New Alcona Community Schools preschool up and running
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ALPENA -- Alcona Community Schools and Northeast Michigan Community Service Agency have partnered together to open a new three-and four-year-old head start preschool on the Alcona campus.
"Seeing more of an incline in student numbers. It just kind of told us that there's a need for more preschool slots out there," Robyn Hart, Family Services Coordinator for NEMCSA Head Start, said. "So here we are, we've added another Head Start program to Alcona Community Schools. And thankfully, (Alcona Superintendent) Dan (O'Connor) and the Principal Tim Lee have worked real hard with (NEMCSA Area Manager) Jess (Pelto) and I to find a room for us at the corner elementary school."
The new preschool is located inside the Alcona Community Schools' elementary building using a repurposed room and is currently at full capacity with 18 students.
As a part of the Head Start program, the preschool is federally funded by the Administration for Children and Families and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and is free to parents.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Head Start programs support early childhood development and work to help get children ready to succeed in school by helping them build relationships and encouraging a love of learning.
Before it could be used as a preschool classroom, the room needed to undergo several renovations in a process reported to have taken three months.
"We had to have so many square feet in a room per child, we had to go through licensing, we had to have different documentation up on our walls, we have to have enough space for each child, we had to have 30 play spaces per child for our toys that we have in our classroom, and we have to have outdoor space because we have to have an hour of outdoor time," Pelto said. "We had it done in three months from start to finish."
The preschool is being taught by three staff employed by NEMCSA who, according to Pelto, will be using the frameworks of creative curriculum and conscious discipline to prepare children for kindergarten. These frameworks help to teach young kids how to manage behavior and build an interest in learning through project-based and hands-on activities.
With this new school, Alcona schools now supports 54 children across the three separate classrooms on campus, according to the district.
"The district is thrilled to offer a third classroom of preschool, all found on campus. The importance of early learning and social development is vital. We have had waiting lists for several years, and adding a classroom should move us closer to universal preschool for all Alcona students," O'Connor said last week in a press release.
Enrollment into any of the preschool programs must be done through Hart who can be reached via call or text at 989-590-7217.