As the 2019-20 school year begins, I am thankful to our community for the passage of an enhancement millage last year that has given us the opportunity to increase our investment in early childhood education.
Beginning this fall, our four year old preschool program will add 33% more learning time, and will run Monday through Thursday under the continued leadership of Cherrie Pedric with assistance from Andrea Lavery. Our three year old program continues to operate two days per week with the addition of instructor Jen Kierzek and paraprofessional Kimberly Haas.
Our preschool is also in the process of becoming a Great Start Readiness Program (GSRP) preschool which will provide increased access to free preschool for qualifying families. To enroll in our preschool, visit https://webappe.oaisd.org/ECEOnline/Application/Add
Preschool openings are still available this fall for both three and four year olds.
We are also pleased to announce the addition of a Kindergarten section this fall as a result of increased Kindergarten enrollment. Kara Green will continue to teach a section of Transitional Kindergarten, Betsy Webbert will teach a section of Room to Grow Kindergarten, Katie Tidball and Cassie Koeman will team up for a section, and we are pleased to welcome new Kindergarten teacher Amy McKee to SPS.
In addition, we are excited to increase resources for our students learning and mental health needs through our special education services, school social work services and additional instructional assistants. We welcome MacKenzie Rietveld as our new fulltime special education teacher at the middle school along with DES special education teacher Katie Livingston. Kimberly Shaffer is our new school social worker at DES and Debbie Vacco will be an instructional assistant in Kindergarten.