Lee County Schools to launch pre-k program next school year
Apr. 6—TUPELO — The Lee County School District will launch a new pre-kindergarten program next academic thanks to an Early Learning Collaborative grant.
The Lee County Early Learning Collaborative is a partnership between the district and local Head Start programs to provide a high quality early learning experience for pre-k students across the county.
Jodie Boyd, LCSD's director of Early Childhood, said Lee County was one of three districts selected by the Mississippi Department of Education this year to receive a grant to establish an early learning collaborative.
Lee County currently enrolls between 650 and 700 kindergarten students each year. The early learning collaborative will enroll a total of 140 students in the first year, so Boyd knows not all who wish to enroll will be accepted.
"Our goal is to grow, to expand," Boyd said. "We want to eventually have an early learning center with one location for our district. But right now, we know the seven classrooms, the 140 students we can serve, will make a positive difference."
LCSD will receive $350,000 per year in funding for the next three years, which will be matched by the district. The district will reapply to continue the grant after the three years is up, Boyd said.
Four existing federal Head Start programs will combine with three pre-kindergarten classes established by LCSD to form the Early Learning Collaborative.
The Head Starts are located at Verona Elementary School, Shannon Primary School and Shannon Elementary School, along with an off-site classroom at the Saltillo Head Start Center. The Head Start programs will hold their own registration and serve as a Head Start entity, but will join in the collaborative partnership with Lee County Schools.
The district will add and operate classrooms at three school sites: Saltillo Primary School, Mooreville Elementary School and Verona Elementary School.
Candace Cherry, a 26-year educator, has taught kindergarten at Saltillo Primary for 17 years. Next school year, she'll be teaching the pre-kindergarten class at the school.
"I see that students come in not prepared for kindergarten," Cherry said. "They don't have the skills they need to be successful. They can improve so much more, and we can push them so much further when they come with these basic foundational skills."
Those skills include: how to hold a pencil correctly and cut with scissors, basic knowledge of the alphabet, knowing that letters and sounds make words, how to write their first name, and counting up to 20.
"There's a big gap between students who have had a strong pre-k (education) and students who have not," Cherry said.
Cherry expects the Early Learning Collaborative to help close that learning gap.
"I'm excited to bring a program to our school that we have needed so badly for so long," Cherry said. "And I'm excited to prepare these kids and get them ready for kindergarten."
The Lee County School District will hold open registration for the three district classrooms in the Early Learning Collaborative on Saturday, April 15, from 9 a.m. to noon at the district's central office (1280 College View Drive in Tupelo) and again Tuesday, April 18, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. The four head start classrooms will hold their own registration.
Children must be age 4 on or before Sept. 1 to enroll.
"This is a critical age for life skills, developmental skills," Boyd said. "We know that it's going to be a benefit far beyond their formal education, it's going to be a benefit for their future and ultimately for society."
