School district awarded $70,000 to continue pre-K screening
The Beaufort County School District has received a $70,000 grant to expand its Child Find Initiative from the Learning Center Fund of the Coastal Community Foundation.
The donation, presented at Tuesday afternoon's school board meeting, will go toward the district's work in identifying children with possible developmental delays and getting them into pre-kindergarten education.
The district's program received a first donation of $100,000 in 2013.
Since then, it has screened an additional 664 children between the ages of two-and-a-half and six, and identified 155 with potential physical, mental or developmental delays or social-support issues, according to Ashley Hutchison, coordinator of early childhood education.
In the last two years, the program has also satisfied its waiting list and will be expanding further next year with additional full-day classes.
Learning Center board member Charles Kresch said the group will donate to the district one more time next year. After that, he said, the district must find the money in its own budget to continue supporting the Child Find Initiative.
In addition to screening children, the initiative connects families with community agencies and health care providers.
Kresch said he was happy to see the progress the district has made since he began working with it 30 years ago and promised himself it would become the highest-ranking educational system in the state before he died.
"I'm running out of time and I need your help because we're on our way, but we're certainly not there," he told the board Tuesday. "But this program goes a long way toward helping achieve that goal."
Superintendent Jeff Moss thanked the groups for their donation and reiterated the importance of early intervention. He also credited the initiative with helping earn the district an Early Childhood Champions of Children Award this year from The Institute for Child Success.
"We have to reach them early in order to ensure we make the progress we need to make throughout the years," he said.
Follow reporter Rebecca Lurye on Twitter at twitter.com/IPBG_Rebecca.
Related content:
- PreK expansion in Beaufort County schools earns state award, October 14, 2015
This story was originally published January 7, 2016 at 12:21 PM with the headline "School district awarded $70,000 to continue pre-K screening."