BRISTOL — Nestled on the north end of Bristol Elementary School is a unique daycare and afterschool environment.
When Elkhart Community Schools Superintendent Robert Haworth contacted Growing Kids Learning Centers in 2015 with the hopes of adding a privately-owned preschool program to Bristol Elementary School, local director Heather Miller knew there were was an urgent need to succeed.
“There’s not much in the way of childcare in Bristol,” Miller said. "Aside from at-home child care providers, just a few churches in Bristol offer options for working parents of young children. The school also offers Head Start programming, but finding alternative preschool opportunities has been important to the district recently."
Enter Growing Kids, which has 12 sites across northern Indiana. Growing Kids distinguishes itself from privately-owned preschools and public preschools by being accredited through the state of Indiana and follows rules and educational requirements to retain their accreditation. Head Start, as a public preschool program, does not have accreditation requirements, though it is monitored by the state.
“Good things come from accountability,” Miller said, as she explained that an accreditation representative came come by at any time to check the cleanliness, safety, organization, disciplinary and educational practices of a specific facility.
The meshing of the two environments has worked well to date.