2024 State of Early Childhood in Southington

Posted on June 5th, 2024

On May 29, 2024, the Early Childhood Collaborative of Southington hosted their annual “State of Early Childhood in Southington” presentation and breakfast. Thirty people attended representing the Southington Public School district, elected officials, businesses, non-profit organizations, funders, ECCS board members, childcare providers, healthcare, Parent Ambassadors and other parents.

View the Opening Slideshow which highlights the ECCS’s work over the year and the Presentation Slides.

ECCS Board Chair, Rachel Wardwell, started the meeting with introductions.

Joanne Kelleher, Executive Director of the ECCS, gave updates about the birth rates in Southington, changing racial/ethnic demographics, and the increase in the number of calls to 211 for assistance with mental health issues in the last year. See slides #9-15. Additional demographic information is available in the ECCS Community Plan.

There are three changes happening in town that impact families, childcare providers and the ECCS.

Kindergarten Start Age

See slides 16-20. Steve Madancy, Superintendent of Southington Public Schools and Frank Pepe, Assistant Superintendent of Southington Public Schools shared that families of 69 “ber babies” impacted by this change requested appointments for screening for a waiver. They will offer screenings over the summer if requested by families. There will be a PreK 5 Integrated classroom this fall and any children who were not granted a waiver to start kindergarten have been offered a spot in that classroom as a community peer. This process helped find needs that had not been previously identified.

Childcare Availability

See slides 21-28. Although staffing issues and affordability continue, Southington will see an improvement in availability due to the opening of two new centers, additional classrooms and a change in ratios.

Legislative Impacts

Barbara Vita from the Connecticut Children’s Collective reviewed the impacts of SB14 and HB5002. See slides 30-36.

SB14 has been signed by the Governor and become Public Act 24-78 – AN ACT ASSISTING SCHOOL DISTRICTS IN IMPROVING EDUCATIONAL OUTCOMES, IMPLEMENTING THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND THE TECHNICAL EDUCATION AND CAREER SYSTEM AND ESTABLISHING EARLY START CT.

HB5002 has also been signed by the Governor and will become Public Act No. 24-91 – AN ACT CONCERNING EARLY CHILDHOOD CARE AND EDUCATION.

At a recent meeting the OEC Commissioner expected to have guidance out about the change to the ratios in August for the start of the new school year. Ratios for toddlers over 2-year-olds increases from 1:4 to 1:5 and school –age ratios increase from 1:10 to 1:15.

Initiatives

These initiatives were discussed, see slides 37 to 44.

This free event was funded by a grant from the Connecticut Office of Early Childhood as administered by the Connecticut Children’s Collective (CTCC).