Robinson said the program was poorly managed and had been given a blank check for purchases and staff time. He said district office staff were concerned about the program’s finances, but they said they could not safely speak up about their concerns.

Board member Sandi Minard said, “I think there’s been an atmosphere that people can’t speak out and say when they think something has not been handled right. I think we’re on the right track to fixing that with Dr. Robinson.”

Former special-education facilitator Jeanne Stone defends the program. She said the day care was open all year, providing reliable child-care services for parents.

In an email to the Cape Gazette, she said, “We gave working mothers and fathers, teachers one little perk: preschool that they could count on. We didn’t just serve kids, we served families, many of whom couldn’t speak English or afford to pay full price for day care and had purchase of care. We were their link to Cape and their children’s link to the future.”

Stone said before the district took over Little Angels, a private day care that became Little Vikings, the district had been spending tuition tax money on mainstreaming children with learning disabilities with children without. “The day care had always been a deficit to the district and was paid out of tuition tax,” she said.

Stone also said the Sussex Consortium has always paid for day-care costs in order to mainstream autistic and other handicapped students.

Robinson said he questions whether it was justifiable to spend tuition tax money on a day care for regular education students. He has requested a full audit of the district’s finances and says the state auditor’s office is sending a team to examine the books.

Program history

The Sussex Consortium has historically served preschool children with autism. Cape for several years had a contract with a program called Early Choices, which served children with developmental disabilities at home or in day care, depending on the child’s and the family’s needs. Former Assistant Superintendent Janis Hanwell said Cape had an informal agreement with Early Choices that if the district severed the contract, it would give a year’s notice, and Early Choices would help the transition. Robinson said the cost of that contract was $250,000; Stone said in an email that the program cost $450,000.

She said through Little Vikings, Cape hoped to save that money while expanding the number of children who attended the program, to help with the deficit.

Hanwell said the district began discussing ending its deal with Early Choices in April 2008; the final decision to end the contract and take on the day-care and early childhood programs was made in July 2008.

Stone said Cape was one of the last districts to end its contract with Early Choices. She said Cape visited other districts that had replaced Early Choices with their own early childhood programs. “There was much planning and foresight into taking this program over, and the business office and the district office were an integral part of the planning and discussion,” she said. She noted she assisted Cape with the new early childhood program for children with mild disabilities, and the district continuing with that part of the program.

Cape took over Little Angels in 2008, renamed it Little Vikings, and began educating children with mild disabilities at the same time. Hanwell said in July 2008 she was concerned the district would not be able to pull together a program with speech and hearing therapists, occupational therapists and preschool special education teachers and paraeducators in time for the start of the school year. “However, it became clear that regardless of the concerns, we were going to take the program on, so I suggested we do it systematically with a concrete plan and the support of Early Choices over the next school year, but that did not appear to be an option,” she said.

Hanwell said she conceded to the plan to take over Little Angels, but she declined to recommend the plan to the school board until she saw a concrete plan of action. She said she never saw that plan.

Hanwell retired in May 2009.

Program praised

Jennifer Essex sent her son, Jaedyn, to Little Vikings. “Jaedyn has behavior issues and without a program like Little Vikings my son would not have accomplished what he did or accelerate like he did,” she said.

“I believe that there is a level of misappropriation that took place; however, I am unsure to what exact level,” Essex said. She said the program has had such a positive effect that it should be restructured instead of closed.

Stone said Little Vikings served high-needs students who would have needed other, expensive services without the day care. “In fact, we never denied services to any child for their disruptive behaviors,” she said.

Parents appeared at the July 22 school board meeting to oppose closing the day-care program. Minard said she has empathy for parents. “Believe me, I feel for them. I’ve had to put my kids in day cares before, and we have experienced a day-care closing without a lot of notice.” She said when parents trust a day care, it’s not easy to move their children. “It’s a hard position for a board member to be in, but part of our responsibility includes good stewardship of the district’s finances,” she said.

“This was a financial decision and we, as a district, have to consider the health of the whole district. That day care was costing us way too much money,” Minard said.

School board member Sara Wilkinson said she backs Robinson’s decision 100 percent “We hired him to make the hard calls, and when he does, I support him wholeheartedly,” she said.

Wilkinson said with the state of the day care’s finances, the district had no choice but to close it. “We have other issues to expend our time and resources on other than day care,” she said.

Hanwell said many people worked very hard to make the program succeed, but it’s hard to pull together a program in a few months. “Based on my previous experience as a special-education administrator in the district since 1991, I felt like the numbers of students I was being told were being identified for services in the program was quite elevated,” she said. Hanwell said she was first told more than 100 students would be served, but later heard some 60 children were enrolled. She said 60 is more in line with previous estimates.

“It should have been planned out in a methodical or systematic way. Things happened too quickly, and the research on cost effectiveness was limited,” Hanwell said. Reflecting on the program, Robinson said, “I think Dr. Stone got into it with the intention of creating a good program … It was one of those things that got out of control.”