Twain a possible site for new early-learning center

“These kids need us, and they need us now,” said Superintendent Gabe Edgar. “And this needed to be something that we could do in 2023-24. And our best option was to repurpose an elementary school.”

There are several vacant sites in St. Joseph that could have been acquired by the district to serve as the secondary St. Joseph Early Learning Center, supplementing the site at Lake Contrary. But that would have been expensive, ranging in the seven figures, and the district can’t fund such million-dollar purchases without passing a bond at the ballot box. The uncertainty inherent in that vote, and the time required to do it, would have delayed the opening of the second ELC/preschool to August 2024, Edgar said.

In consulting with Dlo DuVall, director of special programs, Edgar has decided to address a significant problem. It is indicated by recent findings that only about 44% of kindergartners have the skills they need on their first day of school. Teachers must spend extra time preparing them to learn before they teach anything, and this delay reverberates through the rest of their school career.

Each year, between 750 and 850 new students begin kindergarten. The district can’t get many of those kids into its available preschool space. By establishing two early learning centers, one at Lake Contrary and one at a soon-to-be-converted elementary school, the hope is to meet at least 80% of the need. Additional expansions to each campus, later on, would add to that capacity.

“We have approximately $1 million that is set aside from this type of transition, for early learning,” Edgar said. “All of the startup costs will be taken care of by that reserve. Obviously, the staffing will cost money beyond that point.”

On that matter, Edgar said, the district promises no one will be laid off at the elementary school that is converted. The students currently studying will have to be placed somewhere else, and teachers and other employees will be needed. How this balances out, and who ends up going where, whether they be a pupil or an SJSD worker, will come into being starting with a conversation set for 2 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 17, at the Facilities Planning Committee meeting at 3401 Renick St., the Troester Media Center.