Monday, August 24, 1998
Kindergarten classes offered at Our Lady of Consolation
By Cathy Willoughby
Staff Writer
There will be 24 new faces at Our Lady of Consolation School in Carey Tuesday morning at the start of classes.
They will be part of the first kindergarten class at the school - as well as being the first in the Carey area to be experiencing an all day, every day kindergarten.
There was an open house Sunday morning at the school for both parents and children to see the former band room after its transformation. A room that once was dreary, with worn, drafty windows, has become a brightly-colored children's oasis filled with play equipment, letters and numbers and pint-sized tables and chairs.
Although the idea of having a kindergarten has been discussed by the Carey parish for about 10 years, it was not until the past year that the Parent Advisory Council made a decision to begin the program.
Mark McDougle, a member of the Council, said that the group decided that they would do it if they had the support of everyone in the parish and school. ''One of the hardest decisions that had to be made was where to find a room. We are a small facility and we needed to be able to shift some things around. There were some concerns about the start-up costs, but there were so many donations that were received by parishioners. We said all along that if we don't have the support of the entire parish, we can't do it,'' he said.
Father Peter Damien, pastor at Our Lady of Consolation parish, said that he is very hopeful that the program will complete the school's offering. ''We want to be able to start a good foundation for children to continue in a Catholic education,'' he said. He is also pleased with the number who registered. ''It is a much larger number than we were hoping for; we are very pleased. The parish community has been very supportive of the whole school program,'' he added.
Start-up costs were raised through donations and several fundraisers. A grant from the Bishops Education Council also was used, and the church auxiliary made a donation for the window replacement in the room.
Jean Schott, school principal, is pleased that the kindergarten will give parents an opportunity to start their children's school years at a Catholic school. ''Having them start here makes the transition to first grade so much easier. A lot of the children have been here for preschool Bible classes, which helped get them ready to come here,'' she said. Parents in the past would send their kindergarteners to the local public school, then transfer them to Our Lady of Consolation in the first grade.
''Most of our children come from Carey,'' said Brenda Blair, chairperson of the Recruitment Committee. ''And most go to the public schools for kindergarten, then go to Our Lady of Consolation. We thought maybe we were losing some by not having a kindergarten here.''
Blair said that the committee's function is to help keep enrollment figures up, so that tuition costs do not increase. The school has one class in each grade up to eighth, with an average of 20-25 per class. Tuition costs are $880 annually for the first child, and are prorated for each additional child in the family at the school.
The school's enrollment is up 30 students. The committee began recruiting potential kindergarten students by sending out invitations to the school's annual spring open house to names on the parish baptism list.
''We really thought 12-15 because we were just starting out, but it really took off,'' she said. ''A lot of times people just need to be asked to check out thebuilding; it's not a hard sale.''
Greeting the children on Tuesday will be their teacher, Betty Hennessy. Although she is a new kindergarten teacher, she has taught fourth grade at the school for 16 years. ''It's something I wanted to do several times, but it didn't work out. I'm really excited about it,'' she said.
The first week of classes the youngsters will all come on Tuesday. On both Wednesday and Thursday, the class will divide up with half on one day, half the next, and then all get together again on Friday.
''This will allow them to get used to the room and the rules, and give them a little special attention. I thought they would be disappointed if they didn't all come on the first day of school,'' she said.
Hennessy said that she thinks there will be some advantages to having an all day, every day format. ''We won't be so rushed when we are doing a project. I can always move some of it to the afternoon,'' she said.
Janet Elchert, who teaches the preschool Bible classes for the parish, will have her oldest child coming to kindergarten this year. ''We live in the Vanlue school system, and we probably would have decided to go that route. I've heard so many good things about the school from other parents. I feel at a Catholic school they learn better morals and values as part of their education. And more discipline and learning their religion is part of it also,'' she said.
As well as beginning a kindergarten, the school now will offer an extended day program, either scheduled or on an as-needed basis, from 6-8 a.m. and afterschool from 2:45-6 p.m., for students enrolled at the school. School officials hope to provide child care for parents that is safe and supervised, and meet children's as well as parent's needs. Costs are $1 an hour for one child, and an additional 50 cents an hour for each additional child.