School board withdraws Head Start application

The Ouachita Parish School Board has formally withdrawn its application to operate the Head Start program which has been operated by the Ouachita Multi-Purpose Community Action Program for 50 years.

OMCAP missed the application deadline by an hour last month and the School Board was the only other applicant.

"When we wrote our original grant, we wrote the grant to focus in on Ouachita Parish-zoned 3- and 4-year-olds," Superintendent Don Coker said. "Head Start encompasses not only Ouachita Parish but Monroe City and everybody in the whole district.

"We were trying to focus in on our kids," he said. "We were looking for start-up money to be able to put into a school that has been vacated. It's the old Ransom School. That way we would close the Linderman site and close the Ransom school. That's what our grant was written on."

The program consists of five locations and serves about 700 students.

Coker said the plans just didn't match.

"Head Start currently is educating around 700," he said. "Ours would have been around 430. They weren't able to give us start up money to put into the Ransom school, which means that we would have still had the same facility.

"That got to be where we could not go any farther in the negotiation process," he said. "At this particular time, we felt like it was in our best interest to withdraw our application. They understood where our concerns are.

"I'm not sure what area or direction they would go next. I would assume they would put the bid out once again at let people apply."

Monroe Mayor Jamie Mayo, who serves on the board of directors for OMCAP, raised concerns about the School Board's proposal at a news conference last month.

"Of course, the Ouachita Parish School Board has a tremendous reputation in the state of Louisiana. However, we have some problems with some items on their proposal," Mayo said on June 8. "In their proposal, they'll be going from 771 preschool students, which is currently what OMCAP is supporting now, and subtracting about 218 students. Then they're going from five sites to about three sites."

Ibra January, executive director of OMCAP, did not immediately return a phone message left by The News-Star.

Coker said the School Board would be more than willing to work with whoever is chosen to operate the program to make sure the students and properly prepared.

"We are at peace with (the decision to withdraw)," he said. "The whole goal was that when kids come out of pre-K, that they are ready for kindergarten. We're just looking for the very best chance for these students."

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