Children in the preschool classroom at Discovery Montessori worked with letters and numbers and prepared for music class.
Many of the spots at the North Scranton center are publicly funded, and Executive Director Stacy Nivert wants other children to have the same opportunity.
Nivert and other early childhood education providers will come together Saturday at the Marketplace at Steamtown for an event that will highlight programs available to children in Lackawanna County.
“There is no question that quality early childhood education can set a child on a path of future success,” Nivert said. “We need to have more quality programs, but we also need to let parents know about the existing quality programs that are out there.”
Through the federal Head Start program and state Pre-K Counts program, more than 800 publicly funded spots are available yearly in Lackawanna County. Centers have worked to meet the demand after the Scranton School District eliminated its preschool program in 2020.
Providers will have information about their programs, how to enroll for the 2024-25 school year and referral information to other locations and funding sources. The event is sponsored by the United Way of Lackawanna, Wayne and Pike Counties. Eligibility is based on family income.
Discovery Montessori opened on Scranton’s East Mountain in 2015 and in North Scranton in 2022, offering preschool through fourth grade. Seventy-five of the 105 students are preschoolers, and of those, more than half of the spots are publicly funded.
Nivert encourages parents and their children, who are turning ages 3-5, to visit the event on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
"We realized that there was a real need to share this information and help parents find where these places are in their neighborhood in their communities and help put them in touch with a program that meets their needs and is right for their child,” Nivert said. “It is the foundation on which future learning and future growth is based, and it's a really important part of early childhood development.”
For more information on available preschool programs across Pennsylvania, visit the state's Compass website.
