PANAMA CITY — Opening a pre-K education center to help students prepare for kindergarten was one option discussed Tuesday during the first Bay District School Board meeting of 2015.
The district provided a slide presentation on problems and solutions to improving pre-K performance, noting that while young children who participate in high-quality pre-K programs enter school at a higher level of readiness to learn than their peers, the district was “still not closing the achievement gap.”
Students in voluntary pre-K programs who need extra help were said by the district to be still struggling in kindergarten as compared to some of their peers.
During the presentation, a district slide said what will help is a pre-K center serving students who need extra help.
“This center could offer an extended day which will assist our families who often struggle to afford care beyond the free three-hour day,” the district’s presentation said.
It was expected the extended day would enable more services to students in need.
Local resident Leonard Hall said during the public comments section of the meeting that he thinks kindergarten students are unprepared.
Superintendent Bill Husfelt said he agreed with Hall on certain points but the two disagreed on other matters.
Hall said the district should decide a curriculum for children three years and perhaps younger to help prepare students for school.
Hall said the matter of underperforming students came down to individual student work ethic but that politicians and the media sometimes indicate such underperformance depends on the teacher.
The district’s presentation stated that studies estimate over the course of children’s lives, pre-K programs save the public between $3 and $10 for every $1 spent.