CHEYENNE - A federal report has found deficiencies in communications and reporting of suspected incidents of child abuse or sexual abuse at a Head Start program that serves 10 Wyoming cities.

The report from Channell Wilkins, director of the Office of Head Start in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, gave the program 30 days to develop a six-month plan to remedy the identified deficiencies or face loss of its federal grant.

The report said nothing about mismanagement of funds, which was one of the allegations staff members made during a hearing in June in Powell.

This came as no surprise to Bert Bresach of Worland, chairman of the Absaroka Head Start program.

Bresach said the program is audited regularly by the federal government as well as by a firm of certified public accountants hired by the board.

He said Friday he will ask director Elaine Laird to attend a special board meeting Oct. 9, when the board will discuss putting into effect a "quality improvement plan" as required by Wilkins' report.

Laird was attending a training session in Washington, D.C., last week and could not be reached for comment.

Bresach said he believes the biggest need identified by the report is for open and honest communication between the administration and staff. A task force of board members was formed about a month ago to identify how to improve communications, he said.

Because the report made no mention of financial misappropriations, Bresach said he is looking at it in a positive light with an eye to providing a quality program for the children and their parents.

The Absaroka Head Start program has centers in Powell, Sheridan, Buffalo, Worland, Basin, Lovell, Cody, Thermopolis, Riverton and Lander.

Started in the mid 1960s as part of President Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society program, the Head Start program is for low-income and at-risk preschool children.

According to the federal investigation report of the Absaroka program, 43 percent of the 319 children enrolled have diagnosed disabilities.

The program's former mental health and disability coordinator, Autourina Mains of Powell, said Friday the report doesn't adequately address critical issues raised by the staff, such as children with disabilities who are not getting services.

The report also makes no mention of grievances filed by six terminated employees - four at Powell and one each in Lander and Buffalo. Mains said she was placed on suspended leave with pay after she, too, filed a grievance, but resigned because she didn't want to take money away from the children when she wasn't working for it.

The terminated employees took their grievances to U.S. Rep. Barbara Cubin and U.S. Sen. Mike Enzi, who followed up with the federal department, thus triggering the investigation, Mains said.

On June 12, a federal panel held a hearing in Powell where the staff members made an array of allegations, including staff abuse, mismanagement of funds and violations of federal law.

"I love the program, but the style of management needs to be changed," Mains said.

Referring to the federal report, she said, "I don't think it covered enough, and I don't think it will bring about change."

"I still don't see how the children are being protected," she added.

Mains, who has a master's degree in early childhood special education, said she was not allowed by the administration to help students.

"I was not only not consulted, I was not permitted to go into the classroom," she said.

She said she was allowed to work from home and did grant writing and tracked students.

Bresach said the board followed its own procedures with the staff grievances. The federal investigator asked him about the grievances and looked at all the records, he noted.

Last year, he said, the Absaroka program was listed among the top 40 Head Start programs in the nation.

"I love Head Start," Bresach said. "We want to make sure this is a quality program."

Capital bureau reporter Joan Barron can be reached at (307) 632-1244 or at joan.barron@casperstartribune.net.