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  Safety and security The basement rooms are undersized for daycare, preschool, and regular ed programming. They would better serve as storage, or small group meeting rooms. Moving these programs out of the basement will address a number of safety and security concerns that the School District has. Classroom space needed to reduce class sizes and prepare for expected growth The Minnesota Department of Education recommends classrooms in the 1,000-1,400 square foot range for Preschool through Kindergarten and daycare programming. Classrooms in the basement of the Elementary that are being used for these programs range from 605 to 725 square feet. Our preschool enrollment started with 31 students in 2015-2016 and has since grown to 75 students in 2018-2019. More than 80 students are registered for our preschool program for 2019-2020. Kitchen and Cafeteria Space We have additional programming in our buildings with all day wrap-around care, and preschool. We are also anticipating enrollment growth. A larger kitchen and one with an improved serving area will address issues we have with lack of dry goods and equipment storage as well as address issues we have with lack of cooler and freezer space. It will also help support more efficient food preparation and serving. A larger cafeteria will allow for more versatility when it comes to scheduling breakfast and lunch for students, will allow us to serve more students at one time. The cafeteria concept we are proposing is 50-60% larger than the current Elementary cafeteria, and it would be the District's intention to continue to use the Elementary cafeteria to support student and community activities.  Since 2001, our kindergarten class size has averaged about 77 students per class, we have typically ran with four sections of kindergarten, there are years where we have had more than four sections. In 2001, All Day Every Day Kindergarten did not exist, the state weighted kindergarten pupil units at .5 back then so programs in school districts across the state were run as half programs. Using variations of schedules over the years, half day every day, or all day every other day, St. Charles was able to meet the needs of four sections of kindergarten with two classrooms. Within the past 10 years the state of Minnesota began recognizing the importance of All Day every day kindergarten and began fully funding All Day everyday programming. In 2014, St. Charles’ kindergarten program evolved, and we went from being able to serve 4 sections of kindergarten in two rooms with two teachers to needing four classrooms and two additional staff members in the building dedicated specifically to kindergarten for a full day. This resulted in classrooms that were being used to support Community Education and ECFE opportunities being absorbed by regular education programming, and displacing our Community Ed programming. Up until 2015-2016, St. Charles Public Schools did not have a School Readiness program (preschool). Preschool needs in the community were being met through Head Start, the Community Preschool (formerly housed at St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church) and St. Matthew’s. When the Community Preschool closed, a large number of children were displaced. To help meet the demand for preschool in our community, St. Charles Public School began offering preschool, and without classroom space, began using rooms in the basement of the Elementary School to support the program. ___________________________________________________________________________________ The following photos are some of the current Elementary Basement conditions:   Learn more about our needs for Space for Community Ed Programs (ECFE, School Readiness/Preschool, Early Childhood Special Education, and SACC). |