Over the last several months, the Early Childhood Education Expansion Committee–an 18-member group of Board of Education members, administration, staff, community agencies and parents–has explored increasing the childhood education opportunities available in Geneseo.
Last week, Geneseo’s Board of Education (BOE) heard an update from Superintendent Dr. Adam Brumbaugh on progress made by the committee. As part of the presentation, Dr. Brumbaugh offered recommendations based on the committee’s work and findings.
After conducting community-based and staff-based needs surveys, holding committee meetings, and making several early childhood education site visits across Illinois and Iowa, the committee arrived at the consensus that there are unserved families in the local community and that additional space and staff are needed.
One of the Board of Education’s goals for 2023-24 is to “allocate additional resources to increase early childhood education opportunities for students.”
The committee has yet to determine where the space could be or what it might look like. Potential outcomes include adding on to the north side of Geneseo Middle School, creating a new standalone structure to the south of GMS, or the refurbishment of an existing industrial building in Geneseo. Regardless of the location, the facility would likely include shared learning spaces, staff collaboration spaces, outdoor play spaces, and space for support services.
“The committee was formed in direct response to one of our Board of Education’s goals,” explained Dr. Brumbaugh. “We’ve made every effort to be thorough and diligent, and it’s clear that families throughout our district–including our own teachers–would benefit from an expanded child care and preschool facility.”
At the district’s most recent preschool screening in October, it was forced to turn away 25 families due to not having enough space. Additionally, current school district staff will welcome at least 12 newborns this school year.
“It’s undeniable there is a need,” Dr. Brumbaugh said. “As a part of our overall program review, we began to refine our curriculum for our youngest learners. We’ve also been more intentional at forging new and renewed relationships with other childcare and preschool providers, and we’ve expanded our Grow Your Own program to get more students who are interested in becoming teachers involved.”
After hearing the presentation and recommendations, the BOE did not make any immediate decisions regarding the project. It advised the committee to proceed with some of its recommendations, including getting additional construction cost estimates and developing a budget and fee structure for such a program.
The BOE also advised the committee to consider holding future public listening sessions beyond the survey that was previously sent–which netted 409 responses–to collect more information and feedback from the community regarding such a program expansion.
For now, the committee’s work will continue and include future reports to the Board of Education after completing the tasks assigned by them at the Dec. 14 meeting.
“Our hope is to provide support and services for families with children under age 5 like never before,” stated Dr. Brumbaugh. “We could do that by creating classrooms with more inclusion, providing on-site wraparound services, and doubling the enrollment for unserved students in need.”
