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Washington Evening Journal
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Washington, IA 52353
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Preschool and Kindergarten Roundup Held
Southeast Iowa Union offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
There are many landmarks in children’s lives. Two of the most important are in early childhood. The advent of preschool provides each child with the opportunity to prepare for kindergarten academically and socially. The second landmark is enrollment in kindergarten and attending school for a full day. Parents of children in these age groups must make many adjustments as well. For some it is the realization that the child is growing up too fast for comfort. Sometimes it is the first child reaching the landmark and sometimes it is the last. All these have many memories to stories or recall.
This year the two roundups were held on the same night. The winter weather of February 2025 has been weird. The forecast for the evening of Thursday, Feb. 13, indicated it would be unsafe for families to be out. The format of the event was an open house style. The pre-K room and the three Kindergarten classrooms were open with activities for children. Teachers were available for parents to ask questions and observe their youngsters as they explored. Refreshments were available as well. The stress and day of testing children at Kindergarten roundup are gone, much to everyone’s relief.
It is difficult to predict class size at the roundup event. It appears that New London will be returning to two sections per grade level with the entering kindergarten class. Nearly every grade level in Clark has three sections at this time. School funding is based on student population. The School Board and Administration watch these numbers closely as the long-term plans for the District must take those future dollars into account.
Iowa has always been a leader in public education. Iowa's preschool history includes the first nursery school in the United States at Iowa State University, the Head Start program, and the Statewide Voluntary Preschool Program. The Legislature established the Voluntary Preschool Program in 2007, which is available without regard to family income and is free to any four-year-old meeting the birth-date requirements. Iowa also supports preschool for low-income children through its Shared Visions program and Early Childhood Iowa, the early-childhood system-building initiative. In addition, the federal government funds Head Start for low-income children and, along with the state, special education preschool for children with developmental disabilities.
Many of these programs have Federal funding associated with them. It is not known at this time how many will be disbanded and Iowa Early Education will be forced to drop these opportunities for our youngsters. Child & Family Policy Center (CFPC) currently has information from the Iowa Department of Education's statewide longitudinal database to begin assessing how well SVPP and other public preschool programs reach Iowa children. New London stakeholders will want to keep track of all the changes that may occur in these important programs.
