Creston preschool nears capacity in second year

Cheyenne Roche, The Creston News Advertiser, Iowa
·2 min read

Aug. 19—When the Creston Community School District (CCSD) looked into creating a preschool for 3 and 4 year olds, they had to have a certain number of kids to make it financially feasible to open two classrooms.

In just its second year of operation, both 4-year-old sections are at their capacity of 20 kids each and have a waitlist to get in. The 3-year-old section is at 16 of 20.

"I think we have a lot of 4-year-olds in Creston right now," Early Childhood Center Principal Callie Anderson said. "If you look historically, two preschools have closed — Creative Beginnings and Discovery Kids."

Anderson said there are six children on the waitlist for the 4-year-old classes, and she's still trying to find a way to serve them. "I'm not done yet," she said. "Hopefully we can find something."

The preschool enrollment was discussed at the Creston School Board meeting Monday. "Our vision was that's how we wanted to get kids coming in to our district," Creston Superintendent Deron Stender said. "They're probably going to continue their education, their primary years, at whatever place they started. The district not having that, we were at a disadvantage."

The district hired two additional teachers and a teacher's assistant in each program to get the preschool up and running last year. When preparing to offer the program, Anderson said they needed to be sure they were well-versed in the early childhood standards. "Social emotional learning is a big component in preschool," she said. "We want to promote creativity and friendship."

Anderson said building relationships is a vital part of early learning. "You start in school at 3 years old; you're with that peer group clear through graduation."

Creston elementary, middle and high school students start school on Tuesday, but preschool kids won't have their first day until after Labor Day.

Anderson said sometimes big emotions is just a part of the first day of school, from children and their parents. Their open house Thursday allowed kids to see their teacher's face again and get comfortable with the space. Parents are also welcome to come visit the space with their child any time before school begins to help the little one acclimate.

"Change is hard; unfamiliar faces are scary," Anderson said. "We can't have the child's head until we have their heart."