Wareham School Committee members heard a detailed presentation Thursday about a new preschool classroom housed at Wareham High School that is funded by the Commonwealth Preschool Partnership Initiative (CPPI).

The program, which committee members and presenters described as an early-implementation site for the CPPI grant from the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care, places an 8-student preschool classroom on the high school campus and pairs those preschoolers with 10 high school students who serve as assistant-teachers across four daily periods.

Nicole Birge, a 0.5 itinerant special education teacher and 0.5 grant coordinator, said CPPI’s main goals are “expansion of access to affordable quality preschool, building locally aligned quality and equitable access to special education and inclusion.” Birge described an itinerant team — including special-education staff, a board-certified behavior analyst and a speech–language pathology assistant — that also visits community partner sites to screen and support shared students.

Wendy Owens, preschool department chair and co-grant coordinator, said the district partnered with three local early-childhood providers — Little People’s College; South Shore Early Education (Head Start); and Best Friends Learning Center — to provide screening, align curriculum and reduce transitions for children who attend both programs. Owens told the committee the program opened Sept. 15 after a planning year and currently has eight preschoolers enrolled, with two additional preschoolers expected to start next week. The team said the classroom’s growth target is about 15 preschool students.

Rachel Ricciardi Buscio, the classroom teacher at the high school, described daily operations: preschoolers eat in the classroom (cafeteria staff deliver meals on a cart after the class places orders), parents provide pick-up and drop-off transportation, and the class follows the Wareham Elementary School’s early-childhood curriculum, using Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA) for ELA and the Bridges curriculum for math. Birge said partner centers may continue to use their own curricula but the grant’s goal is local alignment for kindergarten readiness.

High school student Emily, one of 10 students assigned to assist in the classroom, told the committee that students are treated as assistant teachers and help with classroom prep, handwashing, lunch and activities. School leaders said the pairing gives high school students hands-on experience that could feed the local early-childhood workforce; staff noted some seniors could pursue early-childhood credentials after graduation.

School leaders described the CPPI award as state-funded and ongoing in phases: Wareham received a planning grant last year and an early-implementation award this year. “We’re hoping that it will extend from one year to multiple years,” Birge said, noting the grant’s middle-implementation phase is intended to support sustained expansion. Presenters described this year’s award as secured and said district staff are working to demonstrate progress to increase the likelihood of continued funding.

Committee members asked about transportation, lunch logistics, partner relations and special-education supports. Joyce (committee member) asked whether partner centers welcomed the district’s itinerant support; Birge said staff have worked to build rapport and hold monthly leadership meetings so centers and district staff can coordinate services for shared students. Raji asked about learning materials and Birge answered that the district follows the same CKLA and Bridges programs used at Wareham Elementary School.

Presenters asked the committee to join an open house invitation and encouraged members to track outcomes: a district official asked staff to collect data on whether preschool participants who attended the high-school-based program show different outcomes in later elementary grades.

No formal vote or policy change was taken at the meeting; the presentation was informational and described current operations, partners, student counts and grant status.

The committee will receive ongoing updates as the classroom grows and as the district applies for continued CPPI funding.