By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
The director of Early Childhood Connections told the Hays USD 489 school board during a training Monday the program is in need of more space to meet future requirements for the program.
In the next five years, Early Childhood Connections will be required to have all its students that are in half-day programs going full day.
ECC serves children ages birth through 5 through a variety of program funded through a combination of federal, state and local match, depending on the program. ECC is sponsored by USD 489, but provides services to several other counties.
Donna Hudson-Hamilton, ECC director, said Monday she hoped the passage of a proposed $78.5 million bond issue would help ECC expand its programs.
There is not enough room at Washington school, where most of the ECC programs are based, to expand because early childhood programs can’t be conducted on the upper floor of a building.
ECC had considered expanding its program at Munjor, which now houses about 20 children in the birth through 3 age group, but Hudson-Hamilton said the district did not want to send more children out of town.
If the proposed bond passes, the school district would build two new elementary schools and remodel O’Loughlin Elementary School for use by ECC, the Westside program and the Learning Center. Under the bond plan, Munjor would be closed and go back to the Catholic Church.
Consolidation of all the ECC classes under one roof would result in efficiencies and better use of funds, Hudson-Hamilton said.
Right-size classrooms with appropriate facilities for young children would also be goal of the bond remodel. There are not bathrooms close to all the classrooms, and those classrooms that do have bathrooms are not large enough to effectively help small children who are potty training, she said.
The move to O’Loughlin would allow more space to add more student spots, but Superintendent John Thissen said it would not mean more funding for teachers and aides for those classes.
ECC currently has three full-day sessions for children ages 3 to 5 at Washington, seven half-day sessions that are split between Washington and Russell. The Ellis School District partners with ECC to offer another two half-day sessions in Ellis.
The state of Kansas has placed a requirement on all school districts in the state to increase kindergarten readiness, but Thissen said it is still unclear what the district’s role is expected to be in this and whether the state will offer any additional funding to reach this goal.
“I don’t believe a lot of people really fully understand the range of ability that exists for children entering as kindergarteners,” he said. “We still have children coming in for whatever reason who are still working on being potty trained.
“We can have children that have or are acting with skills that are much akin to a second grader, and they are just a kindergartener. There is such a range it really is very challenging for kindergarten teachers to work with that and start their process of 13 years in pubic schools.”
The ECC programs are full with the exception of a few slots in the birth through 3 home-based program.