Does Bethesda Elementary have PreK?

[Anonymous]

It would make sense for it to be a PEP site, since Bethesda Elementary is a "magnet" for kids with various learning differences and physical disabilities. However, it isn't listed on the MCPS PEP website.

On the At a Glance, BE shows *one* student enrolled in PreK. I'm guessing this is just some special case having to do with the school's specialization.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On the at-a-glance, there is 1 "PreK" class listed, but that designation is for all programs for students prior to kindergarten. Prekindergarten is a class offered to students on income basis, and it is not at BE. The "PreK" class at BE is a PEP class for pre-school age special ed students.

Many MCPS schools have Prekindergarten, Head Start, and now Pre-K Plus, but eligibility is based on income.

PreK is the year before Kindergarten. Special education children in PEP classes are absolutely in PreK. Putting it in quotations is really tone deaf.

It's in quotations because there is obvious confusion, due to the wording MCPS chooses for categorization. In MCPS, PreK is the prekindergarten class that I teach, which is open to income-eligible children who turn 4 before Sept 1. PreK Plus is a similar program that is full day instead of half day. Head Start is a federally funded program that is open to income-eligible children (lower income threshold than PreK and PreK Plus) who turn 4 before Sept, and has more oversight than the previous mentioned programs. PEP is a special education program for students 0-5 years old. All of these programs are listed in the grade level category of PreK, but only one of them is specifically called PreK. Special ed students in PEP would not be classified as PreK students by most people in elementary education. They are PEP students, just as students in Head Start are Head Start students, etc. In fact, most of the PEP parents I've worked with (I teach the PreK side of a PEP Collab class) are adamant about their children being referred to as PEP, not PreK.

Additionally, special ed students in PEP classes may be 3 years old. If your definition of PreK is the year before kindergarten, then these students are not in PreK by that margin.

Thanks for the clarification, but one note: On the various At a Glance documents, all of the above are going to be lumped into PreK on the form. So, our home school has PEP and Head Start, but they are all in the same category on At a Glance.

[Anonymous]

no it does not.