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Georgia Babies
Mysterious_wife
member
Researching GA's pre-k program.
Mysterious_wife
member
Hi ladies!
There is a huge chance I will be moving to GA from TN in a few weeks. Dh's job is relocating. I was trying to find pre-school/pre-k programs for my daughter, but it seems the state pays fro these if the child is 4.
I am a little confused by the program. I did call in to the number on the site, but the woman was not very helpful.
Is this open to all children and is there a spot for all of them? Is it a first come first serve program? Does it mock the school calendar? Is it a decent program?
Sorry for so many questions. I am new to all of this.
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Researching GA's pre-k program.
I'm not sure if it is the same for all counties, but in Dekalb county there are not enough spots for all the kids. In the beginning of April there is a lottery to get into the program. The pre-k is run through the school and it it follows the school calendar. I think, like all schools, the quality of the program is based on the school and the parent's involvement. I had two friends in the program and were happy with it.
I'm not sure about late entry. I do know a few folks that got in though the lottery but then decided on staying with daycare or another option and did not enroll. Possibly they open more spots when it gets closer to school starting.
This is what I have heard from others. But definitely keep trying to get information from official sources. Good luck.
It is confusing. Even for me and I've lived here my whole life. GA has a lottery funded Pre-K program. Some areas have to do a lottery to decide who gets in. Some areas have plenty of room for all. Quality differs from school to school. Like I know for a fact that DD's daycare has plenty of open spots in their GA Pre-K program. Yet, I won't send DS there. But first things first... you need to know what part of town you're going to be living in. Atlanta is huge and every area is vastly different. Narrow that down and then start worrying about pre-k. This is a useful site for finding out which programs have openings and also you can read their evaluations:
https://decal.ga.gov/ProviderSearch/SiteSearch.aspx?prekonly=y&newsearch=y
There are not enough spots, but they are right. It depends on your area. There are lots of GA Pre-Ks in my area so at my school (I teach GA Pre-K) we have filled all of our spots and only have a couple of kids on the waiting list right now. People get on several waiting lists. This year I had 6 kids not show up the first day and we called and filled the spots that day. People often get in at one place and then don't let the others know they are not coming. I am planning on calling my students this summer to check in and see. It is a pain to have stuff ready and a kid not show up. It is also frusterating to make someone else start late. So if you can't get in to a place now, it's a good possibility in the summer or even as late as the beginning of the year.
From what I have heard, most programs do follow the county's calendar that they are in. Some are in public schools and others are in private daycare. This was my first year teaching Pre-K. I taught kindergarten before this. I feel that it is a good program and prepares them for kdg. There are some things I would change but just my opinion. I'm sure I would say that of any program. Overall I feel good about the standards and how they correlate with kindergarten. You can email me if you have any questions ingrid.bailey@comcast.net
I understand your confusion! I was really confused when I started looking into it myself. Their site is pretty good though as far as curriculum. Look at the teacher section and you can see the handbooks and standards too, sample schedules etc. We are on a 6 1/2 hour day. Good luck!
Also wanted to add- You need to check around as far as the start date. They cut 20 days off of our calendar and still have yet to tell us when they will be. Up until the center has been allowed to decide our own schedule. It sounds like they will do that again but it has not been finalized. My school is talking about us not starting until after Labor Day. That is a huge difference, a month later, than the county I'm in.