MAXINE WATERS singren 3 Ori a Congress of the United States ae ee House of Representatives a Washington, BE 20515-0535 "Stat ae March 18, 2014 Pox (oes) 787 9800 Daniel R. Levinson Inspector General US. Department of Health and Human Services 330 Independence Avenue, SW Washington, DC 20201 Dear Inspector General Levinson: I write today to request that the Office of Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services open an immediate investigation into the Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE) closures of Head Start centers in South Los Angeles. Over the past several years, I have witnessed the closures of the Urban League, Delta Sigma ‘Theta, and Federation of Preschool and Early Education Center's Head Start centers by LACOE. All of these programs operated Head Start centers in densely populated low- income African American and Latino communities, The most recent closure of the Kedren Community Health Center, Inc. is the latest in the series of closures LACOE has ‘orchestrated without opportunities for appeal or official votes from the LACOE Board of Directors recommending closure. LACOE’s disregard of input from the parents and communities is in direct contradiction with statutes governing the administration of Head Start programs, and [ am concemed that some LACOE officials may have abused their power as a direct grantee, Most recently, LACOE sub-grantee Kedren was given an ultimatum to either rescind its contract, which provides services to 2300 kids in 30 facilities across the South Los Angeles area, or have the LACOE Board of Directors take a vote to close its centers. It is my belief that LACOE’s intimidation tacties in this case and similar cases raise serious questions and should be thoroughly investigated. Every time LACOE makes the drastic decision to close a center in an economically depressed area, student slots are lost, child- care provider jobs disappear and fewer South Los Angeles children have access to a quality early education. Since 2011, I have written several letters to the LACOE Board of Directors expressing great concem over LACOE’s treatment of Head Start centers slated for closure in South Los Angeles area. Affected Head Start parent and community organizations have bombarded my offices with calls and letters in opposition to the closing and reassignment of Head Start centers. Parents from the affected centers simply do not understand theforceful changes made by LACOE and have expressed great satisfaction with their current educational outeomes, teachers, staff, and administrators at the closed sites. LACOE has taken extraordinary steps to get Kedren to relinquish its contract, while the rights of the affected center’s parents and students are ignored. Instead of working with their sub-grantee and Head Start parent organizations to resolve any potential issues, LACOE has moved forward with reassigning the closed center's Head Start slots to agencies that have no connection to the community and no relationships with the parents. Tam disturbed that the Los Angeles County Office of Education would suggest or accuse any Head Start program under its supervision of being in violation of Head Start regulations without an attempt to assist their centers in becoming compliant. LACOE’s mission should be maintaining and assisting their centers with compliance issues and not closing them down, Former Congresswoman Laura Richardson, Congresswoman Karen Bass and myself have collectively visited LACOE when they were forcing the closure of the Urban League and Delta Head Start centers. As a Member of Congress who has tried to work with and understand how LACOE operates, LACOE’s leadership has continuously ignored all of our concerns and has failed to respond to any of our letters. Therefore, T respectfully request that the Office of the Inspector General proceed with an in-depth investigation into the past closures of Head Start centers by LACOE in the South Los: Angeles area. I look forward to hearing from you about how your office plans on moving, forward with this request, If you have any questions, feel free to contact my staff at any time in my Washington D.C. office at (202) 225-2201 or in my Los Angeles office at (323) 757-8900. Sincerely, Member of Congress (CA-43)