The Hickman Mills School District had a problem: Low-income kindergartners were arriving without the basics they needed to start school on the right foot. Solution? Revamp a dilapidated middle school building and provide high-quality, full day pre-K programming to every child in the district, free of charge. The first of four phases kicked off in February of 2015, and already includes complimentary door-to-door pickup, on-site resume and application resources for parents.
Despite the $10 million price tag to implement the changes, the district’s Superintendent Dennis Carpenter says that programs like this endeavor will yield long run savings via lower crime rates, incarcerations, and mental health issues, and help students not only do better in school, but succeed throughout life.
Explore innovations in education in our metro with KCPT’s The Learning Curve, a new, year-long initiative online and on television each Thursdays at 7:25pm right after Ruckus. Join us for a roundtable discussion with metro superintendents on a special Kansas City Week in Review, April 24 at 7:30pm.
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