D-200 to cut pre-school?

D-200 will hold an important school board meeting tonight, when it discusses cuts to the pre-school program. State-funding cuts are blamed for the decision to alter the program and change it to a tuition-based program. The school board meets at 7:00PM at Clay Professional Development Center (sorry, but I have to laugh at that name every time), 112 Grove Street, Woodstock.

According to the article this morning in the Northwest Herald, the program is "for at-risk children who are eligible under the state grant guidelines. Specifically, the student are low income and have academic status and family issues. The students often come from the homes of single parents or young parents."

Right.... and these are just the ones who can afford to pay tuition for their pre-school children to enroll in the D200 pre-school. Right?

Helloooooooo......

Cut these services now, and guess what? More problems in the lower grades - in grade school, middle school and high school. And more problems mean higher expenses.

The Verda Dierzen School principal told the NWH reporter, "We definitely will be losing some fabulous staff members." While she didn't say "teachers", is those the "staff members" to whom she is referring?

D200 opened a number of new schools recently, but didn't the student population explosion fail to materialize when the housing bubble burst?

Why not close some of the now-unneeded schools, cut expenses there, and save important programs that prepare the youngest students for a better chance to succeed?

Or does pre-school do that? Maybe pre-school isn't needed for any student. Whatever happened to kids enrolling in kindergarten and starting their education then?

Help me out here, parents and teachers.