Dateline: October 25, 2007

CISD to begin offering pre-k in January 

Clarendon school trustees green lighted a proposed Pre-Kindergarten program during their regular session October 15.

Superintendent Monty Hysinger said the program for four-year-olds will begin in January and will be reevaluated after a year and a half.

“We think it’s a positive move, and there are a lot of positive reasons for starting education earlier,” Hysinger said. “It develops social skills and early reading skills.”

The school district has discussed offering Pre-K in the past and began to look seriously at the idea after the First Baptist Church closed its Pre-K program this fall. Clarendon Elementary Principal Mike Word had a meeting with the parents of prospective Pre-K students about a month ago.

“We’ve talked about this for four or five years, and it was either do it now, or it was just going to keep not happening,” Word said.

A room is available for the class in the school’s D-Wing, and administrators have already identified a potential teacher for the class, whose employment will go before trustees next month.

The new program will cost the school district $28,000 to $30,000 for the remainder of the school year.

Registration for the class will begin in December, and parents will have to fill out all the paperwork for the school’s Head Start program.

“If they qualify for Head Start, they will placed there first,” Hysinger said.

The Pre-K class will run the entire school day and will accept a maximum of 17 students. If more than 17 students enroll in the program, the class will be split into two half-day classes.

Hysinger says he hopes the Pre-K program will be an incentive for more people to come to Clarendon and enroll their kids here.

“If they ever start here, they’ll see how good a program we have and stay,” he said. “It could really build our elementary enrollment.”

In other school district news, trustees approved a motion to work with Chancellor Financial, LLC, to help in securing alternative financing for constructing a proposed technology building. The facility would be built west of the Administration Building with revenue bonds and would not require an increase in taxes.

Trustees nominated Dan Hall, Che Shadle, and Casey Cobb for the Donley County Appraisal District Board of Directors. 

A public hearing was held to discuss the district’s 2007 School FIRST Rating annual financial management report. Clarendon CISD received a rating of superior achievement.