Richard Tomko, the superintendent of the Belleville, N.J., public schools, believes that expanding the early education pipeline will buffer schools against enrollment loss and academic challenges as students get older.
The district opened the in-person Hornblower Early Childhood center for 3- and 4-year-olds in 2020, in the teeth of the pandemic, and has since expanded early-childhood programs to 36 classrooms across six schools.
The early-childhood center provided in-person instruction using a curriculum focused on building creativity, critical thinking, and social skills. General education enrollment for preschool has risen from less than 8 percent of eligible children in the 2018-19 school year to nearly 87 percent in 2022-23. Belleville serves a majority of low-income students and nearly 70 percent of them Hispanic.
While K-12 enrollment in New Jersey public schools dropped since the pandemic began shuttering schools in 2020, Belleville鈥檚 rose 5 percent, from 4,477 in 2018-19 to 4,701 in 2021-22.
Tomko, a 2023 Leaders To Learn From honoree, spoke to 91制片厂视频 Week about how the district is leveraging its early-childhood foundation.
The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
How did you decide to expand preschool?
When I got here, fewer than 1 in 10 of our kids of preschool age were in preschool, and for most it was only half day. We know that all the research out there says missing early education really puts kids behind. Now, we have almost 90 percent of our kids in full-day preschool. That鈥檚 doing wonders for the whole community. Parents can work, and there will especially be benefits for the school district in years to come.
What were the biggest challenges to expanding early-childhood education?
I didn鈥檛 even have a preschool director. We had to start that department. I have a great school board and we respect each other, but you sit and you talk and they鈥檙e like, 鈥淗ow are you gonna do all this?鈥� I think a lot of superintendents get defensive when there鈥檚 back-and-forth or disagreements with the board. But that鈥檚 not how it works. Everything needs to be researched and vetted so they know that what I鈥檓 doing is, you know, for the kids. And if it doesn鈥檛 work, then we don鈥檛 do it anymore.
We don鈥檛 really tie ourselves to anything permanently unless we鈥檙e sure it鈥檚 going to work. Everything is research-based, and we do something because it has been successful, and I can answer questions from parents and community members that this will really help our students be successful in the future.
How did you pay for it?
Over the past four years, we鈥檝e generated close to $16 million in preschool expansion aid. That鈥檚 from state grants, partnering with local independent contractors, and community support.
We don鈥檛 really tie ourselves to anything permanently unless we鈥檙e sure it鈥檚 going to work.
What鈥檚 next for the preschool project?
We do everything here systemically, so the next step is, how do we make sure kids go to preschool? How do we identify parents鈥� needs from the start and make sure children get appropriate care?
We actually just approved the creation of a 鈥渃radle鈥� program [beginning in January], where we will start to partner with parents as soon as they find out they are having a child. We want to make sure they get the services they need鈥攆rom prenatal support to English-as-second-language programs [for parents]鈥攕o that we are partnering with parents with children from age zero to 3, and then they come right into our preschool.
Throughout the year, 91制片厂视频 Week will feature Leaders To Learn From alumni to share their solutions to pressing challenges in education. What topics should we delve into in the future? Which past leader would you like to hear from? Email aklein@educationweek.org or dsuperville@educationweek.org with your ideas.
