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Pottsgrove pre-K Counts class at capacity; district weighing on-site option to meet staff-ratio rules
Summary
District staff reported the Pottsgrove pre-K Counts classroom is full at 20 students, described daily operations and staffing, and said bringing the program on-site could ease federally/state-mandated staff-to-child ratio requirements.
Terry Kohler, the district’s pre-K Counts presenter, told the Pottsgrove School District Board of School Directors that the district’s pre-K Counts classroom is at capacity with 20 students and that interest is growing for enrollment next year.
Kohler said the program operates five hours per day and provides breakfast, lunch and a snack through the Tri-County YWCA partnership. “Our classroom composition right now… our class is at capacity. We have 20 students,” Kohler said during the board meeting. She described daily activities focused on social-emotional skills and pre-writing: sign-in (“practice writing their name”), circle time, center-based learning, gross-motor play in a YWCA gym and an hour set aside for rest.
Kohler outlined staffing: one full-time certified teacher, Shanna Wyand; one full-time classroom aide (a Pottsgrove graduate who plans to pursue a Child Development Associate credential); and a full-time building substitute who covers when Kohler or the teacher are unavailable. She said state rules require a 1:10 adult-to-child ratio and the program schedules an additional adult so the class can be covered when staff step out briefly.
Superintendent Finnerty and Kohler discussed how the partnership with the YWCA works and its limits. Kohler said the YWCA provides transportation but can only carry up to eight students per van run. She also noted the partnership is expected to continue while the district plans to reapply for the state pre-K grant in 2028. Board members raised the point that hosting the class in a Pottsgrove building would make ratio coverage easier; Kohler and Finnerty said YWCA staff cannot provide the required ratio coverage under the current partnership arrangement, so Pottsgrove staff must be on site to meet the rule.
Kohler said the program uses the Creative Curriculum approved by the state’s pre-K grant and that three high school students have begun job-shadowing the classroom as part of an interest in early childhood careers. She described community support for the program — including a recent toy drive organized with district staff and student-athletes — and said the district will begin outreach for next year’s slots when kindergarten registration opens.
Board members thanked Kohler for operating the program and noted interest in exploring an on-site Pottsgrove location to strengthen staffing continuity and to enhance the district’s position when the grant is next available.
The board did not take formal action to relocate the program at this meeting; Kohler said keeping the partnership with the YWCA and demonstrating an ongoing program would strengthen future grant applications.
