ESD Cancels Prescott Preschool

PRESCOTT – Due to a lack of qualified applicants Prescott will not be able to offer a preschool program after all. Prescott schools superintendent Brett Cox reported at the district’s Oct. 22 school board meeting, that the anticipated ECEAP program had been cut.

“Unfortunately, the ESD was unable to follow through with the preschool program due to a lack of qualified applicants. They had four who qualified and they needed 20 to run the program,” Cox said.

He explained that the initial predictions indicated 39 students in the district qualified, but those predictions were based on a formula using free and reduced lunch numbers. That formula failed, and didn’t take into consideration that most of the families work and weren’t low enough on the poverty scale to qualify. “That’s the lynchpin that came undone,” he said.

Cox said that the situation created confusion and frustration for families who were anticipating the preschool.

“It leaves an indelible mark on us because our families don’t know what the ESD is, they just know there is no preschool at Prescott,” he said.

Cox said the ESD understood the situation and was willing to both call and send letters to families who were affected by the program being cancelled.

“I wanted to create some separation there so families realize that it wasn’t our program and we’re sorry that it happened. I think they (the ESD) did a very good job in following up. It was an unfortunate situation, but we’ll move on,” Cox said.