Parents concerned about Hedges' preschool expansion

A group of about 10 concerned Hedges Elementary School parents and grandparents met with Kalispell Public Schools to voice concerns about the timing of plans to expand a federal grant-funded preschool program from one classroom to three this fall in a crowded school, when a new elementary school is being built and will open next year.

The expansion could mean up to 54 4-year-olds could enroll in the free program that targets children from low- to moderate-income families with the goal to level the playing field in kindergarten readiness among disadvantaged students.

The majority of meeting participants were parents of children who will be fifth-graders in the upcoming school year. In addition to being parents, many have served as classroom volunteers and two are former school employees who have seen some of the crowding issues firsthand at Hedges.

“I think we all agree, and we had a meeting prior to this, we love Hedges. We think Hedges is a tremendous school. We love the teachers there. We love the staff there,” said Lori Briggs, parent and former Hedges staff member. But, she noted, “there’s not room to spread out or go into small groups. There’s literally no place ... as you all know.”

What brought the group together was a commonality in shared stories of students coming home upset or in tears. A few parents said it was a particularly difficult group of children whose issues were exacerbated by the inability to find quiet places around the school.

“We had children coming home not wanting to go to school. We had our children coming home saying they didn’t feel safe at school. We had our children coming home saying they wanted to be home-schooled, saying that there was no place to learn. They couldn’t concentrate. It was too loud. There was no room,” Briggs said.

The result, parents vocalized, was a negative impact on academic performance and emotional wellbeing. With one more year before the transition to middle school, the group wanted more information in deciding whether or not to continue to enroll their children in the district.

Another parent talked about staffing issues with the preschool program and overtaxed facilities shared between students and about 18 preschoolers.

“We had a little bit of rough road with the preschool this last year. There’s no question about that from a staffing standpoint. We hope we have that resolved,” Superintendent Mark Flatau said.

District Assistant Superintendent Andrea Johnson said the goal going into the 2017-18 school year is to rearrange and group the three preschool classrooms in one wing and to consider serving lunch in the preschool classrooms to reduce traffic in shared areas.

Both administrators spoke to the long-term benefits of a preschool program in setting children up for success.

“They all met the kindergarten benchmarks for going into kindergarten so we know it made a difference for those students,” Johnson said.

The benefits of staff development as a result of the grant program have carried over to the kindergarten up to first-grade staff,” she added. “It’s meant to improve early childhood across the district.”

Yet some parents wondered if the bigger picture was at the detriment of other students.

Montana was one of 18 states awarded the federal grant. The four-year Montana Preschool Development Grant is in its third year. The grant provides $10 million annually, which is dispersed among high-need communities around the state for the development of high-quality, full-day preschool programs.

Facing overcrowding, Kalispell Public Schools’ board of trustees approved leasing a portable classroom at Hedges before expanding in hopes of reducing the impact of additional students. Music classes ended up using the portable classroom.

Northwest Montana Head Start also participated in the grant program in 2016-17, but will not continue it. Staff turnover and tight quarters was too much to take on, according to Head Start Director Marcy Otten.

“We just decided as a team that we’ve been struggling a little bit with keeping our classrooms staffed adequately. We figured it would be smarter to develop our leadership team,” Otten said.

Head Start’s decision meant more grant funding was available and the state reached out to Kalispell Public Schools to see if it could add more preschool students, according to Johnson. After going through enrollment projections and talking with principals it was decided there was room for three classes. Keeping the program at Hedges seemed logical, Flatau said, when asked why the classrooms aren’t put in other schools.

Meeting participants were assured that fifth-grade class sizes would stay under state accreditation standards, which is 30 students, and that a classroom at Russell Elementary has been reserved in case there’s an unanticipated enrollment increase.

Enrollment typically fluctuates up to the first day of school, which is Aug. 30. Administrators work to balance class sizes across grade levels and schools, which has meant over the past several years that a student may not attend his or her neighborhood school.

While Hedges has some room in kindergarten and second grade, it’s otherwise full. District-wide there are still 117 kindergarten through fifth-grade openings throughout the district.

What seemed to baffle parents the most was the timing of the preschool expansion when construction of a new $15.2 million elementary school is slated to be completed by August 2018 and will alleviate overcrowding in the district’s five existing schools.

“We’re a year out from a new school. Why are we doing this now?” Briggs said. She asked administrators, who included new Hedges Principal Brent Benkelman, what could be done to mitigate the impact of crowding on the academic and social wellbeing of students.

Flatau said the three administrators would sit down to go over the issues and look at options.

“Let me just say this. Everything you say here impacts me, impacts us. I don’t want your child, nor do I want you to feel the way you’re feeling. It’s concerning. I’ll just say that. I wish I had an answer right now. I don’t. That’s the frustrating thing from my perspective. I haven’t spent the last 40 years in education for kids to feel the way they felt this past year. So just know that. We need to change that one way or the other,” Flatau said.

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.