The Faculty of Southern Maryland (CSM) will lease its former St. Charles Youngsters’s Studying Heart (CLC) to Charles County Public Faculties (CCPS) so as to add extra availability for full-day prekindergarten programing in Charles County.
Underneath the settlement unanimously authorized by the CSM Board of Trustees at its Nov. 17 month-to-month assembly, CCPS will lease the CLC for 2 years beginning Jan. 1, 2023 with an possibility for 2 extra years after June 2026.
The lease settlement will assist CCPS in assembly the necessities set forth underneath the brand new Blueprint for Maryland’s Future laws (HB-1300) passed in 2021 which requires public faculty programs to determine and implement free, high-quality prekindergarten packages for 3- and 4-year-old kids from low-income households, and supply prekindergarten to all different 4-year-olds with charges set at a sliding scale. The purpose of the prekindergarten programming is to arrange kids socially, emotionally, bodily and academically for kindergarten and past.
Starting this faculty yr, CCPS began providing a full-day prekindergarten program in any respect of its 22 elementary colleges. At present, there are 847 kids enrolled, and almost 220 kids on a ready record for public faculty placement. CSM’s CLC is a ten,000-square foot stand-alone constructing that features 9 lecture rooms, a gymnasium, a prep kitchen and personal landscaped playground situated on the north aspect of the La Plata campus.
“CCPS is happy to increase our prekindergarten program to a bigger variety of college students within the Charles County neighborhood,” stated Charles County Public Faculties Superintendent Maria Navarro, Ed.D. “When kids have entry to early studying alternatives equivalent to prekindergarten, they’re higher ready to begin faculty.
“Prekindergarten college students find out about faculty readiness by way of actions designed to construct language and literacy expertise, mathematical and scientific pondering, and social and emotional expertise,” she continued. “CCPS has a longstanding partnership with CSM to supply extra studying alternatives for college kids largely geared at the highschool degree. Now, that partnership helps us to assist extra college students with a give attention to faculty readiness for younger kids”
“We’re thrilled to enter into this MOU to assist Charles County Public Faculties and assist our youngest learners get off to an incredible begin,” stated CSM Board of Trustees Chair Shawn Coates. “That is simply one other instance of CSM’s far-reaching purpose to assist our college students, our companions, and our communities meet the challenges of particular person, social – and on this case—legislative modifications that enhance our academic programs.”
The CLC was established to supply CSM college students, college, workers and neighborhood members with high quality, child-centered care in January 2006. The middle closed when the school moved to predominantly distant operations in March 2020 in response to COVID-19 pandemic.
“The CLC all the time fulfilled its cost of offering high-quality academic providers, however it additionally all the time struggled financially,” defined CSM Vice President of Operations and Planning Dr. Invoice Comey. “On the time the middle closed in 2020, solely 5 of the youngsters enrolled have been kids of scholars and solely 4 have been kids of staff.”
The consequences of the closing through the pandemic have been significantly disruptive to the operation of the middle, Comey additional defined.
“Dad and mom of youngsters within the middle discovered different childcare preparations and furloughed CLC staff discovered different jobs,” he stated. “After spending a substantial time reviewing and analyzing when and find out how to reopen the CLC, and the way to do that in a cheap method that met our mission, the school determined to not reopen it. As a substitute, we started searching for an out of doors entity all for working this area. This initiative permits each organizations to honor the CLC – which was established as a ‘studying middle’ for our youngest neighborhood of learners – in addition to strengthen and improve the on-going partnership between CSM and CCPS.”
The CCPS prekindergarten program is neither necessary nor assured. In accordance with the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, first precedence is given to college students whose households meet the revenue eligibility for Tier I, are homeless or are in foster care, or have a present, energetic Individualized Schooling Plan (IEP). All Tier I college students are admitted after verification. Tier II and Tier III college students could also be positioned if slots exist in spite of everything Tier I college students are positioned. For a full description of the three utility tiers, click on on the next hyperlink: Prekindergarten application tiers.
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