My now K-er was in PEP Pilot last year at a school in Silver Spring. It was a good experience.

But otherwise, there's no public Pre K in MCPS, unless you are REALLY poor and qualify for free lunch.

We did not qualify for PreK, but there are PEP PILOT programs where your child can attend a public elementary school as a community peer student. I believe it was $150 per semester for two days a week 2.5 hrs. Only select schools offer Pep Pilot. Some in my area are Thurgood Marshall, Lake Seneca, Brown Station, and there's one in Potomac and Bethesda I don't recall the names of. There is a high demand for it with few spots, so I would advise filling out the application in advance and bringing it in first thing the morning the registration opens.
The class was about 1/2 kids with IEP's and 1/2 kids without. I couldn't ever tell them apart, it just seemed like a regular preschool class. Kids with more things to work on in their IEP were in other PEP classes. It was nice to have the occupational therapist, speech, physical therapist, etc. at disposal. I appreciated having a high quality mcps teacher rather than a private preschool teacher who may not have had as much training. Even though my child did not have an IEP and was in classes with those that did, the kindergarten readiness was wonderful and attention was given to all students. Transportation not provided for community peer students.

In MoCo, it is an income-based program but it is not a lottery system. If you qualify, your child has to be placed due to Maryland's bridge to excellence program. I know this because I teach pre-k in the county and my class is bulging at the seams- 23 so far this year and no guarantee I won't get more. Because that makes a lot of sense for an early childhood classroom!

OP,

If your kid has special needs, then he/she might qualify for PEP. If not, some PEP programs are SN kids mixed in with NT kids. There are often long wait lists for spots for NT kids, so you might want to see if your local ES has such a PEP program.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are the income guidlines?
I understand there's a lottery system to get in but apparently you also need to be income eligible.

In DC, it's free for everyone. There are no income restrictions.

You're on an MD thread

I think for MCPS pre-K the income limit is $38k for a family of 4, or something similar. You have to be FARMs eligible to get into the pre-K.

I don't know what the income eligibility limits are. If I were you, I would call and ask: 301-230-0676

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/earlychildhood/prek/registration.aspx

Anonymous wrote:What are the income guidlines?
I understand there's a lottery system to get in but apparently you also need to be income eligible.

In DC, it's free for everyone. There are no income restrictions.

What are the income guidlines?
I understand there's a lottery system to get in but apparently you also need to be income eligible.