Early Childhood

This looks like a great thing, but when you read it twice, you wonder where the program is. This is supposed to be an early childhood learning facility of 40,000 square feet. I wonder how much of that space is really dedicated to classroom space, or if the classroom for nine is tucked away behind the broom closet and when measured comes out to exactly 35 square feet per child? The "program" has everything to satisfy every single part of a child's life, but the child nearly becomes invisible. If this is supposed to be a teaching facility, where's the program?

Eastern Connecticut University Dedicates Early Childhood Learning Facility
By JOHN PENNEY
For the Norwich Bulletin

WILLIMANTIC -- When Peg Wilson began advocating a new approach to early childhood education in the 1950s, she met with skepticism and foot-dragging from parents, teachers and administrators.

On Tuesday, nearly six decades later, the 81-year-old Norwich resident saw her proposed innovations come to life as Eastern Connecticut University opened its new Child and Family Development Resource Center.

"I always pushed the fact that every child is special," Wilson said. "And this institution will help children and their families learn that."

During the dedication, David G. Carter, chancellor for the Connecticut State University System, praised Wilson's stubbornness in promoting an integrated educational program that, at the time, had few proponents.

"Peg proves that faith without works is dead," Carter said.

Wilson was a preschool teacher for many years. She said she often was frustrated by the lack of an overall approach to early childhood education.

In 1989, she joined the Eastern Connecticut State University staff. The relationship gave her the means to push a new educational curriculum buttressed by community and state social programs.

Margaret-Ellen Wilson praised her mother's tenacity Tuesday, calling her a forward thinker and an iconoclast.

"She's an impressive woman," Wilson said. "How many people can say their mother has a building dedicated to them?"

The 40,000-square-foot building was designed as a one-stop facility, incorporating pre-school education with social service programs.

The pre-school portion opened Monday, with nine students enrolled.

The social service programs and use of the facility as a practical classroom for the university students will begin later, Carter said.

Patricia Kleine, the university's dean of education, said the new building is a national model for other schools. She said the center's children will be observed by Eastern students throughout the semester.

The center's executive director, Theresa Lawrence, said the $10 million building is also "new school" model, which will offer on-site social services to its families. Those services, run through state agencies, will include health, education, and financial support offices.

"This is a comprehensive approach to children and their families that involves agencies from across the state," Lawrence said.

Lawrence said the pre-school eventually will expand to serve up to 60 more toddlers and a limited number of infants. She said 51 percent of the center's class will consist of families of state and municipal employees.

Tuition will be base on a sliding scale, ranging from $116 to $216 per week, depending on a family's income, Lawrence said.

Patty Gardner, one of the facility's two full-time preschool teachers, said the program's holistic approach to family care will make it easier to meet the needs of a wide variety of children.

"The center provides a place for whole families, not just children, to go," Gardner said.

In addition to social service offices, the building will house a family resource center, complete with computers and parenting development packets.

Originally published March 1, 2006