Pickens County celebrates new pre-K sites
REFORM, AL. (WCBI) – Pickens County is celebrating a milestone.
A district-wide ribbon cutting was held to celebrate the four new pre-K classrooms in the county.
Ceremonies were held at Aliceville Elementary, Reform Elementary, and Gordo Elementary.
Rylee Clark used to roam the halls of Reform Elementary as a child.
Now, her son gets that opportunity, but with an earlier start. She is excited to see him walk the halls that she once walked.
“It’s a brighter start for our future,” Clark said. “I walked through those doors, and it has not changed since I went many moons ago.”
Pickens County Superintendent Shawn McDaniel is passionate about setting children up for success.
That’s why expanding the Pre-K program in the Pickens County Elementary Schools was a goal for the district.
Previously, the county had one centralized pre-K located in Carrollton.
But now, the district has worked with the justice department, attorneys, and the community to expand the program because there was a need.
“We recognize that not all of our pre-K children were having the opportunity to be served due to geographical locations, and parents working out of the county,” McDaniel said. “And so one of the things that we decided to do was bring our pre-K programs to each school site, put classrooms on each campus, and begin to enroll. Then, allow those students to have transportation provided to the school, working with the Office of School Readiness to do that.”
The funding will come from the school board and the Office of School Readiness. The district can spend $80,000 to $90,000 to ensure the classroom has everything it needs.
“I want to continue to see these programs expand,” McDaniel said. “I would like to see Reform Elementary have a second classroom as well as Aliceville Elementary have a second classroom.”
Principal Faye Jones says adding pre-K will bring Reform Elementary up to around 200 students. She said they are doing all they can to grow.
“It is a great opportunity not only for the school but just the city,” Jones said. “Reform Elementary has a lot of student decline, so to see the students coming back to Reform Elementary is huge for us.”
Overall, parents and faculty say they hope to lay the foundation for the future of education, meeting social, emotional, and intellectual needs.
Every student who applied for the program was offered a seat.
The program starts this year, and there are roughly 68 kids in the district.
There are still kids registering, and there is a waiting list.
McDaniel said, depending on how many kids there are when school starts, they may need additional funding from the Office of Readiness.
