BP 5148.3 — Preschool/Early Childhood Education

Section: 5000 - Students
Status: Active

Revised: 2024-04-18

Policy text

Preschool/Early Childhood Education

The Governing Board recognizes the value of high-quality preschool experiences to enhance children’s social-emotional development and acquisition of instructional knowledge, skills, and abilities. The Board desires to provide a supervised and cognitively rich learning environment designed to facilitate the transition to kindergarten for three- and four-year-old children. The key tenet of the learning environment should be to intentionally integrate learning into children’s play, implementing both child-directed and teacher-guided activities.

The Superintendent or designee shall collaborate with the local child care and development planning council, the county office of education, other public agencies, organizations, and/or private preschool providers to assess the availability of preschool programs in the community and the extent to which the community’s preschool needs are being met. The Board encourages the development of a comprehensive districtwide and/or countywide plan to increase children’s access to high-quality preschool programs.

The Superintendent or designee shall provide information about preschool options in the community to parents/guardians upon request.

District preschool programs shall comply with all health and safety laws and regulations, including, when applicable, licensure requirements pursuant to 22 CCR 101156.

Preschool classroom needs shall be addressed in the district’s facilities master plan, including an assessment as to whether adequate and appropriate space exists on school sites. As necessary, the Superintendent or designee shall provide information to the Board regarding facilities financing options for preschool classrooms and/or facilities available through partnering organizations or agencies.

The Superintendent or designee shall coordinate the district’s preschool program, transitional kindergarten program (TK), and elementary education program to provide a developmental continuum that builds upon children’s growing skills and knowledge.

The district’s program shall be aligned with preschool learning foundations and curriculum frameworks developed by CDE which identify the knowledge, skills, and competencies that children typically attain as they complete their first or second year of preschool.