Pettis County Early Childhood Cooperative moves to a new place with more space

Students, staff and teachers are enjoying three times more learning space at the Pettis County Early Childhood Cooperative, or Co-op, due to their new location at the Sedalia Middle School.

The Co-op, which is part of Sedalia School District 200, provides free services to 3- and 4-year-old children through the Title 1 preschool and early childhood special education programs. The Parents as Teachers program is also operated through the Co-op.
According to Co-op Principal Grace Kendrick, the preschool program serves children who qualify for special education services. Kendrick said 106 students are currently enrolled, but the number could grow as the year progresses.

The Co-op was previously housed in the Virginia Flowers building, located near Bothwell Regional Health Center. And due to space restrictions, two classrooms of students and their teachers were housed at Heber Hunt Elementary School.

According to Superintendent Harriet Wolfe, BRHC bought the property and the district began looking for a new location. When the ballot issue to build the new high school passed, it included wording to remodel the sixth-grade wing of the middle school. The wing became open when the middle school was reduced to only two grades.

Wolfe said BRHC granted the district a year-long extension on its lease while the wing was made “early childhood appropriate.”

Kendrick said the new space includes a gym, space for screening and testing and individual and group therapy rooms. The new location also features an area for parent/child activities, a conference room, a parent waiting area and rooms for staff meetings and training.

Kendrick said the new space allows the staff to share expertise and utilize resources more effectively in providing services to students.

“The additional space allows us to provide many of our services, as well as staff, to be housed in one location,” she said. “This allows much easier staff collaboration.”

Although early childhood special education costs are totally reimbursable by law, the district will save money on transportation costs now that the students are in one location. And the district was able to pay for the remodeling costs through allowable federal funds, which saved the district approximately $50,000, Wolfe said.

The Parents as Teachers program is continuing to run through the Co-op, although on a much reduced level due to a $4.9 million cut in state funding announced in April.

The program, which is offered through the Pettis County Early Childhood Cooperative, is a voluntary and free program for families in Pettis County. The organization also serves children in Hughesville, La Monte and Smithton.

PAT provides parent education and family support to families with children age newborn through 5. Parents are supported by certified parent educators trained to translate scientific information on early brain development into specific when, what, how, and why advice for families.

PAT families receive personal visits where parent educators share age-appropriate child development information. Families also receive health, hearing and vision screenings for their children and have access to parent group meetings and a resource network that links families to other community services.

During the 2009-2010 school year, PAT employed 12 parent educators with 11 being part-time employees. This year, PAT has reduced their staff to three part-time parent educators.

Kendrick said PAT is offering personal visits to families who meet the high needs criteria with preference for the prenatal to 3-year-old population. Teen parents also will be given preference.

“In addition, we are continuing our collaboration with Early Head Start which will have six certified parent educators who will conduct personal visits using the PAT Born to Learn curriculum,” Kendrick said.