Dr. Martin Ringstaff, director of Cleveland City Schools.CLEVELAND, Tenn. – Could a growing need for classroom space bump prekindergarten programs out of school buildings?
Educators expressed those concerns during a Cleveland City School Board meeting Monday.
The board had learned that a prekindergarten class may be moving into a modular classroom next door to Yates Primary School, the city school it serves.
David Kelley, director of Head Start and pre-k programs for a multicounty region, told the board that nothing is final. But, he said, a pre-k class that serves Yates but is held across town could be housed in a trailer classroom at Valley Head United Methodist Church next to the school.
There’s not enough prekindergarten space, Kelley said, so the old East Cleveland school building holds prekindergarten classes for several schools.
“Bradley County schools are having the same problem,” said Kelley, also a member of the county school board. Pre-k has become what kindergarten was decades ago, he said.
City school board member Dawn Robinson said the state requires local school systems to provide kindergarten through high school education, but pre-k is optional for now. Still, many families already send children to pre-k, she said.
“We are not going to be able to pop up portables everywhere,” Robinson said. “I see this going from bad to worse if we don’t get some schools built.”
Murl Dirksen, another member of the city school board, said he would like to “see some numbers on where we will be five years from now.”
Contact Randall Higgins at rhiggins@timesfreepress.com or 423-314-1029.