The Callaway Public School media center was filled and more chairs had to be brought in to accommodate the number of guests in attendance at a public forum on March 2. Superintendent Bryon Hanson was joined by only three members of the school board, as to not constitute a quorum and therefore have to operate under school board policies.

The purpose of the public meeting was to discuss one topic - the proposed expansion of the already existing preschool at the school. By not having a school board quorum, the public was able to ask questions and voice concerns to which the superintendent and board members were able to respond. Hanson began the discussion with the goal of putting to rest some of the misconceptions and misinformation about the proposal that have been floating around the community.

The first misconception he addressed is the idea that the expanded preschool will serve as “free daycare”. Hanson emphasized that is absolutely not a fact. “This has academic merit. The expansion of a preschool, when you look at the impact on kids, there is academic merit to that,” said Hanson. “The meta analysis data I looked closest at was for kindergarten readiness.”

Hanson presented data to suggest a fairly significant growth in both math and reading for incoming kindergarten students as a result of the preschool option. “I want to dispel the rumor that this is just free daycare,” he said. “There is academic merit to a potential expansion to the preschool that we already have in place.”

The expansion being discussed is simply taking the existing half day preschool program to a full day, operating on the same time schedule as the elementary. “We are not alone in having this discussion. There are neighboring communities that are looking at expanding even farther than we are,” Hanson added. “This is becoming more common. That is because not only of the academic merit, but also because oftentimes the school is the most stable entity in the community. I feel like expanding this to an all day program is going to increase and improve our kindergarten readiness.”

The second benefit to the program, according to Hanson, is community need. “We can’t be the whole solution, but we can be a good member of this community and be part of that solution.”

Hanson shared that a group which included school representatives, hospital representatives, economic development folks and the current community daycare provider recently met for a roundtable discussion to talk about the economic impact that not having a place for kids to go is having on Callaway. “The director of the nursing home shared that he has families that would potentially move here if there were options for their children,” Hanson said. “We know in order to grow we have to be an attractive place for young families to come.”

Another rumor that Hanson wanted to address was the logistics of the expanded preschool within the building. “There have been some rumors out there that we are planning on taking a wall down in the elementary school so that room could never convert back. That is not accurate. Another rumor out there is that we are moving to a grades 5, 6, 7, 8 middle school program 100% not true,” Hanson shared.

While Hanson said a play based academic setting is essential for learning and will be the basis of the expanded preschool program, the idea that the majority of the day will be spent in play time is not true. He also emphasized the various ways that 3 and 4-year-olds learn - including through play.

Though the proposal is to expand the current preschool to a full day, parents will not be required to send their child to school all day if they choose not to. Hanson said it is up to the parents to decide what is best for their child, whether that be a half day or full day program. Both of those options will be offered.

Expanding the program in terms of staffing will require adding a certified teacher, and depending on the number of children in the program each year an additional paraeducator may also be needed. Hanson said he has already begun the process of writing some grants to help with the upfront costs for the expansion; however, many of the grants cannot be applied for until the district commits to the program first. He said he feels confident that the district can make this happen while maintaining a levy neutral situation.

One of the questions from the public was whether or not transportation would be provided for these young students who may be going to the all day program. Hanson said his plan as of now is to operate on the traditional bus schedule. He said they are also looking at expanding the after school program down to the 3-year-olds, but there would be a cost to parents.

There were some concerns raised about the preschoolers being kept separate from the other students. “We actually have quite a bit of interaction between our high school kids and our early elementary school kids because of the programming we have, and it’s amazing. I would actually love to see that extended down to the 3 and 4-year-olds,” Hanson said. “We’re not a very big building. The kids are going to be together at times.”

District patrons attending the public forum also had some questions for preschool teacher Jenn Hickenbottom and kindergarten teacher Stephanie Ross. Hickenbottom began by sharing some of the benefits she sees in the proposed expansion.

“I’m not going to do worksheets or lecture 3-year-olds. We’re going to keep it hands on and incorporate a lot more experiences that I feel like we run out of time for in just three hours,” Hickenbottom explained. “My thinking is we are going to throw in a lot more science, more thematic units and we’ll dig into some of those in our community. It’s a great place for us to build our play skills, our getting along and sharing. It’s amazing how many kids come in and just don’t play together very well yet. So when we get them at age 3 I feel like we spend the first several months just learning how to play with each other. And it’s amazing to see how they come back as 4’s and how much growth they have.”

Hickenbottom said the preschool also provides Ross an opportunity to build relationships with the 4-year-olds. “And they are loving it! They came back from Christmas and asked if they could go to kindergarten yet,” said Hickenbottom as the crowd laughed. “They are growing to love her and are excited to go, and I think that is something great we have going on and that we can continue to build.”

Next week we will continue the discussion of the proposed preschool expansion by hearing from kindergarten teacher Stephanie Ross, as well as other public and school board comments.