Text size:

The ABCs of preschool

A guide to solving the pre-K predicament

By Heidi Stevens | Tribune reporter

March 1, 2009

Mr. Nick Manesis, left, reminds his eager students to raise their hands quietly when answering a question during group time in the Pre-K program at Disney II magnet school in Chicago on Tuesday, February 10, 2009. (Beth Rooney, Chicago Tribune / February 10, 2009)

Armed with a portable DVD player, reading material and five homemade sandwiches, John Gallagher spent a cold, rainy night last March camped outside the Disney II magnet school on the city's North Side.

Preschool applications were being accepted the next day on a first-come, first-served basis, and Gallagher and his wife wanted to secure a spot at the new school for their daughter, Aoife.

"He got there at 9 p.m.," says his wife, Margaret McIntyre, who jokes that her husband spent the night with another woman to get their daughter into preschool. The other woman, who was second in line, showed up around midnight.

"He was by far the first one there," McIntrye recalls. "A couple more people got there at 3, and then a lot of people got there around 5 or 6. The doors opened at 8 a.m." Aoife (pronounced Eefa) got a spot at Disney II, which opened in September 2008.

As spring approaches and deadlines loom for many 2009-10 school year applications, parents around the city and suburbs are weighing their preschool options. And in an economy where $15,000-plus for an elite private school is increasingly hard to swallow, many families find themselves searching for cheaper alternatives.

McIntrye and Gallagher, who work full time, wanted a full-day, five-days-a-week program that wouldn't require them to pay for child care in addition to tuition. Disney II's tuition-based preschool fit the bill. Their daughter also has special needs, and the Chicago Public Schools provide her with a one-on-one aide, physical therapy and occupational therapy. And the school is in their neighborhood.

"I don't want to be traveling an hour to take my child to school," McIntyre says. "I did a lot of research on preschools: Montessori, Waldorf, Catholic. For us, it really had to be public school."

It can be daunting to wade through the glut of options and figure out which type of school is best for your child. Here we offer a preschool primer to help you navigate the maze—and, we hope, avoid camping out in the rain.

PublicNeighborhood school: For some families, the preschool search is as simple as figuring out what school district they live in and then determining which schools within that district offer pre-K programs. In Naperville District 203, for example, 5 of the 14 elementary schools offer pre-K programs for 3- and 4-year-olds. Those spots—offered on a first-come, first-served basis—do fill up quickly, though, and a waiting list is usually formed by January. (A new Early Childhood Center is also scheduled to open in fall 2010, which will serve about 300 students.)

In Chicago, every child has a neighborhood school corresponding to his or her attendance boundaries. If you don't know which school qualifies as your neighborhood school, visit the Chicago Public Schools Web site at cps.edu, choose "find a school," then type in your ZIP code and grade level. All the schools in your community will appear, and you can click to get more information on each school (test scores, demographics, principal's name, etc.).

Hours: Most public preschools meet 3-5 half-days a week. Most programs offer a choice of morning or afternoon classes.

Tuition: None.

How to apply: If you decide to send your child to the public school within your attendance boundaries, you likely don't need to fill out an application to attend.

If you live in Chicago, you can also apply to neighborhood schools outside your attendance boundaries if you aren't satisfied with the options near your home. You can pick up applications at individual schools, or download them from cps.edu and mail them to as many schools as you wish. Application deadlines vary depending on the neighborhood, but many schools have early spring deadlines for the following school year.

Tuition-based: Families who need full-day care for their preschoolers often choose a tuition-based public school for their relative affordability. The schools operate 10 hours a day, 5 days a week, so students don't need other child care during the day. The schools do follow a traditional school-year calendar, however, so kids have summers and holidays off.

Hours: Vary by location, but most are open 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Children are not required to stay the entire 10 hours, although most programs prefer students to be there from at least 9 a.m. to 2:45 p.m., when most instructional work takes place.

Tuition: Around $9,000 a year, which includes meals, for Chicago Public Schools.

How to apply: As long as you live in the city, you can apply to any of Chicago's 13 tuition-based preschools. Applications are available at school offices or at cps.edu. A non-refundable deposit is collected at the time you apply, which is usually equal to the first week's tuition. Application deadlines vary depending on the school, but most have early spring deadlines.

Magnet: Each magnet school specializes in a specific subject area (math and science, fine arts, etc.) and strives for a racially and socioeconomically diverse enrollment. While more than 20 CPS magnet schools offer pre-K classes, the programs are considered separate from the magnet schools, which means families have to re-apply to attend a school's kindergarten, even if they've attended preschool there.

Hours: Most magnet pre-K programs meet five days a week for half-days, with a choice of either mornings or afternoons.