UPPER MARLBORO, Md. — Prince George’s County school officials say the county’s new program for preschoolers will fill the gap left by Head Start when that program’s federal funding was withdrawn after allegations of neglect and abuse by some staffers.
At a briefing before a Prince George’s County Council committee on Monday, Kevin Maxwell, the school system’s CEO, told council members that money has been shifted to cover the cost of the program and enrollment hasn’t been affected.
Starting Monday, the new “Early Start” program will serve 855 students at 35 schools.
“Every classroom, every school that had Head Start last Thursday has Early Start this morning,” Maxwell said.
Despite Maxwell’s emphasis on all that’s being done to replace Head Start, and to discipline staffers who were faulted for their treatment of students after a federal examination of the program, county council members said they are being bombarded with questions about student safety.
County council member Mary Lehman, who has older children in the school system, said if she had small children, or a child who was nonverbal, she would not have enough confidence in the school system to place her children in its care.
“I would not personally feel like today, they would be safe,” she said. “That’s my view.”
Referring directly to Maxwell, Lehman said ” I think you have a lot of trust to rebuild, and that’s going to take some time.”
After the briefing, Maxwell said he understood Lehman’s concerns, but said he doesn’t see people voting with their feet, and enrollment in the program is not down.
“I mean, people haven’t pulled their children out of Head Start,” he said. Maxwell said there’s even a waiting list of parents hoping to get their children into the pre-K program.
Maxwell has been under fire over his handling of student safety after a string of cases, including the alleged sexual abuse of children by a former school aide, the reported molestation of special needs children by a bus aide, and the incidents involving staffers in the county’s Head Start program.
He insisted he’s delivering a strong message to all employees: that if they don’t know how to treat children, they will be held accountable.
“We’ve been holding people accountable, we’ve been very public about that,” he told reporters after Monday’s council briefing in Upper Marlboro.
