YMCA Adds Preschool with Charter School

By Henry Bryant
The East Lake Family YMCA is building six new classrooms on its campus on East Lake Boulevard between Memorial Drive and Glenwood Avenue near the Publix Grocery Store. The Y is literally connected to the Drew Charter School that serves pre-kindergarten through eighth grade students residing in the city of Atlanta. The new 6560 sq. ft. facility will add pre-school students at the Y location for children age twelve months to three years.
East Lake YMCA Director Ric Pruit offered, “We might expand to include infants if there is a demand for it.” The new East Lake Pre-school is a collaboration between the local YMCA, the Metro Atlanta YMCA, the respected Atlanta  Speech School and The East Lake Foundation.
Y Children’s Director Dianne Armstrong-Stuckey expects, “The school will be open in early Fall 2011. Construction even now is beginning to wrap up.” When complete it will be fully licensed with teachers who have degrees in Early Childhood. There will be a full playground on site as well as the YMCA facility.
A literacy-based curriculum recommended by the Atlanta  Speech School and modified for three-year-olds will be used for the older children. A creative curriculum that has been used for over six years will feature hands-on activities without work sheets, encouraging students to think and do. The Speech School will be heavily involved and will monitor student progress. Class sizes will be small with more teachers per student than most pre-schools. The program is designed to mesh with Drew  Charter School so that students can feed directly into the program there.
There will be highly competitive pricing – less than at many other schools in the area – for a high quality program. There also will be a sliding scale based on income. There is room for 104 children over several levels. Pre-applications are already being accepted and in fact the three-year-old class is already filling up with YMCA members. Parents or guardians must have an Atlanta address to qualify for enrollment.
For more information you can go to www.ymcaatlanta.org and click on East  Lake. You can also call Ms. Armstrong Stuckey at 404-373-6561 or speak with someone at the East Lake  Y service desk for an application.