Thank you for your interest and participation in the first year of Colorado’s Universal Preschool Program! While enrollment of students in Universal Preschool will continue, Monday, November 6, marked the final electronic matching round for the 2023/2024 school year….
— from the Colorado Universal Preschool website
On any given school day, a hundred students — give or take — and maybe two dozen adults enter the pale green, two-story building on Cornerstone Drive to spend the better part of the day studying math, English language arts, social studies, science, art, music, and generally, how to function effectively in a social group that has a specific aim: “education”.
Pagosa Peak Open School — a public school open to all Archuleta County families on a tuition-free basis — is authorized by the Archuleta School District, to provide local families with an educational alternative based around “Project-Based Learning” and community involvement.
It currently serves grades K-8. But that might change in the near future, with the inclusion of an on-site preschool.
Disclosure: I currently serve as a volunteer on the PPOS Board of Directors, but this op-ed reflects only my own perspective, and not necessarily that of the Board or PPOS staff.
As PPOS School Director Angela Reali-Crossland reminded everyone at the January 17 PPOS Board meeting, “we are in a preschool desert in this community…”
A “preschool desert” being a community with more demand for preschool spots than providers have available. Pagosa currently has three preschool centers — also known as ‘early childhood education centers’ — and a handful of private childcare homes. Two of the centers are planning to expand, with new buildings, to better meet demand.
PPOS has the advantage of vacant space, without the need for new construction. The school also has a full commercial kitchen.
Last year, the PPOS Board voted to begin the design and remodeling of a preschool space, in what was formerly the 1st & 2nd grade classroom before COVID caused a reorganization of the building. The PPOS staff began creating a design for the preschool to open its doors, potentially, in August 2024 as part of the charter school, and two grants have been received to help furnish the facility and get things started.
Now it appears the preschool might unfold in a slightly different way.
Last week, Pagosa newcomers Dave and Nicky Schneider stood up before the Pagosa Peak Open School Board of Directors and staff to introduce themselves and make the case for a new, independent preschool, potentially to be called “Little Peaks”.
The presentation was at least partly related to a two-year effort by Colorado Governor Jared Polis and the Colorado Legislature to increase the number — and quality — of preschool offerings in the state, though a funding mechanism approved by the voters and known as ‘Universal Preschool Colorado’. You can learn more about the UPK program here.
Here’s Dave, talking about the Schneider’s past experience with a preschool in Wisconsin, prior to relocating to Pagosa last summer:
“For the past 15 years, we’ve owned and operated, together, a small business — a childcare center. We’re innovative thinkers, so we were outside of the box. We wanted to offer the community something different than the typical big, group centers, that are sort of institutional feeling.
“We wanted more of a residential setting, because of the ways the laws work, and the regulations. So we ended up buying three different homes, that we used as small centers. Three houses. And it was kind of like… we had mixed ages; there were different rules you could follow; so it was really great.”
Dave and Nicky have over 30 years combined experience in early childhood education, working in various roles — Director, Assistant Director, Summer Camp, infant and toddlers, preschool, school-age, Head Start — and have ‘Colorado Shines’ Level 5 credentials.
Here’s Nicky:
“It was a really awesome educational model, because the kids felt like they were going to their ‘second house’.”
Dave:
“We feel like our style and the philosophy of PPOS mix together well. We support the High Scope curriculum… I don’t know if you’re familiar with that? It’s been around since the 1960s. It’s really ‘open-ended’ and that’s how we set up our classroom — we like everything very open-ended; it’s an active place; there’s never a dull moment. The kids are active and feel like they are leading the activities, and we’re just facilitating.”
Nicky:
“You have to have a specific curriculum to add a childcare facility in Colorado, and High Scope is one that qualifies.”
Speaking as one of the community members who helped write the charter application for Pagosa Peak Open School, this sounds very much like the type of preschool approach that could blend nicely with the K-8 activities at PPOS.
As School Director Reali-Crossland noted, PPOS could approach the opening of the preschool in a couple of ways. The school could lease the vacant space to the Schneiders and let them run the program as a private (non-profit?) business… or PPOS could be responsible for a certain portion of the children — possibly, the children funded by the Colorado UPK program.
Following the presentation, the PPOS Board voted to enter into negotiations with the Schneiders, to discuss those two approaches.
With any luck, the program will be up and running by late summer.