HARTFORD, Conn — There’s a new Hartford citywide push to encourage more parents to enroll their preschool-age children in early learning.
One learning center in Hartford said their enrollment numbers are the lowest they’ve ever been, and they’re putting the blame on the pandemic.
Taylor Pratt is the program director for The Right Place Early Learning Center in Hartford. The Right Place is a center-based program through the Salvation Army. The center can accept 73 kids just over two and half years of age through kindergarten age.
This autumn, when she would generally expect the center to be at its fullest, there are 28 open slots. Before the pandemic, The Right Place had two sites: one on the north end of Hartford and one in the Asylum Hill neighborhood. Today they’re down to only their Asylum Hill location. Pratt says the pandemic changed early education.
“The thought of sending your child into a childcare center at this point has changed since the pandemic,” Pratt says. “Families have changed their minds on how they look at early childhood at this point. I think they’re saying it’s OK to stay home right now. But if we don’t have full classrooms, there’s always the potential for layoffs, which is something we never want to do.”
As a director, Pratt feels the urgency to bring numbers up to prevent layoffs, but as an educator, she feels the urgency to bring numbers up because that means more children will be prepared for elementary school. She stresses the importance of enrolling young children in an early-childhood program.
“Early education teaches children to be in that group of peers,” Pratt says. “You may think they have them because when you’re at home, they’re socializing with family and friends, but they need to be amongst their peers. The social-emotional piece is the most critical.”
“Families have changed their minds on how they...”
The Right Place isn’t alone. The city of Hartford has seen a trend.
Mayor Luke Bronin’s office launched a campaign on school readiness to encourage families to enroll their toddlers. Officials with the city’s Department of Families, Children, Youth and Recreation say, despite the low enrollment numbers, they know the need for early childhood education is still there amongst residents. So the city is sending the message to families that local preschool programs are safe, the process of enrolling children is easy and preschool can be affordable.
The Right Place is a school readiness subsidized program. They offer a sliding-scale fee based on each family’s income and needs.
“I never want a parent to think, ‘I’m struggling at home, I need my money to pay my bills.’ I never want them to think they can’t educate their child,” Pratt says. “We never want to lose a child because of tuition costs.”
Local early-childhood centers could lose valuable state funding if their enrollment numbers take a dip. At the same time, there’s a big unknown about next fall when the new state kindergarten age cut-off goes into effect.
Next school year, children will have to be five by September 1st to enter kindergarten, which educators believe will bring a new demand to preschools to accept fall-born children who would have otherwise gone onto kindergarten.
For more info go here ctri.salvationarmy.org
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