Pre-k funding restored
16 day cares rejoice at news
Besides National Doughnut Day, Friday was the day 16 community day care centers got word that their pre-K funding from Shelby County Schools was restored. At Red Robin Academy on Cooper, doughnuts just made it sweeter.
“In May, we had the children make signs that said ‘Save our pre-K,’ said center director Robin Mayweather. “By Monday, they’ll say, ‘Thank you for saving our pre-K.’”
Mayweather and center directors in every corner of town now have to figure out how to alert families that the money is back and that mandatory pre-K screenings start at 8 a.m. Tuesday.
“We’re going to have to find some creative ways to get the word out because we have space,” Mayweather said.
In early May, school district officials announced they were cutting 82 of 200 pre-K classrooms in Memphis, citing an $8 million budget gap caused by the sequestration and expiring Race to the Top grants. Within days, they had found a way to restore 29 classrooms. Two days
An avid animal lover anonymously gave the town more than $500,000 for the project.
The rest was raised over the past 9 ½ years by shelter director Nina Wingfield and others.
The proposal called for the two buildings to be connected by a breezeway or sally port where shelter vehicles could drive in and close the gate in a secured area.
The plans also included separate holding areas for feral cats and their recov- ery, a dog and a cat quarantine, a rabies holding area, a vicious dog area and isolation area for cats and dogs.
Town off icials had hoped the project would be finished by late this year or early next year, with about six months of construction.
“A lot of times you can project out what it will cost, but until you get that contract, you just never know,” said Collierville Mayor Stan Joyner. “That’s when you get the hard numbers.”
“I know it is going to happen. It’s worth the wait,” said Wingfield.