Head Start Parents and Staff Members to Rally for Parent Choice, Protest Attack on Head Start

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J., July 31, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Parents and community members will rally at 11:00 AM at the New Brunswick School District office at 268 Baldwin Street to protest the District's refusal to contract with the Acelero Learning Head Start program for the 2014-2015 School Year.  The District's refusal to renew its contract with Acelero Learning was overruled by the State Department of Education. Acelero Learning Head Start serves 120 three and four year children in New Brunswick, but this week, despite the clear ruling from the State DOE, the New Brunswick School District sent misleading notices to parents stating that Head Start would no longer be an option for their families for the 2014-15 school year.  The District's actions are in direct opposition to the New Jersey's Supreme Court decision in Abbott v. Burke, in which the Court clearly articulated its commitment to include Head Start programs in the Abbott preschool program. 

"I think it is terrible for families and terrible for our community that the District would send parents false information and try to limit the choices that parents can make for their kids," said Ernestina Pelaez, whose child attended Head Start this past year and who plans to send her child back to Head Start for a second year. "Every child deserves a Head Start, and I do not know why the District would try to take that away."

The Acelero Learning Head Start program has operated in New Brunswick for four years and has consistently demonstrated superlative gains in child achievement.  According to researchers at the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University, New Brunswick children who attended the Acelero Learning Head Start program gained two to three times the national average for Head Start programs in early literacy skills and three to five times the national average in basic math skills. 

Acelero Learning's Head Start program has received a national award from the Office of Head Start for family engagement, received a perfect federal review, and has been awarded Head Start grants across the country based on the success of the New Jersey program.

"It is bad enough that the District is trying to limit the choices of parents, but I find it particularly appalling that the District would try to close an awarding-wining program that provides comprehensive services and is generating such great outcomes for children," stated Susan Jackson, whose daughter has attended the Head Start program for two years.  "This program has had an incredible impact on both me and my daughter, and I think it would be a travesty for families in this community to not have the same opportunity we have had."

"We are honored to be a part of the fabric of the New Brunswick community – and we have spent four years building a powerful partnership with the New Brunswick Board of Education staff," said Victor Ortiz, the Executive Director of Acelero Learning Monmouth/Middlesex County.  "We are baffled at Superintendent Kaplan's hostile actions and effort to limit parent choice – and truly hope he will listen to both the NJ Department of Education, and our Head Start parents and immediately enter into a contract with us for next year." 

"Each year, we spend over $900,000 of our federal Head Start funds supporting comprehensive services for children and families here in New Brunswick, so cutting our contract means NJ taxpayers will have to spend more money to serve children in New Brunswick," said Aaron Lieberman, Acelero Learning's Founder and Chairman.  "The district then provides us an additional $900,000 in NJ Pre-k funds that allow us to hire certified teachers and reduce class sizes so children in Head Start receive services at the same level as other NJ Pre-K providers.  Head Start children should not, and will not, be treated as second class citizens – especially when the Abbott v. Burke decision is so clear on this point.  All we ask is for the opportunity to keep doing what we do best: providing a life-changing Head Start program for children and families in New Brunswick."

Our Mission: The mission of Acelero Learning is to bring a relentless focus on positive child and family outcomes to close the achievement gap and build a better future for children, families, and communities served by the Head Start program. 

SOURCE Acelero Learning Monmouth/Middlesex County