LINCOLN EARLY LEARNING CENTER

LINCOLN PRESCHOOL SCREENINGS

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New options for Lincoln Preschool parents

An additional preschool class and an option for bussing have attracted more students to Lincoln Early Learning Center this fall.

“Our district really believes that early childhood education is important,” said Lincoln Principal Tyler Applegate. “It sets the stage for going into kindergarten next year, and we wanted to make sure as many kids as possible have the ability to come.”

The USD 413 Board of Education approved the hiring of Kim Luebbering to teach an additional preschool class and that’s added about 20 new students since last year.

The school board wanted to “increase the number of students we serve and one of the main roadblocks to that was that there was no transportation to Lincoln,” Applegate said. “Every year, there would be parents enrolling here and they’d check on transportation. When they found out we didn’t have any, then they’d look elsewhere.”

After discussing options and possible solutions with the director of transportation, it became apparent there wasn’t enough time between the morning session ending and the afternoon session starting for a bus to make it to all the designated bus stops in Chanute.

Applegate decided to post the survey on Facebook and the school website, and send surveys to all the licensed daycares and parents of enrolled students at Lincoln to assess their interest in preschool bus transportation for their child. The survey also asked what bus stop they would use, what daycare they use and where they would want their child dropped off after school. By August, only seven or eight surveys had been returned.

“At that point we decided to only offer bussing in the morning,” Applegate said. “By the time school actually rolled around we had 16 (and that’s) what we’re transporting at the moment.”

If numbers increase dramatically, the district would look at other options.

All the feedback from parents has been positive.

Obviously everyone utilizing the transportation is very happy with it, Applegate said. It allows students to come to Lincoln, without parents having to take off from work to pick up their child and take them to daycare.