District Director of Pupil Personnel Mindy Fischer said that this was the first year that Hamilton’s programs were evaluated for the system. Until October of 2013, school systems under the Ohio Department of Education were not required to participate.
“We, under ODE, have had a different evaluation system, but this year, they are integrating all of the school systems,” she said.
Hamilton City Schools run nine classrooms between four elementary schools: two at Fairwood, two at Bridgeport, three at Ridgeway, and two at Linden Elementary. Last year, the Linden preschool programs were held at Riverview.
Fischer said that the schools were chosen strategically for ease of access for parents around the district. She believes the programs’ stellar rating came from several factors.
“You have to have certain certifications and accreditations, and because we have public schools, our teachers have those certifications,” Fischer said. “They also look at staff-to-child ratios, and we have a 1-to-8 ratio, which is very low.”
She said they also looked at how the district assesses their students — each classroom is made up of eight “typically developing” students and eight students with special needs — and how teachers and administration plan individually for each students’ needs.
She praised the program’s staff for the rating, which lasts for three years.
“They’re the ones who make this happen,” she said.
The school district expanded from eight classrooms to nine last year to meet a growing demand, and continue to work toward that goal by helping to set up a preschool in the Second Ward.
Via a collaboration between the Hamilton City School District, the Great Miami Valley YMCA, the Hamilton Community Foundation, and the Greater Hamilton Chamber of Commerce Leadership Class 23, the Booker T. Washington Community Center, 1140 S. Front St., will be running a preschool beginning September 2.
Center Executive Director Butch Hubble called the new programming “a no-brainer.”
“Our partner schools have seen a need for this in the community for quite a while,” he said.
The center will run one morning and one afternoon unit per day, with between 12 and 14 children per unit. Slots will be filled on a first-come, first-serve basis, and interested parents can contact the center for more information.
Hubble said the center is developing parenting classes to occur simultaneously with the preschool units.
School district spokeswoman Joni Copas said that the district will provide $25,000 for the center.
“The district will also supply classroom furniture and education equipment for the classrooms,” she said.
“The school district recognizes that in order for children to pass their 3rd grade reading assessments, that we need to start educating them earlier,” said Kimberly Munafo, vice president of development for the YMCA. The YMCA became the managing operator for the center in a partnership with the city in April 2013, and will be hiring staff for the preschool, according to Klink.
Greater Hamilton Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Kenny Craig said that the leadership class, a nine-month awareness and community leadership class, decided that this was the project that best fit where they could have an impact in the community.
“They are and were raising money as a class to equip a classroom, and I hear that they have exceeded their goal,” he said.
City Councilwoman Kathleen Klink chairs the Education Committee at the Hamilton Community Foundation, and said that while the committee had been organizing educational programs for some time, they realized that the education of younger students needed to be addressed.
The foundation is entering the third year of its Start Ready program, an initiative among several private preschools, the Hamilton Community Foundation and the Head Start program, and last year, was able to offer scholarships to four private providers and to the school district. A new preschool was an initiative they could support.
“The preschool (in that area) ended when they moved to Linden,” she said. “A lot of people could profit from this opportunity.”
About the Author