Yoakum Pre-K students receive free supplies this year

  • YISD pre-K students will receive free school supplies, backpacks and mats for the 2022-2023 school year. Courtesy Photo.
    YISD pre-K students will receive free school supplies, backpacks and mats for the 2022-2023 school year. Courtesy Photo.

    YISD pre-K students will receive free backpacks, mats and supplies for the 2022-2023 school year, courtesy of a grant that accompanies the district’s first year to offer a full-day pre-K program. 

     

    The YISD school board voted to accept the grant worth approximately $286 thousand that will cover many of the costs associated with full-day preschool at YISD. The grant assists with expenses for just one year; the district would have to reapply next summer for similar funding for the 2023-2024 school year. 

     

    YISD Superintendent Tom Kelley said the grant covers furniture, portions of teacher and teacher aid salaries, new hires, supplies for pre-K students and more.

     

    “Those supplies are going to be given to the school, and the school is going to (distribute) the supplies then,” said Yoakum Primary Annex Principal Pat Brewer of the plan as of July 29. “In other words, they're not all going to be handed to the parents prior to school starting; they're going to be given to the kids. For instance the backpack – they'll be given to (students) on the first day of school. As far as the supplies, all that's going to be given to the teacher that's going to teach that child. The mat is the same way.”

     

    The partnership with Head Start will provide the new school equipment for all qualifying students and YISD will cover the remaining students. All supplies mentioned on the teacher’s required supply lists are included. The complimentary backpacks would go home with the students after the first day of classes; students may use their own backpacks. 

     

    Brewer said YISD would adopt some of Head Start’s existing policies and procedures into their pre-K classrooms. 

     

    “I'm very excited about starting a new chapter because we've always had a half-day pre-K, and now to go to a full-day pre-K is going to really mean a lot for our students,” said Brewer. “(They) will be better prepared when they get to kindergarten, and we can just extend that learning when they get to kindergarten. They'll be better prepared down the road in 1st Grade.