The Early Years Program provides free, voluntary, classroom-based preschool programming for children between the ages of three and five in JSD117. We provide half day sessions and full day sessions.
Placement decisions for entry into the program and determinations of half day placement or full day placement are made following State guidelines for priority placement based on need. Over 30 at-risk factors are considered with each family to determine need. This information is obtained through a program intake that includes questions related to family background and history. An assessment of these factors is completed and each child/family is given a score using this information. Children are then placed in a classroom with priority given to those with higher scores first. This score is also a factor in placement decisions between half day or full day programming. State guidelines dictate that we can place no more than 20 children in each class with a total school capacity of 240 students. Due to these limits, we are not able to place every child/family that completes an intake.
Half day and full day programming are academically the same. The only differences between our half day and full day sessions are that our full day students have lunch, rest/nap time, and an additional outside/gym time. We do consider parent preference on half day or full day when placing students, but we cannot guarantee your preference will be honored because State guidelines must be followed.
Please let us know if you have any questions. Our office can be reached at 217-243-2876.