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Anonymous Staff Questions
These questions have been asked anonymously by our staff. Below are the answers from the Program Director. Staff can go to this page to ask a question.
Q: Explain how Head Start teacher who do not have degrees will be able to keep their jobs after yers of service with Head Start and how will they be able to continue their education to get Bachelor\'s Degree? Also will you ever separeate Teachers/Drivers?
A: All Mercer County Head Start / Early Head Start teachers have a Bachelors Degree or higher (as mandated by the Performance Standards).
We're not sure what you mean by separating teachers/drivers. Classroom teachers are not bus drivers. Busses and bus drivers are contracted services, except for Linda, who drives a program bus.
Q: Terri: As the year comes to a close I have a question... Why does Head Start move teachers, aides, etc. around to other schools when they do not request this move? I, and many others, feel it would be more respectful to ask the person being considered for a move whether or not they would like to go. It is a morale boost knowing that you are being placed where you prefer, but when moved against your request it is a very negative indication of what Head Start thinks about their employees. Just something to consider. Many employees express the same thoughts.
A: Thank you for your question... A lot of thought and consideration goes into classroom assignments each year. We spend a lot of time reviewing many factors before making a decision, including the needs of the children that will be enrolled next year, and requests from staff to stay or move to a different classroom. We also look at the Teacher and Assistant teams in order to create the strongest classroom teams possible to teach our children.
We do try to honor as many requests as possible each year. I would suggest that anyone who is requesting to transfer sites, or remain at the same site to put that request in writing to me before leaving for summer break.
For additional information, please refer to the Human Resources-Staff Placement policy in your procedure book.
Q: Hi Terri~ This is pretty cool... I have a question or even a suggestion. I know this won't go over well with many teachers of Head Start but it occurred to me one night that maybe to help with the budget what if the teachers went back to working 8-3 instead of 8-4. Now that the kids leave early we don't need that much time in the classroom. Is that a possibility? I know I would love that schedule with my daughter in school and family things.
A: As you probably know, there was a 1% budget cut for the 2006-2007 program year. In order to meet this year's budget (with the reduction and increases in other expenses), MCHS-EHS had to stop providing transportation to one site.
The planning committee and management team are jointly working together at this time to plan for the future of the program. One of the goals for program improvement that the planning committee has is "Looking at all program options for cost effectiveness to best meet the needs of the clients".
Also, as our budget continues to be crushed, we are looking for foundations and community organizations to make financial contributions to help offset some of our costs.
Thank you for your thoughts and input. The last thing that we want to do is take time and money away from staff. Last year we reduced the students hours (with State approval) to help the children transition into school, and to allow for more planning time for classroom teachers and assistants.
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