District plans consolidated preschool at Hailey Elementary; Farmwise expresses interest as full-day partner

HAILEY, Idaho — The Blaine County School District No. 61 administration presented plans Oct. 14 to consolidate several preschool classrooms at Hailey Elementary to balance staff-to-child ratios, increase professional collaboration among preschool teachers and make program operations more consistent across sites.

Superintendent Fowdy said the district plans to bring staff from Hailey Elementary, Bellevue Elementary and Hemingway STEAM School together for a full day of logistics planning next week. The consolidated early-childhood center would be located at Hailey Elementary, the district said, with some programming potentially remaining at other sites where distance prevents safe or practical busing of 4-year-old children.

Farmwise, a local nonprofit that operates child-care programming, told district staff it is interested in partnering to provide before- and after-school or full-day care that would allow the consolidated preschool to run a full day rather than a half day. Superintendent Fowdy said Farmwise had not yet committed to operating in 2026–27 but was evaluating logistics.

District staff emphasized transportation and parent schedules are core planning issues. The district noted it would use regular transport routes and assign younger children to front seats on buses where appropriate, but would work with transportation staff to model route impacts and timing before finalizing plans. The consolidated schedule also aims to give preschool staff more frequent professional learning community (PLC) time: staff meet now every six weeks, and consolidation would allow weekly PLCs to align curriculum and practices.

Funding and timeline

Superintendent Fowdy told trustees the supplemental levy on the Nov. 4 ballot would fund an expanded preschool model; he said the district cannot finalize a full-day consolidated model until levy results are known. If the levy passes, the district plans to finalize logistics and a communication plan for parents so families know whether consolidation will be full- or half-day and how transportation will work.

Why this matters

District leaders said consolidation will balance class sizes and staff ratios, improve consistency of instruction, and give preschool staff more opportunities to collaborate and shape future facility design for a longer-term early-childhood center. Trustees asked staff to return with routing impacts, cost estimates and a communications plan before any changes are finalized.

Next steps

District staff will hold a planning day with preschool staff, work with transportation to time routes and report back to the board with logistics, costs and an outreach plan before implementing the model for the next school year.