Lancaster schools had no money for Head Start buses. Then this business gave $25K.
Thanks to one business’s generosity, students will be able to continue riding the bus to Lancaster County’s Head Start program.
Due to rising costs of maintenance, fuel and related expenses, the Lancaster County School District was considering cutting funding for Head Start buses in November, said Bryan Vaughn, director of safety and transportation.
Lancaster County’s Head Start program is based at the Southside Early Child Development Center. The federally-funded program aims to prepare students for kindergarten. Early Head Start is available for children birth to three years old. Head Start serves children three to five years old.
“Our goal is to have these children be ready for school,” said Linda Blackwell, director of elementary education for the school district. “Readiness skills are so important.”
The school district is required to have paid staff on Head Start buses, Vaughn said. To keep the five Head Start buses going, the district needed to come up with $150,000.
Head Start is supported by a federal grant, Blackwell said. However, Head Start is not required to provide transportation for students and federal dollars do not cover transportation costs.
The school district has for years supplemented the program by providing bus service, Superintendent Jonathan Phipps said.
“A lot of those parents would struggle bringing their kids to those programs,” he said.
That’s what led Sharonview Federal Credit Union in Indian Land to donate $25,000 to the school district.
Ricky Otey, Sharonview’s executive vice president and chief operating officer, said he learned of the district’s need and had to help. Otey’s mother taught at Head Start in Virginia for 30 years.
“I watched my mom for 30 years take care of children in Head Start. I know the benefits and the mission of Head Start,” he said. “It matches the mission and the benefits of Sharonview, which is to be a helpful hand in the community.”
Vaughn said the money helped the school district find a solution.
The district now provides Head Start transportation to a reduced area of the county, Vaughn said. Using two buses instead of five, the program transports about 80 students. Before, about 100 students rode the bus to Head Start.
“We’re trying to use the buses in a smarter, more efficient way now,” Vaughn said.
“We just couldn’t serve the whole county the way we had in the past with going out and picking them up. We are fortunate we were able to go as long as we could,” he said.
Lancaster County’s Head Start program serves 132 children, Blackwell said. The early Head Start program serves 74 children. The school district serves more than 14,000 students.
The district had two students leave Head Start due to lack of bus transportation, Vaughn said.
“We feel like what we have done we can hopefully sustain going forward,” he said. “For the life of the grant, we hope we can provide the same services we have now.”
Sharonview made a call to other local businesses to donate, Otey said. No other donations have been received, according to the district.
Otey said it isn’t too late for other businesses to follow Sharonview’s example.
“We want to be part of the solution long term,” he said.
