Roseland Head Start closure leaves hole in community

Six Head Start classrooms serving needy kids in Santa Rosa’s Roseland neighborhood will close their doors Wednesday, leaving community leaders searching for a way to continue the service in the community.

The program, serving about 144 children below the federal poverty line in southwest Santa Rosa, has operated on the campus of Sheppard Elementary in the Roseland School District for about 20 years. It must now relocate to make way for the construction of a new home for the district’s growing high school, Roseland University Prep.

Community Action Partnership of Sonoma County, which coordinates the program, held an event Tuesday to celebrate the Head Start’s long partnership with the school district and raise awareness about the need to continue the program in Roseland.

Standing by colorful finger paintings attached to the preschool fence, a group of 3- to 5-year-old Head Start students kicked off the event by singing “The Itsy Bitsy Spider” in both Spanish and English. Then a series of speakers took the stand, including parents, CAP’s executive director Tim Reese and 5th District Sonoma County Supervisor Efren Carrillo.

CAP Sonoma’s Head Start director Lisa Grocott said the agency has been able to relocate the classrooms, but not within the Roseland community. They are looking for ways to restore the classes but will not be able to do so by this fall.

Esmeralda Navarro, whose son attends Early Head Start at the site, said a lot of parents currently using the program won’t be able to next year because they can’t drive in order to reach the new, more distant sites.

“I’m sad we won’t have the program anymore,” she said.

Reese described the moment as bittersweet, since the Head Start’s closure means the beginning of a new era for Roseland University Prep, which is currently located in a warehouse on Sebastopol Road. He said his agency is working on a five-year plan to find a permanent home for the program in Roseland. The concept is for CAP Sonoma to purchase land in the neighborhood and relocate its offices, as well as many of its programs, there.

“Though we are closing a chapter on this site, there is certainly a future for Head Start in Roseland,” he said.

Staff Writer Jamie Hansen blogs about education at extracredit.blogs.pressdemocrat.com. You can reach her at 521-5205 or jamie.hansen@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @jamiehansen.