St. Cloud schools report preschool gains, outline pilots to cut wait list

At the June 18, 2025, meeting of the St. Cloud Area Schools Board of Education, district early‑childhood staff reported assessment gains for preschool students and laid out programs and pilots intended to expand birth‑to‑5 services and reduce long wait lists.

The presentation was given by Nikki Hanson, assistant superintendent of E5 learning; Kate Flynn, director of early childhood; and Bridal Davis, early childhood administrative dean. Flynn told the board the district uses a “holistic comprehensive approach” for families and children from birth to age 5 and described the array of programs that make up that work, including early childhood screening, birth‑to‑3 home visiting, Early Childhood Family Education (ECFE), preschool (threes and fours), a district evaluation team and early childhood special educators.

The update matters because the district serves a large early‑learning population and staff described measurable movement on literacy and readiness benchmarks after district teachers participated in LETRS/science‑of‑reading training. Flynn said that, for the cohort discussed, fall screening showed 66 percent of assessed…