The Head Start Center Based part-day, part-year Program operates on a nine-month schedule. Teacher-Project positions, funded through the Administration for Children and Families grant, will be eliminated at the close of business day June 14, 2019. The part-day, part-year Center Based Program will remain closed through August 18, 2019. In order to keep expenditures within the available funding and keep staffing at the level necessary for efficient operations, it is necessary to abolish the positions described in Attachment A-1 on the date indicated. Positions required to support Center Based program for the 2018-2019 program year will be re-established August 19, 2019 as indicated on Attachment A-2. Incumbents in positions that are proposed to be eliminated were hired as part-year teachers and/or have bid into these part-year slots. They are aware of the summer closures and the employment opportunities available when the new school year starts and positions are re-established.
The Home Based Program will be permanently closed on June 14, 2019, and the only Early Childhood Educator-Project position will be permanently eliminated. The Home-Based slots (12) will be relocated to twelve (12) Head Start Center Based slots. Thus, there will be no loss of slots/services and CSB will be able to meet the growing need for Center Based services. On an ongoing bases, CSB analyses multiple data to inform decisions that ensure program design continues to meet the changing needs of children and families in the community. CSB has seen a reduced need for pre-school home-based services over the past several years. In 2016, CSB was successful in implementing a slots reduction, which included the reduction of our Head Start Home Based services to one caseload of 12 slots. This year to date, CSB has only been able to fill all 12 Home Based slots during one month, with an average monthly enrollment of 8. As the Bureau looks towards slot planning for next year, only 3.2% of children on our waitlist and age-eligible for preschool next year list home base as a desirable option, a rate which reduces to .05% when looking at new applications since 2018. To remain responsive to the needs of the community, CSB requests to increase the availability to Center Based services through converting Home Based slots into Center Based. There will be no disruption of services to enrolled children and families. The Family and Human Services Committee approved this action at its May 13, 2019 meeting.
With the conversion of the Home Based slots into Center Based, there will be no need of employing an Early Childhood Educator. The incumbent is interested to transition/bid into a Teacher-Project position prior to or on June 14, 2019. At this time CSB has several vacant Teacher-Project positions. A Meet and Confer with PEU, Local 1 was conducted on April 16, 2019. Agreement was reached about termination of the Home Based Program, conversion of the Home Based slots into Center Based slots and the transition/bid of the Early Childhood Educator into a Teacher-Project position (incumbent meets the Minimum Qualifications for this position). Teacher-Project and Early Childhood Educator-Project are comparable positions.
Failure to close the part-day, part-year Center Based Program during the summer months of 2019 and the Home Based Program permanently, will result in a fiscal deficit for the Employment and Human Services Department/Community Services Bureau.
The Employment and Human Services Department, Community Services Bureau supports four of Contra Costa County's community outcomes - Outcome 2: Children and Youth Healthy and Preparing for Productive Adulthood; Outcome 3: Families that are Economically Self Sufficient; Outcome 4: Families that are Safe, Stable and Nurturing; and Outcome 5: Communities that are Safe and Provide a Health Quality of Life for Children and Families are supported. Employment and Human Services/Community Services Bureau part-day, part-year Head Start pre-school program supports all the listed outcomes.