Bristol

I think everyone is suffering from a low child count. No matter how good your program is, there are parents who will look for three things: cheap, convenient, and easy to attend. A family moved their child from the Garden School because we were off a week in the summer. That says "I don't have any respect for what you do."

The GS teachers, and there are only six, don't take a week off in the summer because we are lazy. We put in a tremendous amount of time with the kids in the summer, and we need a little down time. We need some away time to shift gears for another part of the year. One of the blessings of the Garden School is the teachers are always there with a few exceptions. We don't have a revolving door of staff like other places.


Bristol Press.com
BRISTOL --

The Bristol School Readiness Council was looking at Wednesday afternoon’s meeting for answers as to why its preschool classes are not filled.

Both the Bristol Preschool and the Bristol Boys and Girls Club, which offer classes that get children ready to take the next step into kindergarten, are not fully enrolled.

Bristol Preschool has a capacity for 53 students and currently has 47 enrolled, while the Boys and Girls Club has three open slots out of a possible 52. The Family Center preschool currently has all 53 of its slots filled.

The Head Start program, which operates outside the Readiness Council, is not only full but has a waiting list of 38 children."

I tell the people that we have a waiting list and I give out the names and numbers of the other places," said Lisa Ricciuti from Head Start. "For some reason people choose to remain on the wait list."

Readiness Council member Donna Osuch, who also serves on the Plymouth council, attempted to give an explanation for the openings.

"The birth rates since the year 2000 have decreased," she said. "2000 was the peak of births and now that those kids have already gone through the program and are in kindergarten we have open slots."Osuch added that the preschools are not full in Plymouth either.

Shirley Anderson from Bristol Preschool said she has lost some of her students to the Preschool Peers program and that this is the first year that Bristol Preschool has not been fully enrolled.