benefits of the program.

"For parents like us who work, it helps a lot because day care is so expensive," Harris said.

Leola Twiggs, site supervisor for the local program, could not be reached Tuesday afternoon for comment.

Head Start provides health, nutritional, social and educational services to 3- to 5-year-olds for nine months each year. The program targets children from low-income homes, but some families who don't meet income requirements also may participate.

The program requires local centers to maintain waiting lists of eligible students throughout the year. When the number of enrollment and waiting list registrants falls below the previous year, staff and classroom space are cut, Killian said.

"We have to give parents plenty of notification, which is why we do this so early," she said. "A couple of years ago, we closed the whole center down in Bollinger County because of lack of eligible applicants in that area."

The local program could regain classroom space and staff with successful recruitment over the next year. In the meantime, parents seeking to enroll their children will be put on a waiting list and enter the program as space allows.

Said Killian, "We're here to meet the needs of the counties and families, and that's all based on eligible classrooms at the time we make site selections."