EXCERPT FROM: Coshocton Tribune
By Valerie Boateng
COSHOCTON -- The one obstacle Coshocton County Head Start faced as the governing board for Rainbow Children's Center to keep the day care open is the same obstacle Rainbow staff ran into in order to save it. The longtime day care facility will cease operations effective Jan. 31 because of lack of funding.
"I applaud them for wanting to try, but I also think them going through the process, hearing what we discuss, seeing the numbers and everything -- I think they feel at least OK that they tried and explored other options and it wasn't going to be feasible," said Ken Smailes, president of the Head Start board of directors.
Declining revenue in 2009 has put for-profit Rainbow operations in the red. Current expenses and accrued vacation time presented to the Head Start board members show nearly $5,500, which Rainbow revenue will not be able to cover, and that number will continue to climb through the end of the month until the day care operations close. The deficit will be picked up by Head Start's unrestricted fund.
"There's not one thing to blame. It's multiple things that just keep adding up," said Rainbow Director Amanda Armstrong about the closing.
State budget cuts, the loss of Early Learning Initiative funding, job loss in the community and parents needing to make cuts in their own budgets all are to blame, she said.
Soon after a Dec. 29 meeting with parents, it was realized the staff wouldn't be able to take over operations of the preschool, infant/toddler and school-age child-care programs at the Cassingham Hollow Drive facility, and Armstrong said parents were made aware they needed to seek other care for their children.
"Some of the parents have already found other centers to take their children to," she said. "We're getting close to being able to lay off some of the staff" because of the declined enrollment.
Rainbow has about a dozen employees and nearly 50 regular attendees.
Several Rainbow employees, including Armstrong, have interviewed for Head Start and Early Head Start positions.
"If I don't (get hired), I'm going to have to take the layoff like the rest of the staff here and spend some time with my kids," she said. "Maybe I'll go back to school and do job searching."
Armstrong, who graduated in 1999 from Berea College with a bachelor's degree in child development, joined Rainbow in September 2003.
"Day care has been pretty much my only career," she said. "I was here when we transitioned from River View to Head Start."
Head Start took over as governing board of the child care center in 2005 when the River View Board of Education decided to focus its energy and resources on kindergarten through 12th-grade education.
Armstrong's ideal job would be to own her own day care.
"That's always been a dream of mine, but with the economy the way it's going, my dream has gotten smaller," she said. "A year ago, we didn't think we would be in this position -- ELI was going strong, we had full classrooms in the building -- at this point it's hard to look too far into the future."
Although child care at the facility will cease, Head Start programs conducted in the building will continue.