Pre-K reunion spans 14 years of public education

Published 12:07 am Friday, May 4, 2007

In 1993, then-Gov. Zell Miller managed to push through a Georgia state lottery, which he used to fund HOPE scholarships and pre-kindergarten classes. Back then, Georgia allotted about $37 million to fund 10,000 pre-K students at 127 sites across the state. Dalton was granted two classes totaling 36 students.

Now, 14 years later, Georgia’s pre-K program receives almost $325 million to serve 78,000 4-year-old students. Dalton Public Schools hosts 11 classes that serve more than 200 children. Advocates continue to push so that all students can benefit from pre-K.

And those first two classes of Dalton pre-kindergarten students? They’re about to graduate high school.

On Thursday, 28 of those 36 original pre-K graduates reunited with their former teachers, Cindy Parrott and Sandee Hooper, at Roan School.

“These teachers made such an impact in our children’s lives to make them want to grow up to live important lives,” said Cathy Wright, whose daughter, Catilyn, was a student in Parrott’s class. “The teachers were adults, but they were young. They always made themselves available and had fun. They were always encouraging parental involvement.”

Catilyn, now a senior at Southeast Whitfield High School, plans to attend Lee University and major in music. And while memories of being a 4-year-old are fleeting for many, the moments flooded back into Catilyn’s mind.

“I remember doing plays on the stage after school. And there was a train ride. I don’t know where that was,” she said. “On field day, we lit torches and walked around the field. We ate Mexican and Thai food at a food festival. We had a pet rabbit in the classroom, played on a big U.S. map on the playground, and planted seeds in the ground. We did everything.”

Brad and Vickie Burns’ daughter Christen, a Dalton High senior who plans to attend Kennesaw State University, was a student of Hooper’s.

“We were just really glad to be able to get her in,” Brad Burns said. “We had a son at Roan Street, and we also wanted her to get the Roan Street experience.”

Hooper and Parrott recalled developing the curriculum, purchasing classroom materials and searching for students.

“We’ve been anticipating the day these students would become seniors,” Hooper said. “We counted down the years and are amazed at how many turned out.”

Parrott said the role of parents cannot be underestimated.

“The relations we developed with parents was a huge part of the program,” Parrott said. “We established so many relationships that really gave us a bridge into homes. Parents were here all the time. We have so many memories.”

Laura and Palmer Griffin, a former principal in Dalton Public Schools, now director of operations, said a change in the program in 1993 was to open pre-K not only to under-served students but to the community as a whole. Anyone who wanted to give their students the early start in public school could do so, and the Griffins enrolled son Rob, who plans to study engineering at Georgia Tech.

“It’s phenomenal that all these students expressed an aspiration to pursue at least some type of higher education,” Palmer Griffin said.

Frankie Beard, then-principal at Roan and now retired in Florence, Ala., made the return trip to the reunion.

“We were very excited to get the first pre-K and to be able to enroll previously non-eligible students who served as role models for under-served students,” Beard said. “The state has been doing research on the benefits of pre-K all these years, but, anecdotally, to have 28 of the original 36 students come back is a real good example of the impact pre-K had on these students.”

Beard said she hopes to see pre-K continue to expand.

“Our children are so much more sophisticated and eager to learn today,” she said. “Those are dollars well spent.”