The executive director of the West Street Child Care Learning Center on North Main Street in Spring Valley is speaking out about the center's funding loss last year.

“It’s been really traumatic on the back end trying to secure funding. Trying to figure out how we’re paying people. Trying to figure out how we’re staying open,” said executive director Alexus Williams. “The reason we’ve been fighting this entire year and not giving up is because of the families and children we serve.

As News 12 previously reported, West Street was planning to close next week but because of a private funding source, the center says it will stay open until the end of the school year in June.

In a statement to News 12 on Thursday, Head Start of Rockland said the center’s contract had expired and had not been pulled abruptly.

Williams shared a letter from Head Start dated March 12, 2025 stating the contract would not be renewed due to concerns raised by a regional office about potential conflicts of interest within the organization’s leadership structure.

According to Williams, that came as a surprise.

“There was never any conversation about things not going well or even a discussion about us not continuing with Head Start,” she said. “So this was a surprise — especially the conflict of interest. Because again, we were never told there was a conflict of any kind.”

Williams’ grandmother, Diane Rivera, previously served as executive director and later became the center’s chief administrative officer. Williams says their leadership roles have always been documented and transparent.

When asked whether the center would be willing to address concerns or make changes if necessary, Williams said they are open to discussion.

“We’re ready to discuss it — yeah. We have nothing to hide and never did,” she said. “If they told us, ‘Hey, we need you to be in a different position. We need your grandmother to be in a different position,’ we had no problem discussing that and then making them understand our internal structure — and then making changes if they needed us to.”

News 12 has reached out to Head Start of Rockland for additional comment but has not yet received a response.

The West Street Child Care Learning Center had been receiving funding from Head Start for decades as part of their agreement to have 99 slots for children.