L.B. Schools’ Effort to Regain Control of Head Start Endorsed

LONG BEACH — In an effort to regain local control of Head Start, which serves about 900 preschool children, the City Council has backed the Long Beach Unified School District in its application to administer the program.

Last November, Long Beach lost its federal grant to Orange County Head Start Inc. because directors and top officials of the local administrative group agreed they were too divided and should not run the $2.6-million program. Disputes about whether a black- or a Latino-dominated agency should direct Head Start were among the problems that led to the group’s dissolution.

Community organizations, including representatives from the League of United Latin American Citizens and the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People, now agree that the school district should apply for the grant.