The Perry School Board recently terminated an agreement they had with St. Patrick’s Gingerbread Preschool. 

Superintendent Clark Wicks says by discontinuing the 28E Agreement means that their four-year-olds that were receiving instruction at St. Patrick’s Catholic School’s Gingerbread Program will now go to Perry Elementary School next year. Wicks says putting all the Perry students under one roof will allow for better collaboration, communication and support for their staff members. 

“Sometimes when you’re a teacher and part of the Perry Community School, but yet you don’t see any of the teachers and rarely or not as frequently see some of the support staff. That can be difficult. It isn’t a detriment to anybody that we have partnered with. It just allows greater collaboration and greater cooperation and I guess closer to some of your teammates.”

Superintendent of Catholic Schools Donna Bishop says they have provided their universal pre kindergarten for the last 16 years and they were caught off guard by the decision to end the program. Bishop says that the enrollment waitlist for the program has grown, and she is afraid those students won’t get served. 

“Our response  back following the board decision was that we would like to be able to continue with the program and take the overflow students that Perry Public can no longer serve because of their capacity limit for the 2425 school year. We would like to be able to take the overflow as well as bring in more students as the community continues to grow..”

The decision was made at the Perry School Board meeting on September 11th.