ELANCO First 10 is an initiative to connect families and schools in the ELANCO School District during a child's first 10 years. "(ELANCO First 10) began informally as the early childhood collaboration meeting," said Rachel Weaver, family development specialist with Community Action Program (CAP) of Lancaster County working out of the CrossNet Ministries offices on Franklin Street in New Holland. "It started as the P-3 model, which stands for prenatal through third grade, but it was relabeled First 10 to capture the first 10 years of a child's life."
Weaver explained that initial efforts involved collaborating with the early childhood stakeholders in the local community. "The ELANCO School District has staff members dedicated to pre-K development," said Weaver, who noted that school social workers sometimes attend the gatherings. Weaver has worked to bring a representative from each area preschool, including Pine Grove Preschool, Kinderhaus, and New Holland Early Learning Center (NHELC), along with Headstart, Community Action Partnership (CAP), and the ELANCO Library. Weaver has also been working to bring smaller home-based preschools on board. "We want everybody at the table," said Weaver, who noted that the group generally meets every other month. She added that the group has focused on a transition plan, where each stakeholder outlines what they are doing, and the discussion centers on what could be done to achieve those goals.
Setting goals and evaluating existing programs are part of the group's purpose, according to Weaver. "There are several phases," she noted, adding that the members are being trained through webinars given by David Jacobson, national consultant for the First 10 Initiative for this area. "We are meeting, taking webinars, training to transition (to the new program)," she said. "We work together as a team." She credited CAP with helping to move these efforts forward.
Weaver said the group has set specific goals for the ELANCO area. "The emphasis is on trying to connect ... our families with the resources that are available to them," she said. "We want to build a relationship between the family and the school district before the children are even in the (school) buildings." Weaver explained that one way to reach that goal is to coordinate with each local preschool. The partnership results in a time for each elementary school to host the preschoolers on a field trip to meet a teacher and the school principal and to take a tour of a kindergarten classroom in the school that child will eventually attend. "The principal will read a book to (the children), and they will meet kindergartners who are already there," said Weaver. "We are working on making children more familiar with their schools."
The group has a special concern about children who live in outlying parts of the district. "Another goal we have is the child-to-school connection with children who are in more rural areas where there might not be access to preschool," she said, adding that district teacher Alice Irwin will officially take the role of ELANCO Pre-K team point person for prekindergarten events and programming, First 10/P-3 initiatives and planning, and prekindergarten partnerships for the district in August. She is scheduled to begin doing home visits as a prekindergarten liaison in the fall of 2020. Irwin has been working in the district for 15 years, teaching kindergarten and first grade. She has a master's degree in early literacy and a family literacy certificate.
Weaver noted that the core First 10 team includes about 11 members. Among them are Emily Keener from Headstart, Jenn Morales from NHELC, Beth Eberly from CAP, and Weaver, representing CAP and CrossNet. Five school district representatives who are members of the team are Kim Andersen, Brecknock principal; Greg Frederick, director of elementary instruction for ELANCO; Karen Senior, elementary Title 1 support specialist; and Lauren Hillen, elementary Title 1 support. "We meet with the larger group five or six times per year," said Weaver. "Our plan is still being formed."
Information about the district's kindergarten program may be found at http://www.elanco.org.
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