The Vicksburg Warren School District will include more preschoolers in the upcoming school year as it has added two more pre-kindergarten classes to its two large elementaries.

Dana Road and Sherman Avenue will have 80 pre-kindergarten students, up from 50 during the just-ended school year, when the children were in classes at Dana Road and Beechwood.

The classes are open to children who will be 4 by Sept. 1. Enrollment for the upcoming school year is closed, but applications for 2010-11 will be taken in January 2010.

Dana Road was chosen because its facilities — small desks and restrooms — are suited to toddlers. Beechwood was originally chosen because of its available classroom space; the class will be moved in the upcoming year to Sherman Avenue due to available classroom space.

“It’s an exciting time to prepare students for kindergarten,” said Janice Hatcher, Sherman Avenue principal. The school will provide an orientation for pre-kindergarten, kindergarten and first-grade students and their parents. 

This year, enrollment applications were open to all eligible students in January, as opposed to just students in the Dana Road and Beechwood zones the first two years.

The pre-K classes, which began as a pilot program in 2007, are paid for through Title 1 federal funds, which are aimed at improving the academic achievement of the disadvantaged. The cost of a pre-kindergarten class is roughly $100,000, which includes a teacher’s salary, said Dr. James Price, superintendent.

Price said about 70 percent of students in the district are considered at-risk, determined by socioeconomic status.

“If we can get to children sooner, the more realistic skills they’ll have when they get into kindergarten,” he said.

For the upcoming school year, 108 applications were submitted at Dana Road, and 40 were accepted.

Acceptance was random. Susan Bentley, VWSD director of federal programs and special education, said it was like picking names out of a hat. The selection, however, had to adhere to an even race and gender ratio.

At Sherman Avenue, 58 applications were submitted, and 40 were accepted.

In the first year of the pilot program, 75 applied and 20 were accepted at Dana Road, and 20 of 68 were accepted at Beechwood. In the second year, Dana Road received 106 applications and accepted 26, and 48 applied at Beechwood with 24 accepted.

Dana Road Principal Ethel Lassiter said the students learn reading and counting, and other activities, such as music, art and computers.

*

Contact Manivanh Chanprasith at mchan@vicksburgpost.com