Affton Schools Hosting Forum on Early Childhood Ed Center

The will be holding a community forum at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the commons to share information and gather input on the early childhood education (ECE) center the district has in the works for fall 2012.

The decision to officially move forward on the long-contemplated project , after the board of education finalized a deal to purchase a building for the ECE center at 9832 Reavis Road. A few weeks later, the school board for the building: David and Young-Hie Kromm of KRJ Architects.

“Our role now is one of listening,” said David Kromm, who will be at the community forum.

Kromm said that almost all KRJ’s work is for schools and community colleges. Last summer the twelve-man firm worked on an ECE building for the Brentwood School District. They were one of four architects the school board interviewed about the project.

“We bring that experience to the table, but we won’t necessarily replicate that,” Kromm said. “Every portion of that new building should be a learning experience for kids.”

The building at 9832 Reavis Road, which previously housed Propipe Mechanical Contractors and American Sheetmetal Systems, will be completely remodeled to provide a space suited for small children, likely with classrooms, a kitchen and a gym. The property includes a backyard area, which will likely be transformed into an area where kids can play.

The purchase of the building is expected to go through at the end of the month. Afterward, the new plans for the ECE center will be drawn up over the course of several months. Kromm said he expects the district will have no problem finishing the school for a fall 2012 opening.

Developing Affton’s ECE program has been an objective on the district’s five-year Comprehensive School Improvement Plan, developed in 2009 and 2010, that charts and organizes the district’s goals and priorities through 2014. The ECE project is now the main focus of the school board’s new School Improvement Committee, which consists of members Doug Beck, Mike Alexander and Larry Knox. There is also an ECE committee of local stakeholders, led in part by former school board principal Ron Becher.

“A growing body of research indicates a child’s most productive and influential years of learning occur before the age of five,” Interim-Superindent Ken Weissflug wrote in the email officially announcing the project to school faculty. “These findings, along with the establishment of curiosity and social skills, lay the foundations for all further learning. Failure in the early years to develop adequately in these areas has been shown to lead directly to underachievement in the elementary grades and beyond.”

Weissflug said he is excited for Wednesday’s forum. “The board recognizes that none of this is possible without the generous support of the Affton community.”