With New School Year, San Bruno Park School District Welcomes New Class of Preschoolers

This year the San Bruno Park School District will be welcoming a new pre-school to the district.

On Thursday, 15 little ones will march into their new classroom at Allen Pre-School to begin their introduction to school life.

Allen, located at Hesselgren Primary Center across from the district office, is the third public preschool to open in the district, and already has a waiting list. State-subsidized preschools are available to low-income families in the city at no cost to the parents and are funded separately from the rest of the public schools in the city through the California Department of Education.

The district already runs public preschools at Belle Air Elementary and Rollingwood Elementary, with each early education program located at the elementary school the students will eventually attend. There are also three other private preschools serving district students.

"As part of his vision, Dr. Hutt wants to have a preschool at every site," Pre-School Director Pauahi McGinn said of Superintendent Dr. David Hutt. "And it's coming to fruition."

The push to open a new preschool in the district has been a year in the making, McGinn said. The program is also part of the state's ongoing effort to close the achievement gap as early as possible for children, especially among different ethnic groups.

According to the Abecedarian Project, a longterm study conducted by the Frank Porter Graham Center at the University of North Carolina, children from low-income families who receive quality early education through age 5 are better prepared for school and score higher on achievement tests later in primary grades.

Until now, all of the pre-K students east of Interstate 280 have been attending Belle Air Pre-School. Having a new preschool at Allen will cut down on the distance parents have to travel, McGinn said.

She added that the district's preschool program, in general, has many advantages for the students and their families. The preschool and kindergarten teachers are encouraged to collaborate with one another's classrooms, parents of preschool students are encouraged to participate in the elementary school PTAs and the parents are asked to volunteer with the classroom once a month.

It's part of the district's "open door policy," McGinn said, which gives each child and family a way to get the best start on their education.

"Many (parents) are looking for the education, maybe because they didn't have it when they were younger," she said. "At any rate, they want their children to be educated early."

For more information about the San Bruno Park School District's pre-school program, call 650-624-3158.