Fate of new Pre-K classes at Highlands School now in hands of County Commissioners

Lack of space, staffing and COVID-19 are just some of the things that formed a perfect storm to bring childcare to a crisis situation across the nation.

In Macon County, the need is just as apparent with 87 kids on the waitlist for the two child development centers in Highlands.

Recently at the Macon County Board of Education meeting, board members approved unanimously to send a proposal to the Macon County board of commissioner’s that will include a request for an $8.6 million renovation project at Highlands School, which will include two pre-K classrooms.

 

Forming the request

Highlands School principal Brian Jetter said they have been working on bringing pre-K classes to the school.

“We had a budget meeting the other day and one of the things we do during the budget meeting is turn in different requests, basically anything that is capital outlay, which is $5,000 or more,” Jetter said. “In this case, we want to add two pre-K classrooms.”

Jetter said the main problem with adding classrooms is the space.

“We have every adult that we have in a room,” Jetter said. “Sometimes small rooms. So, we really don’t have much room to add pre-K until they add more rooms.”

The committee that is spearheading the project, Jetter said, is the Advancing Education in Highlands Committee.

“There are still a lot of boards and processes that we have to go through,” Jetter said. “There are a lot of hoops to jump through, but we would like to get those hoops in place and jump through them as quick as we can. As I said at the budget meeting, one of the things on our wishlist was rooms that we could use as pre-K classrooms.”

Initially, AHEC was formed to fill a void in technology at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Jeff Weller with AHEC.

“Primarily, the media center,” Weller said. “As time went on and we started having some focus groups, we came to the understanding that one of the bigger problems was pre-K. AHEC has already bought new iPads for every student and now every classroom has smart boards.”

Now realizing the problem of lack of pre-K classrooms, AHEC hired Novus Architects, an architecture and design firm out of Asheville, to do a planning study on the school. In the planning study, Novus outlined several objectives including providing pre-K services on campus, integrating project based learning curriculum and enhancements to CTE curriculum.

“They ran focus groups, which were faculty, staff, outside people, parents, teachers, everything, then came up with a presentation,” Weller said. “We weren’t surprised by the results, because we have been engulfed with this. The biggest thing about what they have given back to us is just a very realistic approach, not only from our numbers, but trying to work with what we already have.”

Weller said one of the biggest challenges of renovating old schools is meeting code.

“When you add on to them, the new section has to be separated from the old ones,” Weller said. ‘The school is very safe, but we can’t add on to them in many areas. So, it is pretty limiting. They looked at the entire property and the logistics.”

According to the planning study,  space needs at Highlands School are two pre-K classrooms at 1,200 square feet each, 36 students and a playground that is 2,700 square feet. For project based learning and career technical education, the planning study found that there needs to be labs/maker’s spaces added to the elementary, middle and high schools at 1,200 to 2,000 square feet each, more square feet in the media center and independent learning areas.

For the new pre-K classrooms, it will be integrated into the elementary wing with long-term enrollment flexibility and proximity to existing plumbing. There will be an adjacent playground area that is fenced in and landscaped/screened from car traffic.

For project based learning, the plan says the media center needs to be expanded to incorporate independent work areas, flexible furnishings, project based learning support, elementary literacy and an outdoor learning area that is fenced in and landscaped/screened from car traffic. The maker’s spaces will be an access for pre-K through 12 grade, and have flexibility for varied activities. Roll-up doors will be used for an outdoor learning area and these outdoor learning areas will be expanded.

The new construction for 3,500 square feet would cost approximately $1,225,000. Renovations for 12,000 square feet would cost $1,875,000. An outdoor playground/learning area would cost $100,000 and contingency and yearly escalation at 10 and eight percent respectively, would cost $320,000 and $256,000 for a total $3,500,000.

With added on design fees, survey, testing, furniture, fixtures, equipment and technology, the studies project total cost is $4,400,000.AHEC rounded up the request up to $5 million for additional expenses.

  

Lack of pre-K classes in Macon County

According to Macon County School’s pre-K director Brooke Keener, there are currently five pre-K classes in Macon County. Two at South Macon Elementary, two at Iotla Valley and one at Cartoogechaye.

“There is always more interest than there is space,” Keener said.

Macon County Superintendent Dr. Chris Baldwin said it all comes down to space.

