Ron Scripsick, chairman of Point Forward, the developer of the approximately $10 million Washington School daycare project, said in a recent 
interview with the Pittsburg Morning Sun that if the group is unable to obtain a licensed child-care provider once construction is finished, “we will donate the building to a local non-profit for use as a childcare.”
This followed the September 10, 2024, Crawford County Commission meeting in which Pastor Donnie Talent of Victory Life Church in Pittsburg, which houses Sonshine Childcare, questioned the commission moving to finally award more than $705,000 in American Rescue Plan Act money to Point Forward.
Up to this point — and despite the commission controversially ignoring its own procedures to award the money to Point Forward, it had been understood that without a licensed child care provider, no memorandum of understanding (MOU) — essentially a contract — could be issued between the non-profit and the county.
Indeed, on April 23, 2024, County Counsel Jim Emmerson stated that no money could be released without a licensed childcare provider and an MOU.
That all changed on Sept. 6, when the commissioners decided to give the money to Point Forward without requiring the MOU for a licensed childcare provider.
On Sept. 10, Talent questioned the process and the lack of an MOU.
“So you’re saying that you are going to give Child Care ARPA money to a project that has no child care provider.” Talent said. “That’s what, that’s what you’re going to deem so after the rest of us, after the rest of the other applicants, had to follow the procedures, had to have childcare, provide, had to do all of those.”
In July of this year, Commissioner Bruce Blair claimed—despite evidence to the contrary—that Point Forward had been part of the process all along. However, it also became clear that the county could simply ignore its own procedures, and it had done so in this case.
Moreover, on Sept. 10, Blair admitted he was unaware that Point Forward remained without an MOU.
“I really thought until the other day that those MOUs were in place,” Blair said. “I thought we had, I didn’t realize we didn’t have one that signed until we met at Washington School and it got brought up, I’ll be honest with you.
The Sentinel reached out to both Emerson and Point Forward representative Jay Byers, asking about the lack of provider and MOU.
Emerson said when he made the statement at the April meeting he was wrong.
“I believed that at the time, but after reviewing the regulations, I found out that was not true,” he said. “There is no requirement that the grantee has to be a licensed child care provider.”
Emerson also said he was “not sure when the MOU will be ready for presentation to the commissioners.”
Byers likewise said the grant did not require a licensed provider and said Point Forward Currently has an MOU with Southeast Kansas Community Action Partnership (SEK-CAP).
However, Mike Bodensteiner, the grant administrator hired through Greenbush to oversee the projects, said that negotiations are ongoing.
“Do they have a long term agreement to provide child care in the Washington School?” he said. “At this point, I don’t know. I don’t know. I know they’re working on it. That’s my understanding, but I don’t have any definitive information.”
The Sentinel asked Byers to provide a copy of the SEK-CAP MOU and was told they did not consider it a “public document.”
Bodensteiner also confirmed that a licensed childcare provider is not required to obtain ARPA funds but said it is “preferred.”
The Sentinel has also contacted SEK-CAP regarding the MOU but has not received a reply as of publication.
