The Frankfort Square Park District’s Early Learning Center is a developmentally appropriate preschool program serving children ages 3 – 5. This popular program has been in existence for 27 years and takes pride in having provided several thousand Park District Preschoolers with a solid, nurturing stepping stone to their formal education.
The Early Learning Center provides for all areas of a child’s development: physical, emotional, social and cognitive. Since young children learn and grow best when they are touching and interacting with real things and caring people around them, teachers will always strive to prepare an environment of active exploration and interaction with adults, children and materials. First and foremost will always be our goal that each child walk away from this program feeling loved, respected and appreciated for the unique individual that he/she is.
The Superintendent/Coordinator of the Early Learning Center has been actively involved in providing successful programming, teaching and supervision of programs for preschoolers for the last 24 years of the program’s existence, and is proud to have a strong, tenured staff with three to eleven years of experience. All staff members are dedicated to getting to know your children on an individual basis and providing them with positive experiences.
Over the years the Early Learning Center has experienced many changes, always striving to keep up with the evolving needs of the community. 27 years ago we started out in a tiny building that housed the entire Park District with 2 adult size tables, a few toys and games, and daily trips to the neighboring Junior High to use their mimeograph machine. We were bare bones at best, yet the program was successful for the same reason it is today, our dedication to the children of the community.
In 1989 the park district secured bonds which allowed for a beautiful new Park District facility, complete with a state of the art Early Childhood room. The community was growing by leaps and bounds and the demand for preschool programs was strong, so we responded. We went from 2 classes a day to 4 a day, and still carried a long waiting list. Our staff increased from three to nine and we worked daily to ensure that this expansion did not cause us to lose sight of our unique goal – our positive interaction with the individual child.
In 2002 the majority of voters in our park district community passed a 5 million dollar referendum which allowed for, among many other wonderful projects, an addition to the existing wing that housed the Early Learning Center. Our space was doubled and age appropriate classrooms were put into place which allowed for smaller and more suitable class sizes. We were given expansive outdoor space, a brand new adjacent playground for the children’s use, and access to the community splash park. With smaller classes we were able to provide even more individual attention to students, which meant we continued to maintain our most important goal – positive interaction with the individual child.
Today the Early Learning Center continues to flourish and works hard to provide the community with a program they can feel confident sending their children to. We do understand that choosing a preschool for your child is a very important step for many parents. Please feel free to contact the Superintendent of Early Childhood Programming, Brenda Kushner, with any questions or concerns you may have. It is the well informed parent that makes the best decision for his/her child, and we welcome any support we can give you in this endeavor. |