Westport Parents Launch Petition to Save Staples' Childhood Development Program

WESTPORT, CT — Proposed changes to the long-standing Childhood Development program at Staples High School have upset some Westport parents to the point that they have launched an online petition to save it.

As of this morning, Jan. 30, the petition on Change.org, entitled "Keep Entire Child Development program and Staff," had received more than 600 signatures toward a goal of 1,000.

"The Child Development program at Staples High School is being terminated next year and further years to come," states the petition. "This has been one of the longest running programs at Staples High School and has been impacting students more than the staff, superintendent, and board of Ed know. Without it, many students will not take meaningful classes that actually help them for their future. This class has many different aspects that many do not understand. It is the only program at Staples that is unique."

According to Westport Schools Superintendent Dr. Colleen Palmer, changes to the program are necessary due to new regulations and guidelines handed down by the state. Those changes include moving the program under the Social Studies Department and leveraging "existing full-scale preschools and elementary schools in operation."

"The changes in the program are not prompted by budgetary forces in any way," wrote Palmer in a statement to parents. "It was just time for us to update our program to reflect the current learning needs of our preschoolers, while remaining compliant with current State regulations."

Below is the text of the full statement sent to parents from Westport Schools Superintendent Dr. Colleen Palmer:

Dear Families of Westport Students,

SHS Child Development Pathway Continues Strong with Updated Format
Staples High School has enjoyed a long tradition of nurturing the passion of our students to study early childhood development through both classroom study and by engaging in authentic experiences interacting directly with preschoolers. Our high school will continue to offer these learning opportunities, but it has become necessary to update our program next year to reflect requirements of the CT State Department of Education.

We began the 2016-17 school year assuming that our child development program would continue along in its current form for many years. However, the CT State Department of Education informed us late this fall that in order to comply to appropriate certification requirements with our current staff, we would need to have our child development classroom courses integrated within either the health or social studies departments.

With feedback from the CT State Department of Education, it was also incumbent upon us to review the Play School portion of our program to ensure we were providing the appropriate support for our preschoolers. (Each year we have approximately 18 high school students who embark on working with the 8 to 10 preschoolers in our high school Play School Program, about approximately 6 hrs. each week, under the direction of a teacher.)

In order to review our support of these youngest learners, we conducted an audit by our district professionals in early childhood education from our own comprehensive preschool housed at CES, Stepping Stones, and with input from our special education staff. It became readily apparent that with the changing and more complex needs of these young learners, one dedicated teacher and a class of enthusiastic high school students, no matter how committed, could simply not meet all of the needs of the preschoolers in terms of expertise to identify any developmental delays in the realms of communication, movement, and/or cognition, which is a State requirement, even for Play Schools.

To comply with State requirements, and to ensure every preschooler has the strongest start in education, our program will sustain the same goals, but make two programmatic changes for the 2017-18 school year:

1. The child development classes will continue, but move to our Social Studies Department where the element of child psychology will also be integrated to this curriculum. Students will now earn credit towards graduation that is classified as “academic.” (Note: While the course catalogue only lists one new course at this time, a second is in the process of being developed. If this shift had not been unexpected, we would have had the luxury of time to plan this entire transition before the course catalogue went live.
2. High school students will have regular face-to- face time with preschoolers and young children, but the program will leverage existing full-scale preschools and elementary schools in operation. Utilizing existing preschools and educational environments fully staffed with a team of professionals to deal with the complexities of these young learners will provide exceptional and realistic, learning environments. (Note: As a stopgap measure for the remainder of this year, we hired a retired preschool teacher with a doctorate in early childhood education to assist with support of the preschoolers in our Play School.)

The changes in the program are not prompted by budgetary forces in any way. It was just time for us to update our program to reflect the current learning needs of our preschoolers, while remaining compliant with current State regulations.

We are fully committed to offer rich, authentic experiences for our students in the educational environment of preschoolers. Our district’s Stepping Stones Preschool is a lighthouse of cutting edge educational practices for approximately 70 preschoolers, some with development delays and some without delays. You could not design a more enriching environment for practicum experiences for our high school students. We are in the process of mapping out how we can optimize this treasured resource for our high school students, as well as tapping other quality preschool opportunities in the area. Our child development students have also visited our own elementary schools on a regular basis to gain experience with young learners, and this practice will continue.

Given the recent curve ball we were thrown, I would like to commend all of our professionals in our district who contribute to early childhood education – either the study thereof or by working directly with our youngest learners. Our unanticipated change in the format of our program has our district team working collaboratively to ensure that our students who wish to study child development will continue to have a quality pathway which will allow them to explore and experience the amazing work with young children in a real and meaningful way.

We acknowledge the years of committed service that Linda McClary has devoted to this program. Scores of students have benefited from her love of early childhood and followed their own pathways in life that connect them in their work to serve young children. Bravo all!

Sincerely,
Colleen Palmer

Click here to view the petition on Change.org.

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