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Coalition told it needs healing

A state official urges Early Learning Coalition board members and staff to get past the ill will.

By MARY SPICUZZA
Published November 10, 2006

LAND O'LAKES - When state officials met with representatives of the Early Learning Coalition of Pasco and Hernando Counties on Thursday, one word kept coming up:

Dysfunction.

"It's just dysfunctional," Agency for Workforce Innovation director Linda South said after listening to a long list of problems. "It's just not working."

Gov. Jeb Bush sent South from Tallahassee to help straighten out the agency charged with overseeing voluntary prekindergarten and school readiness programs in Pasco and Hernando counties.

South called it "a coalition that's in jeopardy" and said she was concerned about bad blood between some board members and staff.

"You all need to do some healing," she told coalition members.

* * *

The meeting, at county school district headquarters in Land O'Lakes, lasted about two hours. The coalition's executive director Jo-Ann Kay Fuller wasn't there, but three board members were. Also present was Gladys Wilson, deputy director of the Office of Early Learning, who had traveled from Tallahassee.

School superintendent Heather Fiorentino, whose actions led to state officials' involvement, was there as well.

Fiorentino had forwarded Bush an e-mail from coalition board member Dave Marshall, spurring Bush to send South. In that e-mail, Marshall listed a series of concerns, including the way funding levels are split between the two counties, availability of child care services in east Pasco and fears that Pasco children from low-income families will lose out if more funding can't be found.

Last month, the coalition acknowledged it was $180,000 short in cash "match dollars" for Pasco. The money has to be raised locally to match state and federal funding. It pays for subsidized child care services for children from working poor families.

Childhood Development Services is the agency charged with raising those dollars, but it has yet to raise all the necessary funds.

Some current and former coalition members have questioned the board's decision to contract with Childhood Development Services. The coalition previously had contracted with another agency, Youth and Family Alternatives.

But this spring, board members voted to give the contract to CDS, although YFA already had secured commitments for needed match dollars, including $250,000 from Pasco County.

After YFA didn't get the contract, county officials deleted the expense from Pasco's proposed budget, county budget director Mike Nurrenbrock said. Last week, Nurrenbrock said the county had received another request from CDS.

Fiscal manager Debbie Antioco said recently that the coalition would find a way to get money without cutting programs.

Still, Marshall and others have repeatedly warned that hundreds of children could lose child care services.

"This coalition is in trouble and without financial support from the county for the match, it's going to be nearly impossible to come up with the dollars from any other source," said George Magrill, YFA's president and chief executive officer.

South avoided discussing all of that at Thursday's meeting, however, calling it a "staff issue" that needs to be handled locally.

She wanted to focus on ways "to get you breathing well before you drown."

The group came up with a list of ideas, including going on a board member retreat, conducting an evaluation of Fuller and using Robert's Rules of Order to conduct meetings.

"I'm looking forward to serious progress here," South told the group.

Fiorentino said the meeting gave her new hope for the beleaguered coalition.

"I'm just hopeful that if they go back and board members take control of the leadership, they'll be of better service to the children," she said.

The coalition has set up a meeting for next week.

South agreed to attend a future coalition meeting.

[Last modified November 9, 2006, 22:59:42]