The Stoughton Area Resource Team, Inc.
(START) provides a safety net for those in crisis. Recently, a 30-year old single father of two struggled to find work, to pay for daycare for his children and to secure a home; so much time was spent homeless and hopeless.
View Stories
Pumpkin Patch Preschool
1940 JACKSON STREET
STOUGHTON, Wisconsin 53589-1468
Phone: 6088733380
Contact Name: Meghan Johnson
President, Board of Directors
|
Organization Profile
|
 |
| Preschool Expansion and Maintenance of Programming - 2023 |
Amount Funded: $5,000.00 |
| Expenses: Classroom Equipment = $2,464.63, Wages = $29,871.00, Building = $14,704.81. Total = $47,040.44
Timeline
August 2023: Hired second 3K Teacher
August 2023: Opened second 3K room, enrolled 8 children
August 2023: Minimum equipment purchased for new 3K room
September 2023: Hired teachers aid at 10 hours/week, fall contract only
September 2023: Apply for SACF grant
October 2023: Art Walk: families and community invited to school to view childrens art work (also a fundraiser)
November 2023: SACF Grant checks issued
December 2023: Purchase 3K and wrap room equipment
December 2023: Purchase sound dampening for classrooms
December 2023: Renew 3k lead teacher contract for spring
January 2024: Renew teachers aid contract, increase to 20 hours/week
January 2024: Purchase hallway rugs
February 2024: Open House: prospective families tour school
March 2024: Interior paint where drywall repairs were done in 2022
March 2024: Parking lot sealant
April 2024: Fall 2024 enrollment begins
June 2024: Welcome to Summer Bash (fundraiser and community event)
August 2024: Beginning of 2024-2025 school year. Goal: two 3K classrooms, three 4K classes, and full day wrap care with income that supports all expenses |
| In the 2023-2024 school year PPP will recover from challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is a critical year as the pandemic emergency status ends and state education grants expire. The project will be implemented with two overarching goals. First, to increase childcare capacity to pre-pandemic levels and further expand services to bridge the gap created by other childcare services that were lost in the Stoughton area. Second, to maintain facilities and continue alignment with licensing regulations. The project will benefit up to 100 children and their families in the Stoughton community.
Goal 1: We aim to increase staff and enrollment at PPP to pre-pandemic levels. The largest decrease in childcare provided during the pandemic was in the wrap care program. When staffing shortages occurred, wrap hours were cut and families began to remove their children from the wrap program. Lower enrollment led to decreased funding to hire and maintain full time staff. This program is vital to many families in the community who need full-day care for their children while guardians work.
In fall 2019 wrap care enrollment was 25. Due to difficulty finding labor during the pandemic enrollment dropped and is now 14. We hope to increase enrollment back to 25 by fall 2024. With funding over the next year we can retain staff, simultaneously building enrollment and creating revenue to be able to continue to pay staff salaries. With this project we have added a 3K classroom to meet increased demand and hired a part time aid for the 2023-2024 year. The aid is critical, as students who require one on one education assistance often have these needs first identified in the preschool years. With these measures, we are engaging more families and building rapport that will increase enrollment for the 2024-2025 school year. With increased enrollment and income, we will hire a full time wrap room teacher for the fall of 2024. The addition of a second 3K classroom, and expanding wrap enrollment carries additional cost in staffing and classroom equipment essential to match the developmental and educational needs of the children.
Goal 2: PPP cannot continue to provide childcare without maintaining compliance with regulatory requirements. Repairs and improvements need to be made to the building that were delayed due to decreased income during the pandemic. Current needs are: interior paint after drywall repairs, sound dampening, replacing non-slip rugs and parking lot sealant. |
|
