Voluntary preschool program could be helpful for student-parents, wider community
A new grant-funded program is bringing preschool learning opportunities to the College Community School District. A new grant from the State of Iowa will make a voluntary preschool program available to four-year-olds. The new program will provide state-certified teachers trained in early childhood education to give personalized learning experiences for up to 20 children per class section. The collaboration could assist more than 240 four-year-olds.
Kirkwood Community College is joining with the Prairie district in promoting awareness of the program. Child Care Director Johnna Haggerty says the program “could be a big plus” for some college students, as well as faculty and staff.
“This is a great new opportunity for many parents. We know that child care may be a factor in educational access for some students, and we hope this project addresses that barrier and makes college study possible,” Haggerty said.
The grant provides a program of 12 hours of tuition-free preschool per week during the school year for more than 240 children in the area. Eligible students should be four years old on or before September 15, 2009. The program sessions will be three hours a day for four days a week with a varied number of wrap-around hours.
Currently there are openings in our morning and afternoon sessions. Each of these sessions includes about one hour of “wrap-around” care both before and after the session and on Fridays, if needed. Parents will be charged $4.50 an hour for wrap-around care.
Complete information and registration procedures are available by contacting Johnna Haggerty at (319) 398-1256 or jhagger@kirkwood.edu