The USD 428 Board of Education spent two hours Monday night at the District Education Center in Great Bend going through a work session discussing long-range planning for the district. One of the main topics discussed was the desire to add preschools to each of the five public elementary schools in Great Bend.
USD 428 Interim Superintendent Khris Thexton says getting children prepared for kindergarten with preschool is a much better idea than trying to catch students up that were not ready for full-time schooling.
Khris Thexton Audio
USD currently has the Helping Hands Preschool located at the Washington Building and Riley Elementary School has a preschool with roughly 30 students financed by “at-risk” funds that help low-income students.
While the Great Bend district offers all-day kindergarten, state and federal funding only covers half days. The other half of the expense is absorbed by USD 428.
Khris Thexton Audio
The Kansas State Board of Education is currently conducting a study to determine the readiness of kindergartens, a study they hope will push the Kansas Legislature to fund kindergarten all day.
Thexton mentioned he envisioned preschool as a half-day program in Great Bend. The interim superintendent also added they could potentially make room for the preschools in each grade school by moving sixth grade to the middle school. Grade schools would consist of Pre-K through fifth grade and the middle school would handle sixth through eighth. Thexton says if there is one district building that has the room to expand, it is the middle school.