Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 15, 1995 TAG: 9511150022
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The topic of the call today, and of several previous days, in fact, was state administration of federal Head Start funding for so-called wraparound day-care. This is day care before and after the regular Head Start program, for children whose parents have to be at jobs or school. You know, a hand up, not a handout.
The Allen administration has shifted responsibility for these grants from one agency to another, ostensibly to streamline bureaucracy, save money, etc., but perhaps also to exert more control over an activity that involves advocates for children and families in Virginia. Now impoverished parents are finding they must pay a portion of the costs (thus the savings) after filling out twice the paperwork (never mind the streamlining).
There are questions, though, about whether the new grant administrator, Virginia's Department of Social Services, is following guidelines written into its contract for taking over the funds distribution. So a call is placed to Betty Ruppert, Allen-appointed executive director of the Virginia Council on Child Day Care and Early Childhood Programs, which had been administering the funds and now has contracted out the job to Social Services.
She wasn't in that day. A message was left asking her to call the next day. She did not.
A call the day after was answered by an aide, who said Ruppert was on another line. Could the aide find out what information was needed so she would be able to handle the query more efficiently? (Efficient, streamlined state government does make the heart sing.) The aide was told the topic. Ruppert did not return the call.
Another call, this time with the aide explaining that the boss was in and out all day; and what were the specific questions on this subject (the better to answer them efficiently, my dear)? An extraordinary request, but the questions were relayed with the understanding that Ruppert would call back with the answers, and be able to field any questions that they might raise. She did not call back.
Practically anyone who deals with state government these days will tell you this experience isn't unusual. The Allen administration, after all, is the outfit that imposed a gag order on state employees, not allowing them to talk to the press or legislators without permission. As for the people at the Virginia Council, one can only speculate whether they don't know what they're doing, or they do know but don't want the public to know.
And so another day, another call. A secretary says Ruppert is on another line, can she call back? She doesn't.
Next day, another call, another message left. Anyone in?
by CNB