January 17, 2024
Dear York Families,
The York School Committee has accepted Village Elementary School’s proposal to create two public PreK classrooms at Village Elementary School for the 2024/25 school year, beginning in September 2024.
In the last few years, the percentage of students entering kindergarten without access to preschool opportunities has increased, creating a significant gap in readiness among
Kindergarten students. This inconsistency has impacted Village’s ability to move its students through the curriculum at a similar pace and has stressed the limits of our intervention systems.
York elementary schools use MTSS—a multi-tiered system of supports—a proactive and preventative framework that integrates data and instruction to maximize student achievement and provide targeted support to struggling students. MTSS aims to intervene early so students can catch up with their peers.
After consideration of the data, the York School Committee approved a restructuring at Village Elementary School to include two classrooms dedicated to preschool students. This will provide preschool opportunities to approximately 28 to 30 four-year-olds in York, without direct costs to families.
York is fortunate to have incredible preschool programs in the York community. The intent of this initiative is not to replace these programs but rather to increase access to high-quality programming for all York families.
Selection for enrollment in Village Elementary School’s preschool program will reflect York’s current kindergarten population. Approximately 20% percent of our students have identified disabilities, 20% of the students have socioeconomic disadvantages, and 5% of our kindergarten students are multilingual. The remaining 45% of students do not fall into the previously mentioned categories. We anticipate an enrollment lottery to begin in mid-February, with selection notification in early April.
We ask that York residents share this news with York friends, families, and neighbors who may have a child who will be four years of age on or before October 15, 2024. Please ask them to complete the York School Department Public PreK Interest Survey and sign up for a PreK Public Forum for more information.
YSD Public PreK Interest Survey: https://bit.ly/YSD_PreK
YSD Public PreK Public Forum: https://bit.ly/YSD_PreK_Forum
Sincerely,
Beth Hutchins
Principal, Village Elementary School
bhutchins@yorkschools.org