A Vote for a Stand Alone ECEC is a Vote for Dedham's Future

As a Town Meeting member, a current ECEC parent and an early childhood educator and I am writing in strong support for a stand alone Early Childhood Education Center (ECEC), which Town Meeting members will vote on next month.

Currently, the ECEC serves about 300 Dedham children, 182 children in kindergarten and 112 in preschool or pre-kindergarten (ages 3-5). Research shows early childhood education is vital to a child’s ultimate success and Dedham—home of the nation’s first taxpayer-funded school system—should continue to invest in providing high quality progress for these earliest learners.

Why a stand alone ECEC? Because this is the model that will allow us to maintain public pre-school and pre-K programs. The School Building Rehabilitation Committee (SBRC) explored the idea of putting kindergarten back in the neighborhood schools as one option when they reviewed the 14 different site possibilities for the ECEC. This idea was rejected by our School Committee and with good reason, in my opinion. If we add kindergarten back into the neighborhood schools we would leave our youngest learners in the lurch. This is short-sighted for a town that has a strong history of funding education. Then, all of us taxpayers would have to expect that there would be four elementary schools that will need updating and structural changes in order to accommodate kindergarten classes. This would be costly and would take a long time to complete. It would also mean we forfeit the nearly $11 million the Massachusetts School Building Authority has committed to this project.

Without public preschool and pre-k, children get divided into the “haves” and the “have-nots.” Private preschool is exceptionally more expensive than the public offering we currently are able to provide to the community through the ECEC. If we don’t provide a public option we are closing the door on our low and middle income families.

Our youngest learners must have a solid foundation in social and emotional skills as they embark on their educational careers throughout their lifetime. Research shows for every $1 spent on early education and care yields a $7-$17 return on investment. Children who participate in high-quality early education are 40% less likely to be held back or require special education, 30% more likely to graduate from high school, and twice as likely to go to college.

If we continue to provide high quality early childhood education here in Dedham we as a town will see this reflected as the years go on. Our children will be better prepared for their school careers and the testing they face starting in elementary school because they will have been exposed to literacy and math at a much earlier age. This makes them much better prepared for the ever-changing and challenging curriculum they will face throughout their school careers.

In 1644, by unanimous vote, the Town of Dedham authorized the first taxpayer-funded public school in the United States. It is literally written in stone where our first schoolhouse stood. In 2016 we are being asked again to show that we support our public schools. It is our responsibility to honor our legacy and commit ourselves to the rehabilitation of and continued success of our Public Schools.

I urge you contact your Town Meeting members and ask them to support Article #20 at the spring Town Meeting on Monday, May 16th.

Thank you,

Eileen Newell (Precinct 4)