If you're wanting to give your young child a jump start on their education, now is the time to call Stevenson Elementary School and ask about their preschool program.

With a current enrollment of 103 and growing, the SES preschool offers three and four year olds a chance to begin school in a fun and friendly environment while getting any additional help they may need in certain areas.

Marilane Kerstiens, family facilitator, encourages parents to call to find out more about the program and to set up a screening.

“Come on in,” Kerstiens said. “That way you'll know developmentally how your child is doing.”

The SES preschool takes three year olds if they have a developmental delay in one of five areas- cognitive, personal/social, adaptive, fine and gross motor, and communication.

During a screening, a child is tested in those areas. If a delay is noted in a certain area, further testing is done. The school has a full-time speech therapist on staff and provides other forms of therapies, such as behavioral and occupational, on an as needed basis. For many young children, the most important part of preschool is developing social skills.

“They learn more from each other than they do from us,” said teacher Sandra Brown, adding that learning social skills is one of the most important parts of preschool.

“Just learning to take turns and share,” added instructional assistant Toni Hall.

Stevenson is somewhat unique in that it is open to all four year olds, a fact that Assistant Superintendent Kaye Wilkins and others involved in the program are proud of.

“That's a real plus for the community of Russellville,” Wilkins said, giving praise to the Russellville Board of Education for providing the additional funding needed to open the doors to all four year olds.

The school also takes all English as a Second Language students at age three, Wilkins said.

“That's another way we go over and above state requirements,” she added.

Nationally accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children, the preschool program at Stevenson began in 1991 and Kerstiens has been with the program since then. In addition to Brown and Hall, the school employs two other teachers, Ann Seidler and Serena Wheeler, and two other instructional assistants, Patricia Askew and Pam Robey. Cindy Vincent is the speech therapist and Christy Scarbrough is the assistant for special needs.

Preschool leaders are also very grateful to community groups for their support and for all the parent volunteers who give of their time to help out.

Parent Shantel Morris said she has been very pleased with the SES preschool. She had one child who already went through the preschool, another currently enrolled and a third who is anxious to attend. Going to preschool helped and is helping get her children ready for kindergarten.

“I think it really helped them out a lot,” Morris said. “I enjoy them being here, they have a whole lot of fun.”

In addition to working on basic social skills like sharing, taking turns and listening, teachers at Stevenson use creative curriculum to guide their lessons giving students an opportunity to get a head start on their academic careers.

Preschool classes at Stevenson are half a day, with the morning session from 7:30 to 10:30 a.m. and the afternoon session from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. One meal is provided during each session and transportation is provided to students in the district.

Because Stevenson accepts all four year olds and Logan County public schools do not, parents in the county often bring their four year olds to Stevenson. Transportation is not provided for these students, but the school welcomes children from the county.

Registration at Stevenson is ongoing, but now is a perfect time to contact the school if you are interested in your child attending in the fall. Kerstiens encourages parents to call her at 726-3927 to learn more about the preschool and to set up a screening.