“If we had more space at East Franklin, we would add pre-K classrooms at that school and that area of Macon County,” Baldwin said. “East Franklin is one of the high need areas for support within our school district. We simply don’t have the space to add a pre-K classroom at that site. We hope to use some ESSER funding to alleviate that need, but we are still in the early processes of that.”

Baldwin said East Franklin suffered greatly during the pandemic due to social distancing.

“We had to convert closets into space for remediation, psychological services and many different needs,” Baldwin said. “They were using stairwells for tutoring. So, the idea of adding a pre-K classroom is out of the question.”

WIth the lack of socialization due to COVID-19, Keener said they are seeing an influx of students that are needing to be in developmental day classes, which Macon County only has two.

“A lot of places in the community don’t have the correct staffing or resources to serve those families, so we really are called upon to meet these needs,” Keener said. “It is very hard with only four classrooms that are licensed for that. With our funding we also serve four year olds that meet certain requirements. About half of our classrooms have to be filled with those students. Cartoogechaye is the only one that has dropped their DD license because there are so many staff children that go there. We already put out applications last week and we are already full. We would love to see new classrooms come. I know that we are looking at one classroom at East Franklin, but I think we can do two. East Franklin is the only elementary school down here that doesn’t have that. I would love Highlands to have that, as well, but they have the same issue that we have down here, space.”

Baldwin said that pre-K in any school is a desperate need.

“The research is clear that opportunity leads to success later on,” Baldwin said. “What we see in Highlands, that is a desperate need that needs to be addressed. The overall plan that Novus and AHEC have worked together to approve the efficiency of that building in terms of space is something that is very exciting. We certainly appreciate AHEC’s interest in the community and we are excited about this opportunity.”

Keener said she hopes to talk with the county commissioners to express the need for this in the county.

“We are busting out of the seams everywhere,” Keener said. “We just have to have the infrastructure to turn these things into a reality. So, that partnership is vital for us.”

Baldwin agreed that is vital for Macon County’s children.

“There is a significant portion of pre-school children that are not being served right now,” Baldwin said. “Whether it’s through Headstart, pre-schools, daycares or pre-K, there are a lot of children that are falling through the cracks right now,” Baldwin said. “They are being unaccounted for.”

With Highlands School having a pre-K, Jetter said it would be a more seamless transition for these kids going into Kindergarten.

“One of the biggest things these kids have to learn, and it takes them a while, is socialization,” Jetter said. “A lot of these kids are spending all day with mom, brother and sister and all of a sudden they are thrown into a classroom with 15 or 16 other Kindergartners and it is a huge thing,” Jetter said. “Sometimes as adults, we have forgotten kindergarten. It was eye opening, we went there and realized we weren’t the center of the universe anymore. Those things, believe it or not, are really important. On top of that, you find if they have had pre-K, they come into kindergarten knowing colors, numbers, parents names, and cell numbers. So, it’s just a huge leg up for the kids that have had pre-school. For us, it is a hard thing to accept that we can’t have pre-school because we don’t have the space. We ought to figure out some way to make that happen because all it does is help the children.”

According to Region A Partnership for Children executive director Janice Edgerton, the number one reason for lack of pre-K is shortage of staff.

The non-profit organization administers North Carolina’s Smart Start and NC Pre-K initiatives in the seven western-most counties and on the Qualla Boundary. Right now, they have 48 classrooms in their coverage area and 96 teachers.

“Teaching pre-K in schools is a tough job,” Edgerton said. “Teachers’ salaries, regardless of where they are, are too low. Staffing shortages are rampant all over the state and I would say very much so in the mountains. We just can’t get teachers anywhere. Especially, because the pre-K teachers are required to get advanced degrees. So, it is really hard to get qualified teachers.”

The challenges related to COVID, broke the camel’s back, according to Edgerton.

“COVID was the last straw,” Edgerton said. “Teachers that were already struggling in the childcare industry, now have more responsibilities thrust on them because they have to learn how to do virtual teaching, deal with COVID in general, the cleaning requirements, to mask or not to mask, what do you do when a child is sick and the total confusion on the protocols. It is just a really big job.”

 

Childcare crisis in Highlands

In Highlands, there are only two pre-K daycares, with a combined waitlist of 87 children.

Alison Tate, the director at the Gordon Center is looking to retire, but if she can’t find someone to replace her, the center could lose a classroom.

