February 2001

North Marion School District

The North Marion School District in Aurora has created a popular gathering place for young families in its preschool located in the newly opened Primary School. It serves 45 children. The district also serves the communities of Broadacres, Donald, Hubbard and Butteville.

BACKGROUND: "As we planned our new North Marion Primary School, which opened this school year, one of the goals emerging from our community was to serve our youngest children," said Principal Matthew Wilding. "We now know it’s crucial to focus on our earliest learners. Educators can make the largest impact on children between the ages of three and four."

Read How We Got Started by Principal Wilding.

The program is a good example of Gov. John Kitzhaber’s focus on early childhood intervention programs. It also gives teenagers in child development classes "hands-on" learning opportunities.

HOW IT WORKS: The preschool, based on a Head Start model, serves three groups of 15 children who attend school four half-days each week. "We have a waiting list and hope to provide four sessions next year," Wilding said, noting that a third of preschoolers are from migrant families and 25 percent do not speak English. "We did lots of outreach to migrant and ESL families." Staff have been able to make medical referrals through the school, also part of the Head Start Model. Meals are served family-style in class; two adults manage the class and high school students also provide childcare while earning school credit in early childhood development classes.

Transportation and meals are provided through the district, which keeps the cost down because these services are in place for the primary school. Rates are very affordable and the district offers scholarships to needy families. It costs $123 a month (includes four days). To make sure low-income families can enroll, about half the students’ tuition is paid by the district.

An advisory committee – the Family Support Team – helps keep staff in touch with parents

RESULTS: "Community feedback has been wonderful," Wilding said. "Our preschool teachers collaborate with the rest of our staff. We will look at baseline data of kinds in our kindergarten assessments. Our focus is to teach early literacy skills. Above all, we notice is a sense of joy as we see these children learn through their work and play each day."

NORTH MARION PRIMARY SCHOOL STAFF:

Principal - Mr. Matthew Wilding
Child Development Specialist - Mrs. Cathy Flachsbart
Success for All Coordinator - Mrs. Regina Renaldi
Learning Specialist - Ms. Sharon Lohse
Learning Specialist - Ms. Alice Dudon
Media Specialist - Ms. Tracy Anderson
Nurse - Mrs. Amy Layton
Secretaries - Ms. Carolyn Sweeney and Ms. Karla Morales

HOW WE GOT STARTED
North Marion Preschool

As we planned for the construction of North Marion Primary School we used this opportunity to assess the entirety of our school community’s needs. One of the goals that emerged was to create a preschool program in the new Primary School. We knew that the early learning experiences provided by a developmentally appropriate preschool would help our earliest learners enter kindergarten with the tools necessary to be successful students and learners.

Planning for the preschool continued and we looked at teaming with the Willamette ESD so that our preschool would include provisions for our Early Intervention Students’ needs. These children had been served by Early Intervention teachers and specialists at a site outside of the North Marion school district.

Our collaboration came to fruition as we opened the new North Marion Primary School this past September. We currently have 3 sections of Preschool. Each section has 15 students and from 2-4 teachers and assistants depending on students’ needs. Our preschoolers (kindergarten too) also benefit from North Marion’s PreK - 12 campus arrangement. With 4 schools on one campus we are able to house 2 sections of our high school’s Child Development class in our kindergarten/preschool wing. These high school students, some of whom are also electing to receive college credits through Chemeketa Community College’s 2+2 program, alternate between their theory class and their hands-on work in the preschool and kindergarten.

The Preschool sessions are 3 hour, half-days, 4 days per week. Both morning and afternoon sessions have the opportunity to eat lunch in their classrooms each day. Transportation is also provided. We used the transportation and food service which were in place for our remaining half day kindergarten classes (we offer 3 half-day and 3 full day kindergarten sessions) to keep the program costs down. We are able to offer our preschool to the community at rates which are very competitive with other preschool and daycare options. In addition, we have allotted a proportionate number of scholarships so that our Preschool program targets those who need it and so that it is an accurate reflection of our community’s diversity.

The community feedback has been wonderful. We currently have a waiting list for admission. Our preschool teachers are integrated into the planning and collaboration with the rest of our school community and we are looking forward to broadening and strengthening the program as we go. Above all, there is a sense of joy as you see these growing 3 and 4 year olds learning through their work and play each day.