Keokuk, IA – Families have already started contacting the Keokuk School District about its new pre-school program.
A $77,000 state grant will allow Keokuk to create a free morning and afternoon program for up to two dozen four-year-olds.
Hawthorne Elementary School Principal Sharon Kokemuller says pre-school helps students work on early motor skills and lets them adapt to daily school life.
Kokemuller says parents should contact the school if they want to sign their four-year-olds up.
She says enrollment criteria has not been established, though the idea is not to take students out of existing programs, but rather to get more students into pre-school.
At the same time, Burlington School Superintendent Lee Morrison says the district's new pre-school program could be up and running very soon.
The district received about $130,000 from the state to start the program for four-year-olds.
Morrison says response has been very good with 36 of 40 spots filled.
Morrison says that if the final four slots are not filled, the district will have to give the state back about $14,000.
Additional Information
* Burlington received its state money during the first wave of grants.
* Keokuk had to wait for the second wave.