Mann speaks out about NEON's Head Start Program

Now that the Office of the Inspector General final report on NEON's Head Start program has been released, President and CEO Joseph Mann is allowed to publicly comment on the findings, which he believes have been misrepresented in recent press reports.

None of the findings by OIG indicate that funds were expended for any purpose other than its Child Care operations.

With respect to the findings, Mann offered the following clarifications:

"First, it was never our intention to hide or cover up anything -- that is not what we do. We want our actions to be transparent and have always endeavored to assure that is the case. The OIG report, prior to now, was a preliminary draft document that we were directed, by OIG, not to disclose its contents. Secondly, NEON did not choose to exclude people from the Jan. 11 presentation of the draft report. OIG directed that the meeting be limited to the NEON Board of Directors and we complied.

"We are working right now to ensure that our fiscal operations and accounting practices are modified sufficiently to achieve full compliance with all funds that are entrusted to our agency."

Mann went on to say that, with respect to the specific OIG findings, none indicate that NEON expended funds for any purpose other than Child Care operations.

"There is no evidence or hint of fraud in the report at all, and none occurred," Mann said. "There is no evidence that any funds were misused or misappropriated to anything other than our Child Care operations.

"The recommendation from OIG that the funds be refunded does not mean, in fact, that they will have to be refunded. We will contact Head Start immediately to attempt to resolve the situation without having to refund any funds. After all, the funds, specifically the $383,312, were expended directly in support of Head Start and in accordance with the grant requirements.

Mann said NEON staff members accept the findings from OIG and they are taking a variety of actions to resolve the issues.

The organization changed its allocation formula immediately upon notification that it was inadequate.

And it has begun directly assigning the administrative costs to the grant as they occur, which was part of the reason that OIG found its direct costing of the expenses problematic.

"We have also made the decision to bring on a finance director with the knowledge and accounting background required to direct all of our financial and accounting activities, moving forward," Mann said.

"We have also secured a consultant team that will review and analyze the full scope of our financial and accounting functions, and to assess the capabilities of our entire finance staff to ensure that we have a qualified and capable team to properly address our activities moving forward.

"As NEON has done in the past, we will continue to comply fully with any official reviews of our community programs and administration. We have our noses to the grindstone day in and day out, so it is helpful to have others take a fresh look at our operations in the spirit of continuous improvement.

"Finally, with respect to the continuation of Head Start, we want to ensure the public that Head Start will remain in Norwalk and that NEON will do everything that it can to see that it continues to be a vibrant program for the children of our city."