“We currently have 40 kids on our waitlist,” Tate said. “When a parent comes to me needing immediate care, I have to typically send them to HCCDC because they have more spots available than us, but they are on a waitlist, just like us. Past that, there really isn’t an option, unless they can find a private sitter. I’m only licensed for 20 students and we are ages one through five. That is just because of space. We only have two rooms that are licensed.”

At the Gordon Center, they are a half day preschool in the mornings from 8 a.m., to noon. There are two licensed rooms, one is a nursery for one to two year olds and then one classroom is for older three year olds.

“We definitely have a need for child care,” Tate said. “I have roughly five children on my waitlist that haven’t even been born yet. I think that is one thing that makes things hard. People move to Highlands for a job and then have a very difficult time getting their foot in the door because so many other people already know to put their child on the waitlist while they are pregnant. With COVID there has been an influx of people that want to get away from the city life. So, I feel like our population has grown and we really do have a need for childcare.”

Tate said it is difficult to bring more people to the city because of this crisis.

“For instance, if you wanted to bring somebody to work at the hospital, how can they do that when they can’t secure child care?” Tate said. “It is very important for our community to provide good childcare.”

With the addition of a pre-K class at Highlands School, she said it would take a little of the weight off of the two daycares.

“I am hoping that the county commission will agree to bring pre-K to Highlands School,” Tate said. “If they do that, it will open spots available for younger students to come into childcare and take the pressure off of us. For instance, I have 11 students who are going to kindergarten next year. If they had been at Highlands School this year, I would have 11 spots open for one to three year olds. Pre-K is important because it provides that fundamental base for these children. They will be ready to go when they get to kindergarten. I think it will be helpful to have a pre-K at Highlands School because they can streamline that. So, they aren’t having children coming in from different areas.”

‘Lack of childcare in Highlands is a crisis’ - Demitra Passmore, HCCDC Assistant Director

Highlands Community Child Development Center is the only daycare that will take infant children from the time they are six weeks old. With 75 spots in the center, they have a waitlist of 47 children.

“We serve families living and working in the community,” Assistant director Demitra Passmore said. “Parents don’t want to leave their children when they work 30 to 40 minutes away.”

Passmore said she has parents coming to them as soon as they find out they are pregnant.

“A pregnancy test at home before they tell their husbands,” Passmore said. “I have had a woman call me and tell me that she just found out that she is pregnant and that she didn’t tell her husband, but to put her on the list. It is honestly heartbreaking right now; the people who stand in here and shed tears. We give out other names of centers in Cashiers and Franklin. We try to give them other options and as soon as someone leaves or goes part-time, we will give you a call.”

HCCDC director Pat Hedden said children are sometimes on the waitlist for a year.

“It’s a good estimate that they will be on the waitlist for a year, even when they put them on the list as soon as they find out,” Hedden said.

If Highlands School had a pre-K class, Passmore said it would allow HCCDC to take more infants and toddlers.

“That is where we are lacking right now, lacking the space for infant care,” Passmore said. “The Gordon Center doesn’t take infants. We are it. We have two rooms and that is our biggest need right now. That would free us up some space.”

Hedden said some of the businesses in Highlands tell potential employees that there is childcare in Highlands.

“They have already come up, moved and then realize that there is no childcare here,” Hedden said. “That is a big issue because when they say, ‘Well we were told,’ that is where it becomes a problem.”

Passmore said there are two big issues in Highlands right now that are keeping people away, affordable housing and childcare.

“If we don’t do something about the both of those, I’m not sure we are going to have people coming to the community,” Passmore said. “People here may stay, but as far as new people coming into the community, I don’t know. I don’t know what their options are going to be. If they come in, how long are they going to stay? This lack of childcare has become a crisis. We are concerned about who is watching these children when they can’t get into a licensed center. What environment are they in and are they safe? So, any childcare we can get in Highlands is beneficial.”

      

What is next?

Moving forward with the pre-K proposal approved by the Macon County Board of Education, it will be sent to the Macon County Board of Commissioners who will then look at it and see if it will be approved.

The next board of commissioners meeting is scheduled for March 8. Meetings are held in the Commissioners Boardroom on the third floor of the Macon County Courthouse at 5 West Main Street in Franklin.

Rounding out the $8.6 million request is $3.6 million that pertain to extra renovations at the school.

- By Christopher Lugo