District presents 4K and early childhood review, proposes full‑day pilot and inclusion adjustments

District administrators and early learning staff briefed the board on the Middleton-Cross Plains Area School District's 4K and early childhood programs, presenting enrollment data, program structure, evaluations and next-step recommendations.

Katie Kavanaugh, 4K principal, Gina Steele, early childhood interventionist, Cindy Malcheski, director of special education, and Deputy Superintendent Sherry Seibero gave a detailed account of program sites, community partnerships, curricula and assessments. They noted steady long-term 4K enrollment but a district participation rate lower than neighboring districts (about 64–71% attendance of district kindergarten cohorts, compared with 84–95% elsewhere).

Kavanaugh said the district operates a voluntary, two-and-a-half hour 4K program for district students who are four by the start of the year, with co-taught co-planned sessions at the Early Learning Center (ELC) for mixed general education and special education students. Eight community partner sites hire their own DPI-licensed teachers; the district provides curriculum, professional development and special education support. "We provide monthly professional development at the ELC," Kavanaugh said.

Staff reported expansion of community sites, including onboarding the Goddard School for an AM section, and explained some enrollment pressures in west Middleton that required bussing to manage capacity. The team said AIMSweb screening piloted in winter worked well and will expand as a fall-spring progress measure.

The program evaluation analyzed cohorts and showed that many families who did not enroll in district 4K still used private or out-of-district sites because of prior daycare ties or lack of wrap care. The district surveyed families and found logistics and wrap care availability among the reasons families chose other providers. The evaluation also compared site alignment and transportation: some neighborhoods have many children attending nonaligned sites, prompting the district to expand site options for Sunset and investigate Soft Trail.

For early childhood special-education services (ages 3–4 with significant needs), staff explained current class sizes (five to six students per session) and that they added an additional Tuesday/Thursday AM session in January to meet growing referrals. The team recommended restructuring early childhood sessions to shorter periods so the district can offer more sessions without large budget increases and reduce the number of students with severe needs grouped together. "By decreasing the time, we can have two morning sessions instead of one, which helps keep class sizes low," Malcheski said.

Staff proposed next steps for 2026–27 planning: improving census collection, piloting a full‑day 4K at the ELC with wrap care through a community partner (targeting Title I schools first), and recruiting general‑education peer models to co‑serve in early childhood classrooms. They noted potential benefits: improved DPI indicator 6 ratings for early childhood environments and better inclusion outcomes.

Administrators also summarized Child Find activity and speech/phonology services: 35 children attended Child Find sessions this year and about 24 were referred for further evaluation; as of March 10 the district had 15 referrals from Birth-to-3 with eight more turning three before fall 2025.

Board members asked about assessment content at 4K, transportation implications for full‑day pilots, and how increased writing demands at higher grades will be supported. Staff said AIMSweb will provide brief literacy measures and that transportation and fiscal impacts for any full‑day pilot will require further analysis. "Care is one of the things that we identified in that follow-up," an administrator said, explaining wrap‑care as a barrier for many families.

The presentation closed with staff saying they will continue to refine enrollment outreach and pilot plans for expansion in 2026–27, and to return with more detailed budget and partnership proposals.