By Suzanne Potter
Angela Rose, a manager for the Las Vegas Department of Youth Development and Social Initiatives, said a lot of families struggle to find an affordable preschool.
“It showed that there were large pockets that had high poverty levels, high numbers of children (age) zero to five and low access to quality child care,” Rose reported. “A lot of the child care providers had closed during the recession, back in 2008-2010, and never recovered.”
The retrofitted RVs look like regular classrooms and are staffed by qualified teachers; two teachers for a class of 15 students. The program began in 2017 and costs the city about $350,000 a year to run, sustained by funds from the Biden-era American Rescue Plan.
Rose noted parents and kids have had a lot to deal with coming out of COVID, so a program like this can help children be ready for kindergarten.
“There has been some good support around giving kids a fighting chance, because we are seeing an increase in special education in kindergartners and first-graders,” Rose pointed out. “Chronic absenteeism is higher. Kids are struggling, parents are struggling, and everyone’s just doing their best.”
