A preschool class of 27 to 29 four-year-old students will be at Windsor Place care home next school year.
USD 257 board members approved the proposal Monday evening.
Windsor Place owners said they would remodel a room to accommodate the young students, all of whom are considered at risk. Funding otherwise will come from a grant that Dr. Craig Neuenswander, superintendent of schools, said would not be affected by state aid cuts. Children will attend classes half a day.
This year the class was at Lincoln Elementary School and in previous years has been at each of the other elementaries, Jefferson, McKinley and LaHarpe.
The only additional expense that Neuenswander foresees is for playground equipment.
“They don’t have any at the nursing home,” he said, and allowed that raising money for the outdoor toys would be a good project for a civic group.
The preschool has been a ward of the Southeast Kansas Education Service Center at Greenbush, but will now be entirely under control of USD 257. The only hurdle yet to clear is state Department of Education approval, which Neuenswander expects.
ANGELA HENRY, SAFE BASE director, told board members she had applied for another REACH Healthcare Foundation dental grant to provide screening and follow-up services for students in all Allen County schools.
The annual dental screening, a part of fall enrollment, was started five years ago just for USD 257 and as an adjunct of SAFE BASE, the district’s after-school program. More recently it has involved students in USD 256 (Moran-Elsmore) and USD 258 (Humboldt).
“In the past five years we’ve screened 5,223 kids and had 674 do follow-up dental work,” Henry said. “During that time we’ve received grants totaling $603,000.”
This year’s grant seeks $70,000. Henry expects to know in early June whether it is funded.
