![]() ![]() The school board also approved a salary increase for Head Start instructor Jennifer Zilla at a rate of $175 per day, retroactive to Jan. The other submission was to the 2023-24 Head Start State Supplemental Assistance Program Continuation Grant Application and Budget to the Pennsylvania Department of Education. The board voted to apply for a pair of grants, including the 2023-24 five-year non-competitive Head Start/Early Head Start Grant Application and Training and Technical Assistance Plan from the federal Department of Health and Human Services. In anticipation that Head Start would continue in some form at Farrell, the school board took other actions relating to Head Start programs. The school district also operates a similar K4 program, which promotes school readiness with children aged four before they enter kindergarten, Adams-King said. "We know that you're all people with families," Adams-King said to the Head Start staff.Įven after the partnership between Farrell schools and the CAP ends, Adams-King said she does not expect any changes regarding the opportunity for Farrell children enroll in Mercer County Head Start programs. "It's difficult to be the delegate for a county-wide program," Adams-King said.įarrell school district officials are expected to meet with the leadership of Community Action Partnership, along with both sides' legal counsels, later this week, Adams-King said.Ĭoncerns raised by Head Start staff members will be considered during those discussions, Adams-King said. In particular, Adams-King pointed out how Farrell and the surrounding area has changed since the 1970s, when graduating classes had more than 200 students, compared to today, when the loss of the steel mills resulted in the area's population shrinking - including classes of less than 60 students today. Personnel records and legal negotiations are both exceptions to Pennsylvania's open meetings law - popularly known as the Sunshine Law - and public agencies are not required to disclose information covered under those categories. Lora Adams-King said she wasn't able to answer those questions in depth at the board meeting since the agreement involves personnel and is part of a legal contract with the CAP, but she did explain some of the factors in the board's decision. More than a dozen staff from Mercer County Head Start attended the Farrell school board's meeting Tuesday, hoping to find out what the end of this agreement means for their programs.Ī couple of those individuals present asked the board questions at the beginning of the meeting, including what would happen to the Head Start staff's retirement benefits or the spaces used by Head Start at Farrell schools. The motion was approved with six "yes" votes, one "no" vote from Board Vice President Tiffany Holden and board President Terry Harrison abstaining. 13 to let an agreement between the Community Action Partnership and the district lapse, effective June 30 That partnership between the CAP and Farrell schools will end later this year, following a previous action by the Farrell school board. The Mercer County Head Start program - Early Head Start and Pre-K Counts - works with children throughout the county, offer school-readiness programs to young children and receives a mixture of state and federal funding.Īlthough the programs fall under the Early Childhood Division of the Community Action Partnership of Mercer County, administration of the programs is delegated to the Farrell Area School District. 15-FARRELL - Mercer County Head Start will face some changes next school year, but it's still unknown exactly how the program will look in the future. ![]()
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