It’s a daily ritual, the walk around the perimeter of the Bailey Gatzert
Elementary playground: Teacher Daren Chamberlin leading 20
pre-kindergarteners, like little ducklings in a row.
Construction workers have dug a deep pit on the other side of the fence,
and the little ones wave to the hard-hatted worker standing inside, but
they want to see all the way in. So the kids wait patiently in line as
6-foot-3 Chamberlin lifts each one high into the air.
“We want the children to experience the changes that are happening in
our neighborhood and see the types of work that people do,” Chamberlin
says.
Promoting school-community connections is one of the many ways that
Chamberlin is preparing these students for kindergarten in the school’s
new free, full-day prekindergarten – one of the first in the district.
“There are not many of these classrooms that exist, and I just feel
really honored that I get to be a part of one. It’s really important
work,” says Chamberlin, who taught for 17 years in a Head Start
preschool before joining Bailey Gatzert.
The PreK classroom opened in January at the Central District elementary,
where 98 percent of families are eligible for free and reduced price
meals and 43 percent of students are English Language Learners.
It’s an exciting opportunity for the community. Families are happy to
send the little ones to school with their older siblings, and the
students are thrilled to be there.
“They came in taking it so seriously,” Chamberlin says. “It’s our second
month of school, but it doesn’t seem like the second month because from
the beginning they came in like all right, we’re here, let’s do this."
While families living in poverty can apply for subsidized or no-cost
preschool through the federally funded Head Start program, they may find
that the application process can be daunting, most Head Start programs
are a half day, and Head Start classrooms are not typically housed in
the neighborhood school.
“What makes this really different is that it’s truly integrated into the
public school,” says Cashel Toner, Director of Early Learning for
Seattle Public Schools. The school’s reading specialist and counselor
visit regularly with the class, and Chamberlin is collaborating with
other teachers to have fourth- and fifth-graders work with the younger
students.
A $750,000 Gates Foundation grant pays for Chamberlin’s salary,
classroom materials, staff professional development and all other
program expenses for the next three years. The PreK at Bailey Gatzert is
not part of the Seattle Preschool Program that voters approved last
year, but Toner suggests it has the potential to serve as a model while
the city and school district continue to work out details.
Many children in the community do not attend preschool at all, and
students on average start Bailey Gatzert kindergarten 14 months behind,
says Principal Greg Imel. “We’re modeling a school-day culture for them, but we’re also giving them pre-academic skills so they can be more
successful when they hit kindergarten.”