The daily Astorian., March 18, 2016, WEEKEND EDITION, Page 12A, Image 12

12A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN FRIDAY, MARCH 18, 2016
Preschool: District hopes to have a bilingual teacher
Continued from Page 1A
through Preschool Promise, a pot of
about $17.5 million allocated by the
state Legislature last year to expand
preschool options.
The state Department of Educa-
tion announced Wednesday that the
regional partnership would receive an
unspeci¿ed portion of the Preschool
Promise money. To receive fund-
ing, the new or expanded programs
must serve families within 200 per-
cent of the federal poverty level, and
mirror the new full-day kindergarten
schedule.
Astoria Superintendent Craig
Hoppes said the district is hoping
for enough money to serve up to 20
4-year-olds. While the Preschool
Promise money would help start the
preschool, the district would use state
funding to keep it running in future
years, counting the students as new
enrollees.
Working together
school spots, respectively, but often
run wait lists and have to turn some
families away. Linder said the dis-
trict’s preschool could help catch that
next tier of low-income families not
being served by Head Start.
Kate Gohr, principal of John Jacob
Astor Elementary School, would be
principal of the new preschool, which
would be located in the bottom Àoor of
the Capt. Robert Gray School, across
the hall from Head Start. Two pro-
grams would work in unison, with
Head Start enrolling the district’s pre-
schoolers, and the district provid-
ing transportation for Head Start’s
students.
“I think that it’s an excellent oppor-
tunity for children and families, and
it’s bene¿cial to the school district,´
said Joyce Irvin, who oversees Head
Students from low-income fami-
lies, and students learning English as
a second language, often fall into the
achievement gap, the disparity in per-
formance between students of differ-
ent demographic groups.
A wide swath of Astoria east of the
Astoria %ridge has been identi¿ed as a
“hot spot´ by the state Department of
Human Services, based on high rates
of poverty, public assistance, mobility
and families with school-age children.
“It’s the only hot spot in the
Target audience
Craig
Hoppes
Melissa
Linder
Start centers in Clatsop, Columbia and
Tillamook counties.
Irvin said her preschools ¿rst serve
children from families within 100 per-
cent of the federal poverty level, then
expand to families within 130 percent,
if there is room. The centers in Asto-
ria and Warrenton offer 36 and 72 pre-
county,´ Hoppes said. “We know there
are places where we have to go get
those kids.´
The recent state Kindergarten
Readiness Assessment, given each
year to incoming kindergartners,
showed Hispanic students in Asto-
ria knew about 80 percent as many
English letter names as the overall
population, and two-thirds as many
sounds, despite slightly exceeding
their peers in mathematics. Hispanic
kindergartners also lagged in under-
standing letter names and sounds in
their native language. A common
understanding among educators is
how students with strong literacy
skills in their primary language can
learn English faster. The school dis-
trict hopes to have a bilingual teacher
for the preschool.
Center: µI ¿nd it very tragic that it’s going to go away’
Continued from Page 1A
At a special meeting Wednes-
day, the City Council agreed to
provide the children’s center the
remaining $10,500 budgeted for
this year to allow parents time to
¿nd alternative child care. The
children’s center had originally
asked for more money, but the
city lacks resources to provide
the funds to a closing facility.
“I’m someone who has used
the children’s center and it’s a
wonderful facility, so personally
I ¿nd it very tragic that it’s going
to go away,´ Kucera said.
He added, “It’s ¿scally inap-
propriate for the city to do any-
thing more than we’ve done at
this point. We have this money
budgeted and this would be
a good reason to spend that
money, to at least give people
who have children in there some
time.´
The city budgeted a sub-
sidy of $63,000 for the chil-
dren’s center for this ¿scal year.
April’s payment was delivered
in March. The city’s remaining
portion of $10,500 is for May
and June.
The requested amount did
not include $13,500 raised for
the children’s center this year by
the Savor Cannon Beach Wine
Walk, which could come as late
as June and will pay for debts
on monthly expenses and parent
refunds, Bisping said.
City Councilor Wendy Hig-
gins asked why the situation was
not brought to the city earlier.
“My hands were tied,´ Bisp-
ing said. She said she hadn’t
had access to ¿nancial records
before it was too late.
The Tolovana Park building
will become city property.
Dropping enrollment
The children’s center can
hold up to 36 children but its
current enrollment is 19, with
six full time. Preschool enroll-
ment is lower than usual.
“Either people are leaving
for one reason or another or
they’re dropping their enroll-
ment to part-time,´ Bisping
said, citing efforts made to raise
enrollment in her eight months
as director. “Through the short
time that I’ve been here, it has
steadily decreased. That was a
problem before I came.´
The location contributed
to the enrollment problem,
she said, and families likely
switched to more convenient
locations, such as Seaside.
“These children could ¿nd
additional care closer to them,´
she said. “There are not a lot of
families in Cannon Beach look-
ing for child care.´
“There’s a point of closing
graciously,´ board secretary Jen-
nifer Barrett said. “We looked at
numbers and it’s hard to forecast
Submitted Photo
The Cannon Beach Preschool and Children’s Center.
‘I am very emotional about
the closing. I have spent
five years of hard work
volunteering to keep the
center open. I feel it is a
huge loss for Cannon Beach.
I hope to be able to open
a center again in Cannon
Beach when possible.’
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Barb Knop
board president
what’s going to happen in the
future. ... You’re going to lose
parents; you’re going to lose
teachers.´
“At some point we’re going
to have a baby boom and we’re
going to need (the children’s
center again,´ Mayor Sam
Steidel said. “Thank you for all
your efforts.´Councilors agreed
city demographics were not
advantageous for a child care
center, and discussed possi-
ble long-term solutions, such as
attracting younger families with
affordable housing.
Bene¿eld said the citi]en
survey results could help iden-
tify solutions.
“Even if we can attract fam-
ilies, they have to be able to
afford to live here,´ Higgins
said, adding that many Cannon
Beach low-income families get
child care from family.
Almost closed in 2011
The children’s center almost
closed its doors in 2011, board
president Barb Knop said after
the meeting, but the board cut
expenses and worked together
to keep it open.
“I am very emotional about
the closing. I have spent ¿ve
years of hard work volunteering
to keep the center open,´ Knop
said in an email. “I feel it is a
huge loss for Cannon Beach. I
hope to be able to open a cen-
ter again in Cannon Beach when
possible. I would like to thank
the city and our many busi-
nesses and individuals who sup-
ported the center throughout the
years.´
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