FLEMINGSBURG — Licking Valley Community Action Program will no longer administer Head Start programs in the area after its contract with the federal government was not renewed.
Fleming County Judge-Executive Larry Foxworthy, president of the LVCAP board of directors said among the topics discussed during the board’s meeting on Tuesday was losing the Head Start Program.
Foxworthy said that the agency was notified by the National Head Start Program’s Regional Office in Atlanta, Ga., of the development on Monday.
“We weren’t given a lot of details other than they would be contacting (Executive Director Kenny Walters) and working out some kind of transition plan with him,” he said.
Licking Valley Head Start provides education and health services to children aged 3-4 throughout Bracken, Fleming, Lewis, Mason and Robertson counties. According to Foxworthy, the program has 70 employees.
As to why LVCAP lost the program, Foxworthy said the Head Start regional office did not give one; however, he does have his suspicions.
“I think it was a combination of things,” he said. “A lot of it was due to the audit that we received from 2018, and then there were some policies and procedures that maybe were not followed as correctly as they should have been. And that was the reason for the decision.”
The board expressed concern about the audit findings during its March meeting, and that those findings could affect the Head Start contract renewal. Part of the renewal process for the contract involved the agency resubmitting all of its information, which includes the findings of this audit.
Losing the program will also have a big effect on the agency’s budget, Foxworthy said.
“It’s almost $4 million in the budget of our entire agency, so it’s going to have a dramatic effect,” he said. “We’re not sure how many of the current employees will be rehired.”
As a whole, more than half of LVCAP’s budget will now be lost with the departure of the program.
According to State Head Start Collaboration Director Sally Shepherd, the Gateway Community Action Agency, based in West Liberty will now be granted the Head Start contract, which was previously held by LVCAP.
The transition of the program between these agencies will begin this week, officials said.
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