Lynn schools receive $3.7M in early childcare funds

LYNN – Good news came in a big package Friday for public school and Gregg House officials who learned they will split $3.7 million to pay for eight new pre-school “centers of excellence.”Center workers will help an estimated 300 pre-school children master the basic learning skills they need to get their public school careers off to the right start. The initiative’s goal is to double the number of academically at-risk children currently served by public school pre-school programs.U.S. Sen. John Kerry and U.S. Rep. John Tierney announced the award along with U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch on behalf of the University of Massachusetts-Boston, Institute for Community Inclusion, Early Childhood.”We are thrilled to receive this and to work with the University of Massachusetts,” said School Superintendent Catherine Latham.Details of how the money will be spent and where the centers will be established are in the development stage but some facets of the plan were available Friday.UMass-Boston will also collaborate with Early Childhood Associates to implement the early literacy training Steps to Success to six early literacy coaches who will provide ongoing classroom-based coaching to teachers.Organizers will work with the 18 center-based preschool classrooms in Lynn where 41 languages are spoken. Three quarters of the Lynn schools’ pre-kindergarten to fifth grade students do not speak English as their primary language or have very limited English proficiency and 16 percent of students receive special education services.”There’s no such thing as equal opportunity without a first class education and this innovative literacy program will ensure that hundreds of our state’s neediest students get a strong start,” said Kerry. “During tough economic times like these, it’s more important than ever to invest in cost-effective, research-proven early educational programs like this one.”Some of the money will be dedicated to helping Operation Bootstrap, North Shore Community College and the Lynn Public Library to offer services to educate families and encourage support for childrens’ literacy development.”Operation Bootstrap, North Shore Community College and the Lynn Public Library are all critical to our community in that they all have the systems in place to tackle the problem of childhood illiteracy,” Tierney said. “This funding will be a welcomed injection to help these local institutions reach even more young students and families so that they may benefit from the support that the combined services provide.”