Biloxi Still Has Open Spots in New Pre-K Program

While most children are already back in school, Biloxi’s pre-k program gets its start on Monday. News 25 went to Nichols Elementary School to see how grant money is helping launch this Pre-K program.

Teachers in Biloxi are gearing up for the start of pre-k on September 8th. Dr. Janice Wilson, Assistant Superintendent of the Biloxi School District, says, “The teachers are here, the assistants are here, and we’re getting the classrooms prepared to welcome the children on Monday.”

Biloxi public schools received a half million dollar grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to establish four pre-k classrooms at the former Nichols Elementary School. There are still openings left and the Biloxi School District wants families who do not already have access to early childhood programs to apply. Wilson also says, “We’re encouraging parents that reside within the Biloxi School District area to come out, apply. We want to see as many four year olds take advantage of this program as possible.”

Pre-school and kindergarten are not required in the State of Mississippi, however state educators are working to get that changed. Dr. Carey Wright, State Superintendent of Education, says, “For me, if we could give them all that great start in pre-k, they would just have a leg up when they’re coming into kindergarten with their language and with their social skills, the kinds of things that they’re ready to learn academically. So I think we’ve got to have this conversation and then we figure out where do we start? We’ve got to start somewhere.”

Local educators are also in favor of mandatory early childhood education. Wilson closes, “I think it would be very helpful. We want to get the children in the door to start them as early as possible, learning their ABCs and 123s, so it’s very important that we capture them earlier. So the earlier we can get started, the more they’re going to be prepared to enter kindergarten and be on their way to graduate from high school.”

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation grant will support the pre-k program in Biloxi for three years. The school district hopes it will be successful enough to extend past then. The Biloxi pre-k program has about 30 openings left. Parents can apply directly at the Nichols school building on Division Street.