OLC to take over Head Start program

By Jomay Steen, Journal Staff Writer | Tuesday, September 20, 2005

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PINE RIDGE — Oglala Lakota College will welcome 630 children at its 26 Head Start and six Early Head Start classrooms Monday, Oct. 3, on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, officials said.

On Monday, Oglala Lakota College president Tom Shortbull announced that the tribal college had assumed the $4.7 million grant to operate Head Start centers on the reservation.

Since the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Head Start Bureau closed the program about six months ago, the Oglala Sioux Tribe has relinquished the Head Start program's 26 centers, property and vehicles to the tribal college.

On Sept. 16, the bureau notified OLC that it would receive $4,766,665 to operate the Pine Ridge Reservation Head Start program. Shortbull said he expects the grant will be amended up to $5.2 million.

"We appreciate the confidence that the Oglala Sioux Tribe has shown us," Shortbull said.

Emma Featherman-Sam, who represented OST President Cecelia Fire Thunder, congratulated Shortbull and the college on being accepted by the Head Start Bureau to take over the program.

"From the beginning of President Fire Thunder's administration, Head Start has been a high priority. She worked hard to find an entity that could administratively and financially handle the program," Featherman-Sam, transit coordinator of OST Department of Transportation, said. "Oglala Lakota College has the capability and was the best choice for the tribe."

Featherman-Sam said that several other tribal schools had expressed interest in taking over local centers but that the Head Start Bureau has stringent financial and operational requirements.

"Oglala Lakota College was the most capable of meeting the requirements," she said.

Shawna Runnels-Pourier, OLC Head Start director and formerly OLC Early Childhood director, said Head Start's 148 staff members, which include teachers, aides, bus drivers, janitors and cooks, began work Monday to prepare the classrooms for the opening in two weeks.

In the past two to three weeks, staff had been hired contingent upon OLC receiving funding from the Head Start Bureau in Washington, D.C., she said.

"We will also have staff training for the next two weeks," she said.

Runnels-Pourier said that about 70 percent of the staff who lost their jobs when the centers closed last March were rehired. She said that the ties to the college will help Head Start's teaching staff train to get their teaching credentials and certification.

Porcupine's Head Start center is scheduled to open sometime within the school year, but that poses a dilemma for OLC administrators because the grant does not allow money for new facilities, Shortbull said.

"There are some facilities that need major improvements," he said.

Shortbull said the immediate impact for OLC in taking over the program is the doubling of its staff, additional bookkeeping and delegating additional responsibilities to the nine college center directors who will help oversee the Head Start programs in nine districts.

"We can handle it," Shortbull said.

Contact Jomay Steen at 394-8418 or jomay.steen@rapidcityjournal.com