SOUTH PORTLAND — One year after launching a pilot preschool
program to a dozen 4-year-olds in the Brickhill and Redbank neighborhoods, the
South Portland School Department hopes to expand those to Kaler Elementary.
At its June 11 meeting, the school board will
vote on whether or not to accept a $125,000 grant from the Great Bay
Foundation, a Portland-based philanthropic organization, which contacted the
department earlier this year after plans to expand preschool services were
sidelined during the budgeting process.
On Monday, Superintendent Suzanne Godin declined
to discuss the proposal because school board members had not yet been briefed
on it. She did say that many specifics, such as the number of children the new
program will admit, are “not yet determined.”
The current program is open to 12-14 children on
a lottery basis, served by one certified early childhood teacher and an
education technician at the Youth Alternative Family Center on Lydia Lane. Of
the open spots, 60 percent are reserved for low- and moderate-income families.
The school department had anticipated expanding
preschool services throughout the district by 2015 when budgeting concerns
stalled the planned rollout at Kaler. Godin said there are no plans to expand
preschool beyond Kaler at this time.
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