On Sunday, children at the Kuna Church of the Nazarene go to Sunday school in the church’s education facility.
On Monday, it becomes My Place Preschool, where Kuna Early Learning, a nonprofit partnered with the Kuna School District, provides pre-kindergarten education for families in lieu of a dedicated school district preschool.
Posters of Jesus playing with children and Bible verses written on the walls give the preschool a religious backdrop, but the curriculum is secular, integrating broad Christian concepts like kindness and graciousness, said Denise Macaluso, the preschool’s director.
“The church thinks this is a great ministry, to be able to do this for the preschoolers and the families in the area,” Macaluso said.
Macaluso works for the Kuna Church of the Nazarene, but the preschool occupies most of her time. She spends about 10 hours a week doing church work.
Every month, she meets with Ludee Vermaas, Kuna Early Learning’s executive director. Through the nonprofit, Vermaas provides families with scholarships to afford preschool at My Place and professional development for its teachers.
Through scholarships, Kuna Early Learning allows some families to pay $350 a month for preschool, as opposed to the standard $700 a month.
My Place Preschool runs from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. In nearby Boise, the district offers free preschool at two locations, but students attend either morning or afternoon sessions rather than an all-day program.
Kuna Early Learning also integrates kindergarten preparation by requiring parents to attend three trainings a year, where teachers instruct them on good practices for developing reading skills with their children as they near kindergarten.
‘It’s whatever I can get my hands on’
In the hallway at My Place Preschool is a building plan for an upgraded outdoor recreation facility. The Land Group, a civil engineering consultation firm, donated the plan to Kuna Early Learning at no cost. But Kuna Early Learning has no way to come up with the $700,000 construction cost.
“This is the dream,” Vermaas said of the plan, until she can find a funding source.
Idaho is one of six states that don’t fund preschool. Without state funding, Idaho districts that want to offer preschool must get creative, relying on patchworks of private grants, federal grants and in-kind donations.
“I apply probably to about 15 to 20 grants a year, and I might get about four or five,” Vermaas said. “So a lot of private grants, a lot of public grants too.”
It’s more work than Vermaas gets paid for. She often spends her free time applying for grants.
“It’s whatever I can get my hands on,” she said of the scramble for funds.
As funding ebbs, so do the preschool’s offerings. Kuna Early Learning once offered free lunch for My Place students, but the roughly $20,000 cost was too much strain on the budget, Vermaas said.
Another dream for Vermaas is increased special education integration at My Place. The preschool can accommodate academic diagnoses, like students with certain developmental deficiencies. But without an occupational therapist, physical therapist or speech-language pathologist, it cannot provide a full range of special education services.
Vermaas’ goal is to find grant money to allow My Place to be 50% special education, 50% general education.
School districts are not legally obligated to provide general education preschool – and while Kuna Early Learning’s budget doesn’t allow for a completely free preschool, the Kuna School District has long made it a goal to make preschool as accessible as possible for families.
An early learning investment
About a decade ago, Vermaas recalls, Kuna saw increasing numbers of preschoolers needing special education services, and most incoming kindergarteners were not proficient on district readiness assessments. Then-superintendent Wendy Johnson began focusing on early learning initiatives to help prepare children and their families for kindergarten.
Around that time, now-retired Kuna Board Chair Kim Nixon came onto the school board. A longtime teacher, Nixon – now on Kuna’s Early Learning Committee – advocated for early learning investment.
Nixon said strong early learning programs can help address learning challenges earlier and better prepare children for success throughout their K-12 education.
“Data show that if they’re successful there, they’ll be successful in graduating from high school and doing post-secondary things,” Nixon said.
It’s important, she said, because it sets the tone for the rest of their education.
“You can imagine, if you get into kindergarten and you’re already behind, how do you feel as a student?” Nixon said.
As a result of Kuna’s investment in early learning, kindergarten readiness improved by 20% in the first few years, Nixon said. “That’s a huge amount.”
Kuna’s dream is a reality in Boise
When the Boise School District renovated Owyhee Elementary into an early learning center that serves 250 preschoolers with a range of developmental support — like occupational and physical therapists, speech-language pathologists, and integrated special education and general education classes — Johnson called Vermaas.
“Our dream of an early learning center is a reality in Boise,” Vermaas recalls Johnson telling her.
At Owyhee, half the gym is dedicated for occupational and physical therapy. Special education and general education have individual classrooms separated by barn doors that open up to connect them. Hallways are lined with interactive, sensory gadgets.
A strong partnership
Though the Kuna district lacks a dedicated preschool, Vermaas is happy with what My Place Preschool offers. She hopes to build on it.
Rev. Eric Seaney, the pastor at Kuna Church of the Nazarene, has overseen the partnership since it began.
“It was kind of a synergism where we just meshed together,” Seaney said.
To him, it’s part of the church’s mission.
“It’s really important, because the church is supposed to engage with the community, and we actually care about families. And we care about their children being prepared for kindergarten,” the pastor said.
For Seaney’s church, Kuna Early Learning taking over the preschool was convenient, as well. When Vermaas approached Seaney, the church’s preschool teachers were preparing to retire.
“We had reached a point where we were no longer willing to provide the whole of the ministry, and so the cooperative working together has been really good,” he said.
Information about registration, donations and the Kuna Early Learning program are available at here.
