LINDEN — North Montgomery got a boost in its Early Learning Academy this week after Curriculum Coordinator Anthony Tharpe applied for a little-known grant.
The district received $270,000 via the Build, Learn, Grow Stabilization Grant to expand its preschool program for three- and four-year-olds. The funds will result in the creation of a three-year-old program at Sommer Elementary, and provide preschool curriculum expansion district wide.
Until now, all three-year-olds enrolled in the program have been attending at Pleasant Hill.
“We’ll be looking at adding job positions with that, expanding programming, looking at facility structures, curriculum structures, student-engagement pieces, professional development — it’s a huge undertaking, but thankfully for the right reasons,” Tharpe said. “What a gift for our community and for our parents to access this for our kiddos.”
The school board approved the funds Monday at the district’s January regular meeting. The air was heavy with excitement when described by Superintendent Colleen Moran.
“It will allow us to reduce this tuition by half. So instead of paying $200 a month, which is a bargain basement price in childcare, it will only be $100 a month,” she said. “And it will do other things for us.”
Adding 20 seats for three-year-olds at Sommer is just a start. Other opportunities include covering tuition costs for parents to get their child development associate’s degrees and adding harnesses for preschool buses.
The grant is provided by the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration, which works in part to provide various forms of relief during the COVID-19 pandemic. The district was eligible to apply for the grant because it has maintained a Level 3 rating through Paths To Equality, or PTQ.
“Our facilities thankfully are really in great shape because of our renovation projects over the last two to three years, so we actually built and designed those spaces for future growth,” Tharpe said. “This grant opportunity has kind of come through at the right time so we can provide really a great service to the community in regards to childcare.”
The three-year-old program and other expansions are expected to be in place by the 2022-23 school year.
In other business, the board:
• Approved the positions of board president and secretary, opting to maintain Terresa Hatke and Michael Shepherd in the roles, respectively.
• Approved Policy 2603 concerning a “school performance internet dashboard” link on the district website. The link, recommended by the Department of Education, will be live in the coming weeks.
• Approved the school calendar for 2022-23. Moran said the calendar was aligned as closely as possible with Crawfordsville, Southmont and Western Boone to allow continuity between the schools.
• Approved the transfer of funds from the Operations Fund to the Rainy Day fund totaling $752,507.
• Approved the hire, transfer, resignation and retirement of multiple employees. Retirements: Lynette Cox, media assistant at Sugar Creek. Resignations: Abby Hoffman, para professional; Becky Brown, cafeteria monitor; Charles Prange, food service provider; Gabrielle Kerker, social studies; and Aaron Clawson, ISI/para professional. Transfers: Naoma Charleston, food service sub to food service staff; Jennifer Himes, food service staff to supervisor; Sarah Kessinger, food service dishroom to cook; Robert Waddell, bus driver sub to bus driver; and Jose Hernandez, bus driver to sub. Hires: Matthew Burkhalter, temporary maintenance; Nick Johnson, long-term sub; Alexandra Pierson, special education para; Megan Birk, music performance; Shawn Ramey, eighth-grade girls basketball; Matt Voorhees, varsity baseball; Josh Thompson, varsity track and field; and Rob Earley, varsity softball.
The next public meeting for the board is 6 p.m. Feb. 28. For more information, call 765-359-2112.
