For four decades, the Selma-Dallas County Head Start program has been enriching the lives of 3 and 4-year-olds, but in just a few short weeks, the fate of area preschoolers rests in the hands of the Selma City School System.

The Selma City School Board plans to meet Aug. 2 to hear a recommendation on whether or not Selma City should support the Head Start program, according to board president Henry Hicks Sr.

With more than 350 children helped through the program, Central Alabama Child Development and Community Development Cooperative and Head Start director Michael McGrady, said he intends to help educate the children of Selma.

“The younger you can provide education to a child, the more likely education will stick as you go further,” McGrady said in a Selma City School Board session held earlier this month. “We want the Head Start program to serve the city’s children the way they should’ve been served all along.”

Selma-Dallas Community Action & CDC, a nonprofit organization, received a community block grant for its Head Start program, which housed more than 677 children and a staff of 150-160 in its 40 years of existence. McGrady said the organization closed its doors in May, due to mismanagement of funds.

“The grantee is legal and fiscally responsible for its Head Start grant,” McGrady said. “The program was very poorly managed and should’ve been eliminated a long time ago … teachers weren’t certified.

And with his organization as the new face and grantee of the Head Start program, McGrady said his organization wants to “completely comply” with federal regulations for school readiness, which he said is the crux of the program.

McGrady hopes to partner with Selma Schools to reinstall the program, but some members of the board have concerns.

City school board member Frank Chestnut, whose committee will make a recommendation to the entire school board about its involvement with Head Start, said the decision to partner with the program will all depend on the program’s legitimacy.

“It would be beneficial if the program is financially solvent — doing what it needs to do,” Chestnut said. “We want to make sure what we’re doing is clear and transparent, because we don’t want to be an easy target for a lawsuit. We don’t want to contribute to anything that places a bad light on Selma City School System.”

Created in 1965 under President Lyndon B. Johnson’s administration, the Head Start program’s mission is designed to improve the lives of low-income preschool-aged children by providing quality comprehensive child development services that are family focused. These services include education, health, nutrition and mental health. With more than 220,000 employees, 1 million children and 2,000 programs nationwide, the $6.8 billion federally funded, free program encourages parent involvement for overall growth of a child before he or she enters kindergarten.

McGrady said Head Start helps to combat problems such as teenage pregnancy and unemployment in Selma.

“The law requires Head Start to partner with the public school system,” McGrady said.  “Our program prepares the child to go into public schools. We follow the same requirements of every Head Start in the country.  As the child leaves Head Start, it should be a natural transition … they must know their alphabet, numbers and literacy. We want to help cure the problem … (and) help parents to help themselves.”

According to McGrady, Head Start teachers will now be required to have an Associate’s or Bachelor of Science or Arts degree in early childhood education by 2013. Wilcox, Marengo and Choctaw counties already use the program.

“We don’t want to meet minimal standards — we want to excel,” McGrady said. “We encourage all of our teachers and aides to be in college. We’ll help you get your degree. We cannot have an uneducated teaching staff.”

Because the program is federally funded, the Selma City School Board will not receive any money for housing children on site. Children will be fed through the United States Department of Agriculture’s free and reduced lunch program.

“If we choose to participate in the program, we’ll deal with 68 to 70 kids,” said Selma Superintendent of Education Don Jefferson. “Hopefully the committee will have reached a decision by July 25.”

Hicks said the city will have a called board meeting on July 25 to discuss the possible decision of participating with the Head Start program, but will hold off voting on any plan until the Aug. 2 meeting.

McGrady said the program has nothing to do with saving money, which he said is often misconstrued.

“You’re not going to spend as much time when it comes to reading, to literacy … (they’ll) perform better on tests,” McGrady said. “If we’re able to prevent things from happening negatively to the community, we can save not only the public school system money, but the community too, because there will be a better-educated workforce. If you educate the parent, you educate the child; if you educate the child, you educate the parent.”