What’s in a name? Good question.
Reporter Randi Pierce did a fine job, in yesterday’s Pagosa Springs SUN, of summarizing a couple of recent meetings conducted by the Board of Directors of the Pagosa Peak Open School, where the Board members discussed the possibility of opening a “early childhood” center within the school.
Pagosa Peak Open School, more commonly referred to as ‘PPOS’, is the only public charter school authorized by the Archuleta School District, and it currently serves grades Kindergarten through 8th grade in the former Parelli Natural Horsemanship building in the Aspen Village “Live, Work, Play” subdivision.
Charter schools in Colorado are publicly funded, same as other public schools, and provide a free education to school-age children in their community, same as public schools — but are expected to be somewhat ‘experimental’ and innovative, with the goal of developing improved educational models. The experiment at Pagosa Peak Open School is focused largely around Project-Based Learning, an educational model that uses ‘projects’ (as well as traditional teaching techniques) to blend subjects into an integrated educational experience.
The school was also designed to be “intentionally small” with the goal of making it function more like a large family, and less like an institution.
To oversee the development of their innovative approaches, charter schools are governed by a Board of Directors acting independently of their authorizing school district.
The question before the Board over the past couple of weeks: would the addition of a preschool program fit with the Pagosa Peak Open School mission? The Board seemed to think so, and voted to initiate just such a program at a special meeting last Monday.
Disclosure: I currently serve on the Pagosa Peak Open School Board of Directors as the Board secretary. This editorial reflects only my own opinions, and not necessarily the opinions of the Pagosa Peak Open School board as a whole.
The “early childhood” landscape has been undergoing some changes here in Colorado, under the Polis administration and with the cooperation of a General Assembly dominated by Democratic Party leadership.
For example, the state now has a new administrative department: the Colorado Department of Early Childhood. ‘CDEC’.
With the launch of the Colorado Department of Early Childhood and preparation for Universal Preschool Colorado in the 2023-24 school year, there is a lot happening in early childhood! To stay connected sign up to receive our monthly newsletter. You can also follow along on social media.
Here’s the charming banner photo found on the Colorado Department of Early Childhood home page, https://cdec.colorado.gov/
Another development, locally, has been the creation of the Early Childhood Council of Archuleta County. Some communities in Colorado have been served by “early childhood councils” for many years, but Pagosa Springs has not been one of them… until last year, when Laura Mijares — formerly assistant superintendent for the Archuleta School District — was hired as the Early Childhood Council executive director.
The goal of the Early Childhood Council?
Our mission is to foster and sustain a comprehensive, high-quality, and accessible early childhood system that supports families and the community in order to prepare children for academic and personal success in life…
Ms. Mijares has worked her entire career in education, has a Master’s Degree in Educational Administration, and has taught and served as a building principal at the elementary, middle and high school levels. She is currently certified as an Educational Administrator and through the Department of Early Childhood as a Large Center Director.
She attended two of the recent Pagosa Peak Open School Board meetings where the creation of a new child care center was discussed.
I will be using two terms in the composition of this editorial series. “Early Childhood” and “Child Care”. They have slightly different meanings, although they often apply to the same institutions.
“Early Childhood” is currently preferred by the professionals in the field.
As the secretary for the Pagosa Peak Open School Board of Directors, I’m responsible for writing the minutes of the Board meetings, and yesterday I was working on a draft of the March 6 meeting minutes.
Overview of Proposal
[PPOS] Vice President Carpenter and ECCAC Director Mijares presented an overview of the requirements, opportunities and deadlines.
In order to apply for the state’s Emerging and Expanding grant that may be available in the late summer or fall, PPOS would need to have a “Pre-license” from CDEC, indicating the intention to open an early childhood center in the future.
The Town of Pagosa Springs also has a grant for Early Childhood, with a March 10 deadline, but that application does not require a Preschool license or an already-prepared space. Emily Murphy and other staff members will have time to work on the Town grant, but School Director Reali Crossland would like to provide a stipend for that extra work.
Vice President Carpenter noted that PPOS will not show up in the sign-up options, when families are choosing their preferred UPK (Universal Pre-K) programs, until the school has its official preschool license, which would likely not be awarded until fall 2023. PPOS could theoretically open a non-UPK program without being an available UPK option.
The education profession — like any other professions — loves to shorten names into acronyms. “Pagosa Peak Open School” for example, is a name that might conjure up certain feelings when you say it, or hear it. “Pagosa” refers of course to the community served by the school. “Peak” hints at the school’s ambitious goals. “Open” can stir up the idea of “freedom” or “expansiveness” or “an open door”.
The Board and staff, however, have become accustomed to using the acronym, “PPOS”.
Sadly (in my opinion), the acronym does not call up any of the (exciting? encouraging? challenging?) ideas generated by the full name.
Ditto, UPK, and ECCAC, and CDEC. And so many other educational acronyms… Easy to say, but devoid of inherent meaning.
I hope to dig down, in this editorial series, into the implications hidden in these acronyms.