District 117’s two major projects looks to be complete prior to the first day of school, which is now less than two weeks away.
Jacksonville School District 117 undertook two major renovation projects over the summer: moving the district’s Early Years Pre-K operations to a new location in downtown Jacksonville, and renovating South Jacksonville Elementary School.
Joining WLDS’ AM Conversation today was District 117 Superintendent Steve Ptacek, who shared some very exciting news regarding funding for the Early Years Pre-K program.
“We found out that the third grant, the expansion grant that originally only 81 school districts got, we put in an appeal and we were awarded another $396,000. So our total Pre-K grant is going from $970,000 to up right around $2 million. We’re going to serve 240 kids, most of them full-day, that’s almost 100 more than we did in the past, and most of those were part-time,” says Ptacek.
With the first day of school scheduled for Monday, August 20th, Ptacek is pleased to say that South Elementary and the Early Years program will be ready to roll once school starts.
To hear more from Ptacek regarding the ongoing projects at South Elementary and the Early Years Pre-K program, check out our entire interview with him online at WLDS or WEAI.com.