More information has come from the Southeast Cornerstone School Division and the Holy Family Roman Catholic Separate School Division to explain why there was a cut in funding to the Mini Go program at the Weyburn Family Place.

The recent provincial budget for education provided a significant increase in programming to serve the needs of vulnerable children in the cities of Estevan and Weyburn. The department of Education has announced funding to Cornerstone and Holy Family to establish two new pre-kindergarten programs in each city. This announcement is in addition to funding that has been targeted for the cities for pre-kindergarten to date.

"Previously funding for a pre-K program was received by The Family Place for a total of 16 funded spaces," said Shelley Rowein, Director of Education for Holy Family. "Recently, from the provincial government, the school division received more funding for 32 more spaces for pre-Kindergarten programming. With these new spaces, we decided to relocate and expand the pre-Kindergarten school programs. A total of 48 spaces will be shared between the school divisions in Weyburn and 48 spaces to be shared in Estevan."

"The first step of the process was to communicate with the board of The Family Place in Weyburn and The Family Centre in Estevan so that we could provide a smooth transition for students, based on individual needs," said Don Rempel, Director of Education of Cornerstone. "The next step will be to communicate with staff to prepare an appropriate setting for Pre-K children, as well to connect with parents to develop support between them and our staff and the agencies that the school division can access for their children."

In both locations, the 48 spaces will be divided into 16 spaces for Holy Family and two programs with 16 students for a total of 32 for Cornerstone. Holy Family will be relocating their Pre-K program to St. Dominic Savio School and there has been no facility decision made yet by Cornerstone.

"These new spaces will allow us to broaden our programs to meet the needs for our vulnerable three and four-year olds and early entrance special needs children," said Rempel. "We will be able to access more opportunities to recruit and retain educators, as well as develop a focused linkage for services for parents and children."

Programs will be delivered in schools by each school division, rather than through the current community-based approach, with the continued goal of providing programming that focuses on the healthy development on the whole child while laying the foundation for school of success and lifelong learning.

"There is currently a process in place to identify children in need of entry into Pre-Kindergarten programs," said Rowein. In that process, children are recommended by specialists in speech and language, Early Childhood Intervention Program and Social Services.

Meetings between the school divisions and the boards of Estevan Family Centre and Weyburn Family Place have begun the process of transferring the programs from community-based to school-based delivery.

"We still have some partners that we need to communicate with, including parents; this is really the beginning of the process," said Rowein. "Our plan is to work with parents and our partners, as well as designated schools, to get the programs started by the new school year."

"This is a tremendous opportunity to change the whole focus of our schools, by helping parents connect with parenting programs and with educators right at the start of age of three and four-years old (Pre-K) level and continue that communication throughout their child's education," said Rempel. "It will add stability to our schools, by providing more accessible programs for the families in the school division."

Both Holy Family and Cornerstone will be meeting with parents to further discuss the Pre-Kindergarten programs, and dates of these meetings will be provided when there is more information.