State-funding cuts results in layoffs at Mahoning County preschool program

BOARDMAN — Danitra Liguore will soon be laid off from the job she loves as a preschool teacher, but her dedication to her pupils is such that she has applied for a lower-paid lead child-care worker position in the same preschool program.

“I want to do everything I can to be there for the children and their families,” said Liguore, a teacher in the ill-fated Early Learning Initiative program at Lockwood United Methodist Church in Boardman. “You’re reaching a child’s heart every day you go to work,” she added.

Liguore, who has been teaching at Lockwood for three years, is one of five Mahoning County teachers being laid off, effective with the state-funded program’s Aug. 21 termination.

The demise of the program due to state budget constraints will result in 27 people losing their jobs and the closing of two full-day, full-year county preschool centers. Five classrooms are being eliminated from the program.

For the complete story, see Thursday’s Vindicator and Vindy.com