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Early School Appeals to Some: FirstSchool Would Serve Ages 3-8

Posted on: Tuesday, 18 April 2006, 09:01 CDT

By Meiling Arounnarath, The News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C.

Apr. 18--The Orange County Schools board is considering an early education option that the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools shied away from earlier this month.

Representatives from the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute of UNC-Chapel Hill went before the county's Board of Education on Monday night to present their idea for a new kind of school for pre-kindergartners to third graders.

"FirstSchool," a school specifically for 3- to 8-year-olds, would feed into a county elementary school. But, unlike now, the early education program would be integrated into the public schools system, with a correlating curriculum.

The group -- co-directors Kelly Maxwell, Sharon Ritchie and Dick Clifford -- would like the concept to spread across the nation, and they're hoping it will start in Orange County.

"We need to seriously look at it," school board member Dennis Whitling said. He had several questions about the proposal. Many were concerns the city schools board raised when the idea was put before them, such as school size and the fear that the children would be "experiments."

Maxwell responded: The group is coming from a solid, professional research base.

The presenters could not give solid answers to all of the questions. Many answers, they said, would depend on the specific needs of the communities and families involved.

"The main focus of FirstSchool is the community involvement in terms of working with Orange County," Maxwell said.

Earlier this month, the city schools' board put off a decision about the program, but Superintendent Neil Pedersen has said he will study whether the program has potential.

County Board Chairman Randy Copeland expressed fears that the program would be treated like a day-care center, especially by parents of the 3-year-olds.

He also questioned the socio-economic diversity of children who would attend FirstSchool; he expects people from the lower socioeconomic brackets might use the program more, turning it into a baby-sitting service while they're at work.

Board members Al Hartkopf, Libbie Hough and Liz Brown expressed interest in further discussions with the institute.

"It's very exciting to have this kind of conversation," Superintendent Shirley Carraway said at the meeting. "We serve more students in the county than the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools. The classrooms will be determined by how attracted parents are to the program."

After the meeting, Maxwell said that since the children are so young, the program would blend child development techniques with academics -- a way of adjusting the school to fit the children instead of the other way around.

Clifford said the program would be an early start to "get kids thinking about where they want to be and move them closer to that goal."

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Source: The News & Observer

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