Head Start hiring teachers, director

By DONNA WRIGHT

dwright@bradenton.com

BRADENTON --

Manatee schools may be talking about laying off teachers, but Head Start is hiring, says Mary Twitty, interim executive director of Manatee Community Action Agency, which oversees the preschool program for the poor.

The agency board approved new starting annual pay for Head Start employees with bachelor's degrees in early childhood development at $30,056. Employees with an associate degree in early childhood development start at $19,760.

Twitty said the program hires an average of 10 new teachers each summer for the coming school year to replace staff who do not return.

The timing is perfect, said board chairman Tim Polk, who noted that teachers who might be laid off by the school district could be interested in those jobs.

Head Start employees without credentials will get a raise from $8.77 to $9.50 per hour, depending upon the budget, Twitty said.

The pay increases are necessary to meet Head Start requirements that dictate 50 percent of all teachers must have degrees by 2013, Twitty said.

Historically, Head Start has employed teachers without degrees. The federal government has given local Head Start programs five years to upgrade the qualifications of their teaching staffs. Current teachers who do not have degrees are being encouraged to return to school to meet the requirement.

"We need to shut down the pipeline right now and start hiring experienced teachers to meet the requirement," Twitty said. "We don't want to be at just 50 percent in five years, we want to be at 80 percent. We desperately need to be in compliance on this issue."

"We may have to aim for 80 percent in order to get 50 percent," said Richard Judd, board member and senior vice president of operations for Bealls Department Stores.

The agency is also looking for a new Head Start director. The salary will be approximately $73,000 per year.

The new pay scale approved Tuesday covers all agency employees. Most of those employees are already earning salaries in line with the wage recommendations, Twitty said.

The action agency administers 23 programs to help the poor. Funding sources include grants from local, state and federal governments. The total annual budget tops $25 million.

In other action, Polk appointed a search committee to review candidates who respond to a national search for a new executive director. Committee members include Linda Cinque, Lluvia Warren, Rita Smith, Willie Brown and Judd.

The position will be posted May 1. While the board has not yet set a salary, Twitty estimated it would be about $90,000.

Twitty, as a member of the consulting team who helped oversee the restructuring of the action agency, cannot apply for the position. Her contract has been extended through August to allow for the transition to new leadership once a new director is found.

The action agency has undergone almost a total transformation since last September, when a state review revealed the agency was without direction due to a divided board, lack of vision and management problems.

Then known as Manatee Opportunity Council, the organization operated as three separate agencies - each with its own pay scale and administration - but the umbrella agency held the liability for all programs.

In the past seven months, under Twitty's leadership, those three separate agencies have been united under one administration and an almost entirely new board is now in charge.

"We have turned the corner," said Polk. "We are now all about best practices."