Elmore County Schools has a child development program designed for children even before they enter kindergarten.
The Elmore County Child Development Program is for 3 and 4 year olds whose parents are seeking more than a daycare.
“Our child development program is a very structured day,” Elmore County Child Development Program supervisor Terri Carrico said. “We teach the Easy Breezy Preschool curriculum.”
PHOTOS: Elmore County Child Development Program helps young students
The Elmore County Child Development Program has been using the curriculum for about 10 years.
“It was developed by a group of kindergarten teachers,” Carrico said. “They got together and said these are things we would love kids to know before they come to us.”
Elmore County’s program is scheduled much like a school day. Students are taken through the halls of the elementary school. They go to the lunchroom and pep rallies. They visit with school staff and administrators.
“They get to experience all the fun stuff and get familiar with school staff, the principal,” Carrico said. “They are used to going into the school.”
It allows the 3 and 4 year olds to get used to going to school so on the first day of kindergarten the students have little trouble leaving mom and dad behind at the classroom door.
The program works, but it is different from Alabama’s First Class PreK program. The First Class program is funded through grants from the state. Elmore County’s Child Development Program is tuition based. It is paid by parents of the students enrolled in the program. It is one of only a handful of tuition based programs under a public school system umbrella in the state.
The program is popular. So much so there are waiting lists in most of the school communities, especially for the Holtville and Redland communities.
“As soon as people find out they are going to have a baby, they get on the waiting list,” Carrico said. “If you don’t get on the list, it is hard to get in.”
In Redland the program is housed in four classrooms on the kindergarten wing of Redland Elementary School.
In Holtville the program is hosted in an almost new 10 classroom building on the Holtville Elementary School campus. It was in four classrooms just two years ago and started with two classrooms.
The Millbrook community had a county schools child development program. It was closed to house a growing need for an alternative school. But county schools are developing a plan to construct a center on the Coosada Elementary School campus.
Tuition is $125 per week. It includes school supplies, breakfast, lunch and an afternoon snack.
In addition to the three and four year programs, the child development program is also home to after school programs for students in grades kindergarten through sixth grade. The three and four olds can take part in the afterschool program at no additional cost.
Currently there are openings at the Wetumpka center. Carrico believes it is because the availability in the First Class PreK program is greater.
Counting students in the afterschool program, the Elmore County Child Development Program has 466 total students enrolled and a staff of 88. The program extends through the summer months and is different from the normal school year.
“We only teach the curriculum with the school year,” Carrico said. “We are open in June and July with kind of a summer camp thing. We do weekly field trips and review and do some learning stuff.”
