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Grant funds Burwell/Taylor preschool co-op |
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Thursday, 04 September 2008 |
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 Sydney Skalsky, Slate Micheel and Ty Racek, all of Taylor, bounce off the Calamus Kids Preschool bus ready for a morning of learning. The Calamus Kids Preschool is a cooperative preschool combining the resources of Burwell Public School, Loup County Public School and Central Nebraska Community Services.
• Preschool funded by Early Childhood Grant
• Program begins its second year in Garfield and Loup Counties
By MISTY DELASHMUTT
Special to the Chief
TAYLOR -- A gap in school readiness drove the formation of a collaborative preschool program at Burwell and Loup County Schools.
The schools partnered with Central Nebraska Community Services to create the preschool and apply for grant funding to eliminate the gap that educators observed between children who attended preschool and those who had not.
The Calamus Kids Preschool is an innovative collaborative project between the two school districts and CNCS.
Located in Burwell and serving families of 3- and 4-year-olds in the partnership area of Loup and Garfield counties, the preschool is in its second year of operation.
“Through teaching evaluations and observations, we had been noticing quite a gap between those kindergarten students receiving Head Start preschool education and those who were not,” said Burwell Elementary principal Jason Alexander. “Prior to the combining of resources, the CNCS Head Start could only serve 20 students. The initial goal of the project was to provide educational services to as many 3- and 4-year-olds in the area as possible.
“As we were investigating options for expanding the preschool with CNCS, Rusty Rupert, superintendent of Loup County Public School, contacted us and came on board with the idea of starting a collaborative preschool that would serve children in both Garfield and Loup Counties. By combining resources, the number of children receiving a preschool education was increased from 20 to 40. ”
The collaborative preschool project took two years to implement before opening last year.
“Ann Kelly, our director at the preschool, was instrumental in getting it up and running,” Alexander said. “Her knowledge of the federal, state and high scope curriculum requirements made the process much easier to facilitate.”
Through state legislation which formed the Early Childhood Education Grant Program, the Calamus Kids preschool was able to move from an idea to a reality in the fall of 2007.
The preschool received a grant award of $60,000.00 for the first year, and funding of $40,000.00 a year to support the next two years of operation.
“After the third year,” explained Alexander, “it is my understanding that 4-year-old children will count in the state aid formula. However, to my knowledge the exact method of calculation for state aid funding has yet to be determined by the legislature.”
Thirty-nine children from the Burwell and Loup County school districts attended the new preschool last year and the results of that education are already being seen as the children entered regular kindergarten this fall.
“All early indications point to a big improvement,” said Alexander. “The children are more adapted to the school routine. We had considerably less tears when the moms and dads left the first day and the kids were more comfortable in a learning environment. They were ready to learn and we have had fewer behavioral issues.”
Although the preschool has yet to reach its maximum 40 student cap, the attendance figures are encouraging. In 2007, the preschool began the fall school year with 39 students. This year’s attendance figures are slightly down, 32 students, however the number of students meeting the age requirements will fluctuate with the population, Alexander said.
“We have several children on the waiting list that didn’t meet the age requirement this fall,” said Alexander. “We had a big preschool class come into kindergarten this school year so the small drop in attendance doesn’t concern us.”
The preschool partnership between Burwell, Loup County and CNCS primarily serves the children from the two school districts, however this year five families from the Sargent area in Custer County have elected to enroll their children at Calamus Kids in Burwell.
Transportation is a continuing issue for the collaborative preschool. The communities of Burwell and Taylor are 16 miles apart, making it necessary to provide transportation by school bus. “The logistics of scheduling routes pick up and delivery, times are ever challenging,” commented Alexander, “but the process is getting easier.” |
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 11 September 2008 )
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Huskers.com
