PORT ANGELES — The Peninsula College Early Head Start program has lost most of its funding and will have to close its doors, leaving a dozen low-income and special-needs children without care and five employees without jobs.

For the past 13 years, the preschool program provided care and early education for children from 1 month to 3 years old while the parents took courses and studied at the college.

Low-income working parents who were not students at the college also used the service.

“It will be no more at the end of August,” said Mary Lou Melly, Peninsula College’s Head Start director.

The early preschool classroom, located at 2319 Francis St., had space for 12 children, with a 4-to-1 child-to-teacher ratio.

Employee layoffs

Closure of the program also will result in layoffs for three full-time early preschool teachers and two part-time workers, Melly said.

The 2012-2013 annual budget for the program was $215,409, of which $126,454 was funded by a federal grant through Olympic Community Action Programs, or OlyCAP, Melly said.

However, because of federal sequestration, grant funding for the early preschool was eliminated, she said.

Acceptance to the program and placement on the early preschool waiting list was based on a point system, Melly said.

Children with disabilities, children of Peninsula College students and Housing Authority residents, those who are very low income or have other challenges or needs were given preference, she explained.

Melly said that in addition to the full-day program, parents received parenting classes, home visits and counseling in planning for future goals.

Families affected by the closure were informed at a parents meeting in June, when they began searching for a place for their children to go in September.

Among the choices is an OlyCAP Early Head Start program, separate from the college program, that provides only half-day care.

“Some will be accepted to that program, but some families need full-day care,” Melly said.

Graduate of program

Charizma Heagy, 3, of Port Angeles grew out of the Early Head Start program this summer and will attend Peninsula College’s Head Start preschool program this fall, said parent Rob Heagy, a disabled Army veteran who works part time as a peer counselor.

The regular Head Start program, located at the college campus at 1502 E. Lauridsen Blvd. and which is adjacent to the sports complex, has 36 children from 3 to 5 years old, many of whom attended the Early Head Start program, Melly said.

Charizma was born 10 weeks premature and had a twin who died, Heagy said.

Because of her early birth, she has had some developmental delays, especially with her language and social skills, he said.

Heagy said the Early Head Start program’s peer interactions, interventions and therapy have helped the toddler begin to catch up to her peers.

Heagy and his wife, Jeanene George, said they are lucky their daughter has a place to go in September.

“I know a single mother who is going to have to drop out of school,” George said.

The Early Head Start program partly filled the child-care gap for students and low-income working parents, she said.

George, a member of the Early Head Start policy council, said child care is difficult to find in Port Angeles, and students and parents who aren’t on “welfare” are not eligible for subsidized day care programs.

Melly said good child care is more than just taking care of a child while the parents are working or in class.

“It’s about quality. It’s about relationships,” she said.

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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.