Solon preschool program doubles as community grows

SOLON — In Heather Wyjack’s preschool class at Lakeview Elementary School in Solon, 3- and 4-year-olds begin developing skills that will instill lifelong learning.

“They are little sponges that love to learn, and I feel like I can make it fun and exciting for them,” said Wyjack, who is just one teacher in the growing program in the Solon Community School District.

Over the last five years, the preschool program in the Solon Community School District has more than doubled, expanding from two to five classrooms. When Wyjack started in the district 2017, there was a huge waiting list for the then-two sections of preschool.

“What’s great is now we’re getting kids into the school district right away and giving them a taste of what’s to come,” Wyjack said.

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When adding to the preschool program, Principal Holly Westlund said planners had to be creative since the small, mostly 4-year-olds can’t navigate a large school independently and need to have easy access to bathrooms, for example.

The kids also are messy. Westlund wanted to ensure the rooms designated for preschool had a mix of carpet and tile for more hands-on learning and easy clean up. To make space, a school counselor was moved from a classroom into an office. Instead of groups of students coming to her, the counselor now visits them in their classrooms.

Infrastructure growth is coming, however. In March, Solon residents approved a $25.5 million bond referendum, funding improvements to the elementary school, expanding the intermediate school and building a multipurpose indoor activity center.

Once the intermediate school expansion is completed in a couple years, third-graders will move from Lakeview Elementary to the intermediate school, creating extra space for preschool to second-graders.

Currently, the district of 1,500 students has 85 kids enrolled in its preschool program.

Westlund said her dream for the preschool program is to serve as many kids who live in Solon as it possibly can.

“The benefit of getting them when they’re so little, building those relationships with their families, getting to know them, it feels like a good collaboration between home and school,” Westlund said.

Opening more classrooms for preschool ensures students who qualify for the state’s Shared Visions Preschool Program will get services. The Shared Visions program provides preschool early to students who are considered high-risk beginning at 3 years old. Some students qualify based on socioeconomic status and developmental and speech delays evaluated by their pediatrician, Westlund said.

Students in the Shared Visions program can receive up to two and a half years of preschool before they enter kindergarten at 5 years old.

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Westlund said because the district began planning to add a fifth preschool classroom around the end of 2022 for the 2023-24 school year, they didn’t face challenges in hiring another teacher.

Solon schools Superintendent Davis Eidahl said the growth of the preschool program is an indicator of how the student body will expand as those kids continue through the school district.

“As we add sections to our preschool, we know we’re going to be adding sections to kindergarten and first and second grade,” Eidahl said.

Eidahl said the district waited to add preschool classrooms because it didn’t want to “impede” on private preschool programs. But “as our community has grown, the private business has stayed the same,” Eidahl said.

Solon is among Iowa’s 10 fastest growing cities, according to a comparison of census dates between 2010 and 2020. Solon has grown 48 percent in the last decade — from 2,037 residents in 2010, to 3,018 in 2020. The decade before that — from 2000 to 2010 — the population grew by 73 percent from 1,177 to 2,037 residents

The bond referendum passed by voters last spring will help the district stay ahead of the growth, even adding classrooms that “most likely will sit empty for the next few years,” Eidahl said.

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The district is expecting to add an additional 25 to 50 students a year, and the current five sections of classrooms per grade could grow up to seven classrooms per grade. There are 400 to 500 housing units planned over the next 10 years in the school district.

Already, a sixth classroom also was added to first grade this year.

Solon’s preschool program operates from 8-11 a.m. weekdays during the academic year and is free to families. It is funded by the state at half the funding level available to K-12 students through State Supplemental Aid, a per-pupil rate set by Iowa lawmakers that primarily goes toward teacher salaries. Half-day preschool is available to children who turn 4 on or before Sept. 15 of the year of enrollment.

However, almost all of the students do participate in full-day programming, which comes with a cost to families: $250 a month from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. During that time, students have lunch, nap and continue to learn through play.

A private before-and-after child care program also is available for an additional fee that operates at the elementary school. The program has capacity for about 200 students, with current attendance of about 150 students a day of students aged preschool to 12.

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