The city is looking for new ways to attract young families and Beverly Hills Unified School District (BHUSD) is looking for new ways to use Hawthorne Elementary School. Launching an early childhood center would check off both boxes and also provide big benefits to the community.
Representatives from the BHUSD excitedly discussed the prospect with Mayor Dr. Julian Gold and City Councilmember Lili Bosse at a recent City Council liaison meeting.
The city currently runs a preschool program with four classrooms: two at Hawthorne Elementary School, one at La Cienega Park and one at Coldwater Park. Additionally, BHUSD runs one special education preschool classroom at Horace Mann Elementary School.
The concept of the early childhood center is still in its early stages. The idea as it presently stands is to consolidate all of the city’s preschool programming at Hawthorne, potentially add more preschool classrooms and offer community programming, such as “Mommy and Me” classes.
“I think that it creates a great opportunity for people to come into the city and meet other families,” said BHUSD Board Member Mary Wells. “They may want to move here because of the preschool and then enter the school system because they form these bonds.”
The district envisions housing the center at Hawthorne Elementary School, because starting next academic year Hawthorne students will be moved to the renovated Horace Mann Elementary School and the campus will have a significant amount of free space.
The district will fill some of the empty space at Hawthorne by relocating its offices, but plenty of classrooms and outdoor play space will remain for the potential early childhood center.
“I think it is a huge opportunity to meet a huge need. Everyone that I’ve spoken to since we started talking about this two years ago really loves the idea,” said Wells. “Families would like to have that central place where they can meet each other and access community programming designed for their demographic.”
Gold agreed that it makes sense to consolidate preschool programming but would like to survey both current and potential preschool parents to see if they agree. It’s possible, he added, that some parents may be upset to lose the opportunity to enroll their children in preschool classrooms at La Cienega and Coldwater parks.
The center would also provide the city with space to add additional preschool classrooms to meet the community’s growing demand. Currently, there are about 85 families on the waiting list for preschool at Hawthorne and 10 to 12 families on waiting lists for the La Cienega and Coldwater programs.
Gold also asked for an assessment of the available space so the city can have a better idea of how it can be used to accommodate classrooms, play areas, community programming and parking for the proposed center.
The city’s preschool program is currently open to residents with children ages 3-5. It runs from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday and teaches children basics such as their ABCs, colors, shapes and numbers in a supportive, playful environment.
At ages 4 and 5, parents can either keep their children enrolled in the city’s preschool program or enroll them in the district’s Transitional Kindergarten and Kindergarten programs, which provide a slightly more structured learning environment and longer day.
The city and district both hope that increased enrollment in the preschool program via the proposed early education center will, in turn, increase enrollment in the district.
