EATON — The Preble County Educational Service Center (ESC) staff took the ESC board and the public on a tour of the facility on Hillcrest Drive during a meeting on Wednesday, Aug. 30. The tour served to show people the preschool rooms which help serve special needs children and those from a low socioeconomic background.
First on the agenda was the preschool rooms, which Preschool Supervisor Debby Barnett noted were separated into “centers.” In the first room there is a place for small group, snacks, science, writing, dramatic play, blocks, and art. There is a playground outside.
“There is a thought that preschool is maybe not as important as other grades, but it is,” she said. “There is a lot of learning about how to socialize, how to get along with others, what to do if someone takes your toy — prepping and making them ready to learn.
“I’m real proud of what we do in preschool and we get kids with some significant needs since we serve special needs kids. We grow those kids as well.”
The program is state funded, unlike Head Start which is federal, and according to guidelines the school must serve a certain number of children who are from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. For tuition-paying students, there is a sliding scale based on income. People who are below the poverty guidelines do not have to pay.
There is normally a waiting list to get in, but there is currently one slot open. The school normally starts the enrollment process in March.
She added, “We did a big marketing campaign last year and it helped. I always have IEP slots open throughout the year. Those are kids who are referred due to speech delay or other disabilities. We serve those kids in all kinds of settings. There are two classrooms here, one at Hollingsworth East Elementary, and one at Twin Valley South.
“The other classroom here is a preschool special education classroom, where it is a 50/50 model focused on serving special needs kids.”
When the tour moved to that classroom, which is smaller than the first one, Barnett pointed out a wooden “contraption.”
She said, “We’re working on getting it up and getting going. Right now it’s closed. It will eventually have a swing, because we have a little girl who has special needs and needs the swing to calm down. That is all in the process of getting ordered. This room has its centers too.”
There are two aides in the special needs classroom. However, depending on student need there are sometimes more than two aides necessary.
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