Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
A Head Start: Parent Luis Lopez helps his daughter, Cynthia, 5, with her puzzles at the Rosemary Family Learning Center's preschool in Campbell. Lopez and his wife, Mireya, sit in on their daughter's classes once a month and attend English as a second language and parenting classes next door the rest of the time.
Rosemary's Family Learning Center offers extended preschool to families
Children get a jump-start on learning skills and parents grow confident
By Moryt Milo
Mention the phrases "affordable preschool" and "quality daycare" in the same sentence and most parents will laugh themselves to tears.
It's a problem that crosses all economic boundaries, but Rosemary and Hazelwood elementary schools have found a way to help parents.
The Rosemary campus offers low-income families enrollment in either Rosemary or Hazelwood's extended-day preschool program--in January--or infant or toddler placement in the Even Start program.
Families accepted into the Even Start Program--a four-year $150,000-per-year federally funded program--are also offered adult education classes. Parents receive English as a second language, vocational training, computer skills, CPR and parenting classes.
"The Rosemary Campus is really a family learning center," Preschool-Even Start Director Gina Phi says. "For a while no one knew we were even here."
It's a great arrangement for parents taking classes on the site who can't afford any childcare at home, Phi says. Families with a combined annual income of less than $26,000 per year qualify for free childcare and preschool.
The campus' infant-toddler childcare program--for infants to age 3--also requires at least one parent be on-site all the time, and the preschool operates like a parent co-op.
The preschool program also requires parents to help in the classroom a minimum of two days a month, but this requirement offers an array of benefits, the biggest being a working understanding of child development, Phi says.
"These families don't know how to speak English and haven't grown up in a culture that helps with parenting skills," Phi says. "If you haven't been read to as a child, it's not comfortable nor is it something you are used to."
The programs teach parents how to read to their children. They are taught to make it fun and not worry about reading perfectly. Over time, parents develop confidence.
When Even Start at Rosemary Elementary came up for funding renewal, the district was uncertain if it would receive a second grant. To be safe, the Campbell School District went out looking for additional funding and applied to the state.
"Luckily both grants came through," Phi says.
The Even Start program and the state-funded preschool program are offered to low-income families, but applicants must still meet specific guidelines. Those who don't qualify for free preschool or the infant-toddler program are asked to pay $35 per day or a fee based on a sliding scale. But most families applying to the program can't afford the $35 per day, and it's frustrating because the guidelines for qualifying are difficult, especially in Silicon Valley, Phi says.
Hazelwood Elementary, which had a federally funded Head Start program, is an example of the difficulties. The school was unable to qualify enough families for the program because the families' annual incomes were too high, Phi says.
The same problem exists with the Rosemary program. The state looks at the median income for all of California, which is much lower than the median income in the Bay Area.
Because the guidelines are so stringent, most families who qualify for the program have either just immigrated to the United States and have nothing, have a parent receiving welfare benefits, or, Phi says, "provide information that just isn't true."
Although families are carefully checked, and those trying to circumvent the system are found out, there are many families who could benefit from the program, Phi says.
In spite of the complexities, the two grants have enabled the school to extend the half-day preschool program to coincide with the regular school day, 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., and continue to offer additional services to adults and their young children.
The extended preschool also helps meet the district's strategic objectives, with a focus on kindergarten readiness.
"When we looked at how our kids were doing, even after lowering class sizes and providing increased literacy training, we didn't think children entering kindergarten and first grade were coming to us as ready as we wanted," Campbell Union School District Assistant Superintendent of Educational Planning and Development Gwynneth Heil says. "By expanding the preschool program, we are able to give the children a jump-start so they could enter kindergarten more prepared."
For those who are part of the program, the rewards are measurable.
Micaela Solis, 34, and her 3-month-old daughter, Janet, have been in the Even Start program since September. Solis, who is taking English and child development classes at Rosemary, said through a translator, "I didn't understand any English until I started the program, and I have a better understanding of how to take care of my daughter."
Another participant in the program is Lourdes Sierra, 29, who began coming to Even Start with her son Martin when he was two months old. She says the program has given her confidence as a parent. "I understand how to use the books [to help my son learn to read] and I understand and speak English better."
Parent involvement in child education is a big component of the Even Start program and why Phi and Heil are excited about the preschool's ability to extend the learning from birth to kindergarten.
"I want to develop a comprehensive program to help total-family development, so parents have self-confidence and good parenting skills," Phi says. "These funds allow us to move in that direction."
For more information on the preschool, infant-toddler and Even Start programs at Rosemary Elementary School, contact Gina Phi at 408.341.7000, ext. 4182
Campbell, California
