Though the Blair Oaks R-2 school district is still months away from groundbreaking on its new high school, the planned opening of that building in August 2021 may create the space the district would need to have an on-campus preschool program.
"Our greatest challenge at this point has been location, having room for it," Blair Oaks Superintendent Jim Jones said of the district being able to have a preschool program.
The district currently has a grades K-4 elementary school, 5-8 middle school and 9-12 high school.
When the first phase of the new Blair Oaks High School opens in August 2021, the plan is for the current Blair Oaks Middle School to become a grades 3-5 upper elementary school.
The middle school would move into the current building of Blair Oaks High School, and the current Blair Oaks Elementary School would continue to host grades K-2 - and maybe have room for a preschool program.
The state's Department of Elementary and Secondary Education preliminarily showed that Blair Oaks had 10 preschool students in the 2018-19 school year, but Jones said those students were early childhood special education students, most likely attending the Special Learning Center.
He said he would not expect an on-campus preschool program until the 2022-23 school year, though it could happen earlier or later.
"I would anticipate that the early years of our program would likely include a parent-paid component. We would actually probably try to phase the program in. I'm thinking that there's going to be a considerable amount of interest in the program, and it's still a little bit early to predict exactly what these numbers are going to be," Jones said.
"Our program would not be one to make money," he said, noting the district would want a preschool program to be self-sufficient.
"Obviously, when we get closer to that time, we'll analyze the funding sources that are available and put together a program that we feel (would be) effective and efficient," Jones said.
"Knowing the critical nature of these formative (early childhood) years, and not having a full, on-campus early childhood program currently, we have doubled our investment in our Parents as Teachers program over the last three years," he said.
If the district had a preschool program right now, he guessed that the number of children who would use it would be about as many as are enrolled in the coming school year's kindergarten class - 75 children.
Jones said growth in the district is pretty even across grade levels and that the biggest growth in the district over the past decade has been at the middle school.
In terms of the new high school, Jones shared in a written update that plans for the high school are "expected to be completed by the end of fall. The project will likely go out (to) bid late in the year. A contract will likely be awarded to a general contractor around the first of the year."
"This new high school is not about grades 9 through 12. This new high school is about K through 12 - and also, potentially, preK through 12," Jones said.
See the News Tribune's Back to School section for additional information about the upcoming school year at area schools.