Superintendent Pam Beaudoin and Director of Student Services Allison Brown Collins wish to share the ongoing success of the Manchester Essex Regional School District’s Integrated Preschool, which benefits students of all abilities.
The preschool program operates five days a week and serves children ages 3 to 5 from Manchester and Essex. Students attend one of three state-of-the-art classrooms at Memorial Elementary School.
In 2021, the District received a $98,200 grant from the state’s Community Compact Efficiency & Regionalization Grant Program to expand the number of preschool classrooms and lengthen the school day.
Benefits of this expansion included increased access to high-quality, affordable preschool for children in Manchester and Essex, consistent preparation of children for Kindergarten aligned with Massachusetts curriculum frameworks, developmentally appropriate programming, and same age groupings for three- and four-year-olds.
The District has received multiple grants. One was used to begin the Intensive Reading and Written Language (IRWL) program for students with dyslexia. This program has enabled students who require more intensive reading- and language-based instruction to remain in the District and provides highly qualified staff and lower student-teacher ratios than an alternate out-of-district placement. This program saves the District more than $200,000 per year in out-of-district tuition costs.
Much of the preschool curriculum focuses on learning through play, encouraging students to explore, investigate, and question. Students may receive individualized speech, language, physical, and occupational therapy within the classroom and as part of the curriculum.
An integral part of the program is “peer pals.” Students with learning or physical challenges learn, play, and interact with “pals” who serve as role models and help model pre-academic, social, and play skills.
Through this inclusive approach, all students learn about what makes them unique, that each student has value, and that all achievements should be celebrated.
“Integrated Preschool offers our youngest learners the opportunity to grow in a safe and nurturing environment with support from both their parents and the school community,” Superintendent Beaudoin. “Each year we see how much our incoming Kindergarteners have grown as learners during their preschool years, which supports the effectiveness of this inclusionary approach.”
The program’s success has allowed the District to move beyond a fee-for-service model and offer no-cost or subsidized tuition scholarships to the neediest families in Manchester and Essex.
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