The Coronado Unified School District hopes to replace its Early Childhood Development Center, which closed this year, with a tuition-based, not-for-profit preschool in 2013.
Crown Preschool, as it will be known, will offer a curriculum closely tied to one students will encounter in kindergarten and elementary school, one that strives to “establish the basic building blocks for 21st century learners,” Director of Curriculum Claudia Gallant said in an e-mail.
Gallant said the district is seeking community input for Crown Preschool.
Officials have posted a survey to gauge community needs and support for a preschool at www.surveymonkey.com/s/G5RTCVR.
Parents are urged to respond by June 20, a day before the school board votes on the preschool proposal.
At their May 24 meeting trustees voted to close the early childhood center, because state funding was no longer available. The vote was 3-1, with Dawn Ovrom opposed. Brenda Kracht was absent.
“My conscience won’t let me do it,” Ovrom said.
Even for supporters the vote was not easy. Board President Bruce Shepherd called the action “heartbreaking.”
Before the closure was announced, the center had received 38 applications for the coming school year.
There are other preschools in the community. The Navy has one available for active duty sailors and marines. , and do as well, but all are full and have long waiting lists.
Parent Sonya Tucker told trustees that her oldest son was in first grade before there was room for him in one of the church-run preschools.
Even if the board approves it, Crown Preschool will not open for a year.
The district could have moved faster and rushed through a fee-based program to immediately replace the state-funded pre-school, but Superintendent Jeffrey Felix didn’t think it was prudent.
“Any business needs to be planned out properly,” he said. “We want to do this right.”
