Northside Early Learning Center (NELC), located on Venturacci Lane, has expanded its pre-school program through Churchill County's partnership with the State of Nevada. Governor Sisolak signed SB84 into law in 2019, the legislation secures funding for Pre-K education in the State budget, eliminating the touch-and-go funding problems of the past. Prior to its passage, Derild Parsons, NELC Director of Learning and Innovation, had to advocate for grant funding annually.
This year the school has funding for 85 seats in its Pre-Kindergarten, there are currently about 30 seats waiting to be filled. School starts this month, so applications for the programs should be submitted quickly.
NELC provides three educational programs for the community - NVReady!PreK, ZOOM, and Special Education. NVReady!PreK is the Pre-Kindergarten program for four-year-old children of families within a certain income level. For this year’s program, children must be four years old by September 30. The ZOOM program is for 3-year-old English Language Learners, providing them with instruction that builds and develops language skills, as well as social, emotional, and academic skills. The only qualification for this program is that the child must be 3 years old by September 30 and is a dual-language learner. The Special Education program provides instruction for children ages three and four with special needs and/or disabilities. The four-year-old children from both programs learn together in a shared classroom environment.
In order to qualify, parents of students for the state-funded Pre-K seats must have a combined household income of less than 200% of the federal poverty level. According to the federal Department of Health and Human Services website, this would mean that a family of four's total income must be less than $53,000 per year for the child to qualify. State funding is not provided for students whose parents do not meet the state-mandated income levels.
NELC's Pre-K program has grown from two classrooms in 2015 to nine at one point and now consists of five classrooms. Staffing levels vary for the Special Education program, as the number of students in the program changes from year to year. This year they were able to increase the staff level to meet an increased need.
“We have this program for our community, and we hope that we can fill it up. With the families that qualify, we can do lots of great things with them. The State requires that the Pre-K funding be used for children of qualifying families, so we make our best effort to fill those seats,” reports Parsons.
Applicants simply go to the Churchill County School District's website, download the Pre-K application, fill it out and return it to the district office at 690 S. Maine Street with the requisite income verification documents (W-2, W-4, etc). The district will then send the family a confirmation letter with the information needed to register their child online. Applications and registrations can be found at https://www.churchillcsd.com/new-student-registration-c29acf1a.
“The first day of school in the district is August 23, however, NELC students do not attend classes during that first week. Instead, we meet with the students and their families and do some assessments to determine where the student's skills are. The kids get to meet their teachers, see their new classrooms and get familiar with their new school,” Parsons continued.
Students are assessed at the beginning of the year to establish baseline data for them. Assessments are conducted throughout the school year to determine progress and to ensure that the student's needs are being met, with a final assessment being done at end of the school year.
“This year we are planning to start with our full five-hour program which includes breakfast and lunch,” said Parsons. Students have their meals either in their classroom or in the cafeteria, which furthers their social interactions with their classmates. They are always accompanied by their teachers and are never sent outside for recess on their own.
“Family engagement is a big component, so we try to help the families out as much as possible to ensure a good start to the school year,” said Parsons. “The Pre-K class sizes are limited to 20 students each, and each must be staffed by one teacher and one para-professional assistant to meet the state requirement of a 10:1 students-teacher ratio. We work on the students' social and emotional learning. Pre-K is about teaching, but also about playing with the kids. Because, at that age, developmentally, that's where they are. We try to help them get along with other kids because for some, this is the first chance they have at interacting with other kids. Learning how to do just that is another whole set of skills to develop.”
The school is planning to do more things with families this year, especially since they were limited in their activities last year. Family activities are generally planned for once a month which helps to promote relationships between the families and the school. Information about Northside and its plans can be found on their website, https://northside.churchillcsd.com/, or by visiting the school office once the school opens.
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