We are close to finishing our second year of participation in the statewide voluntary preschool program. Just this week we reached a major milestone by receiving full accreditation from the Iowa Department of Education. This is a big victory for our school district and fulfills a longtime district goal that was at times challenging. Mr. Schlatter reminded our visitors from the Department of the legwork required at our inception; which included securing special permission to utilize reserve funds already on hand, while at the same time working through an arduous legislative process that was anything but certain. That original ruling from the DE, work with our legislators, and strategic decision making from the school board brought us to this point today. In spite of that work, we wouldn't be here today without Mrs. Anderson and Mr. Schlatter breathing life into that vision.
Without getting too deep into the weeds, implementation of any new educational program is taxing and the requirements for the statewide voluntary preschool at times seemed insurmountable. Because of the depth and detail in the required components, new preschool programs are granted a full year to ramp up before seeking full accreditation. Since our implementation during the 2017-2018 school year, we had been operating under 'provisional' status. Following a full year of implementation we were required to have a state visit to determine if we had satisfactorily met all the components necessary to meet full accreditation; or if we were going to maintain our probationary status and have to go through the process all over again in another 45-60 days. The good news is that we met the accreditation standards with only two minor areas that need to be addressed. I'll get to those in a few minutes, but first would like to thank both Mrs. Anderson and Mr. Schlatter for their hard work and preparation to get ready for this visit. Truth be told, we were scheduled to have this visit a few months back but unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate. While this had the net effect of giving us more time to prepare (we didn't need it); it also had the unintended consequence of prolonging the stress that went with playing the waiting game.
Our journey began years ago when the district strategically determined participation in the statewide voluntary program was not in the best interest of our community. At that time, we felt preschool needs were being well served by our community partners and that the arrival of the program in our school district would be detrimental to our local providers. In the intervening years years, the needs of our community began to shift and parents of young children advocated for adoption of the program in our school district. Likewise, more and more students were being identified for specialized services. Since we didn't have programming available in the district, we were forced to tuition them to other districts. It really was these changing demographics and needs of the greater community that forced our hand. But there were still concerns about the impact this may have on our other community partners. So I was very pleased during the visit when the Department noted our 'intentional planning to partner with area providers, utilization of local programs for professional learning, and integration of the community into the preschool program' as an Exemplary Practice in Meeting the Iowa Quality Preschool Program Standards (IQPPS). Indeed the fact our program and services are based on the needs of families and the community was identified as a real strength of our program.
Examples of exemplary practice in our program that were noted by the Department are numerous and include a strong emphasis in math and science and multiple two way communication processes. The real strength of our program however; the one that rose to the top and was first highlighted was the caring and devoted teaching staff. We knew when we first embarked on this venture, the key to success was going to be ensuring we had the right person leading the program. When Mrs. Anderson expressed interest, I was uncertain. Not because I didn't think she would be successful, but that we were asking an awful lot from a junior faculty member! And I didn't know if that was fair because Mrs. Anderson at the time was finishing up her first year with us as a kindergarten teacher. That after finishing her first year as a second grade teacher in Jesup. So, here she was entering her third year as a teacher, third assignment in as many years as an educator, and building a brand new program from the ground up! You can see the trepidation, right? #whiplash! But, to her credit she went into this with eyes wide open and absolutely crushed it. I can't think of anyone who is better suited to fill this role and her navigation of the process was spot on.
Obviously not everything was perfect and they did give us two things that we will need to remedy in the next 45 days. For one, the fall zone in the playground doesn't have enough wood chips and they were concerned the window air conditioning units were at a level where a youngster might hit their head when going outdoors for recess. Since all the window air conditioners will be gone by the time school starts again that is easy enough to fix. The second item that needs attention are the electrical outlets in the little gym. They don't have child safety plugs in them. At the writing of this column, I believe that has already been remedied.
In all, a very good visit and a program that we can all be quite proud of!
Without getting too deep into the weeds, implementation of any new educational program is taxing and the requirements for the statewide voluntary preschool at times seemed insurmountable. Because of the depth and detail in the required components, new preschool programs are granted a full year to ramp up before seeking full accreditation. Since our implementation during the 2017-2018 school year, we had been operating under 'provisional' status. Following a full year of implementation we were required to have a state visit to determine if we had satisfactorily met all the components necessary to meet full accreditation; or if we were going to maintain our probationary status and have to go through the process all over again in another 45-60 days. The good news is that we met the accreditation standards with only two minor areas that need to be addressed. I'll get to those in a few minutes, but first would like to thank both Mrs. Anderson and Mr. Schlatter for their hard work and preparation to get ready for this visit. Truth be told, we were scheduled to have this visit a few months back but unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate. While this had the net effect of giving us more time to prepare (we didn't need it); it also had the unintended consequence of prolonging the stress that went with playing the waiting game.
Examples of exemplary practice in our program that were noted by the Department are numerous and include a strong emphasis in math and science and multiple two way communication processes. The real strength of our program however; the one that rose to the top and was first highlighted was the caring and devoted teaching staff. We knew when we first embarked on this venture, the key to success was going to be ensuring we had the right person leading the program. When Mrs. Anderson expressed interest, I was uncertain. Not because I didn't think she would be successful, but that we were asking an awful lot from a junior faculty member! And I didn't know if that was fair because Mrs. Anderson at the time was finishing up her first year with us as a kindergarten teacher. That after finishing her first year as a second grade teacher in Jesup. So, here she was entering her third year as a teacher, third assignment in as many years as an educator, and building a brand new program from the ground up! You can see the trepidation, right? #whiplash! But, to her credit she went into this with eyes wide open and absolutely crushed it. I can't think of anyone who is better suited to fill this role and her navigation of the process was spot on.
Obviously not everything was perfect and they did give us two things that we will need to remedy in the next 45 days. For one, the fall zone in the playground doesn't have enough wood chips and they were concerned the window air conditioning units were at a level where a youngster might hit their head when going outdoors for recess. Since all the window air conditioners will be gone by the time school starts again that is easy enough to fix. The second item that needs attention are the electrical outlets in the little gym. They don't have child safety plugs in them. At the writing of this column, I believe that has already been remedied.
In all, a very good visit and a program that we can all be quite proud of!
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