SOUTH PORTLAND – A new early education program for 4-year-olds is about to be launched in South Portland.

South Portland Superintendent Suzanne Godin said the pilot program, approved by the Board of Education, would run from February to July at the Youth Alternative Services Center on Lydia Lane in the Brick Hill section of the city. The program would accommodate between 12 and 14 students from the Skillin and Brown elementary schools neighborhoods and be staffed by a teacher and a teacher’s aide. It would be the first school-sponsored early education program for students prior to their enrollment in kindergarten.

A meeting was scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 19, 6-8 p.m., at the Youth Alternatives building for parents interested in enrolling their child. Children must be 4 years old by Oct. 15 to qualify.

Godin said the $130,000 cost of launching the pilot program is funded through the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and covers the salaries of the teacher, teacher’s assistant and materials for the trial period.

The two neighborhoods were targeted, Godin told the Board of Education, because families in that section of town live closest to where the program would be based. The city is partnering with the Muskie School of Public Service at the University of Southern Maine on the pilot program.

The impetus for it came this fall, when kindergarten teachers identified 50 students, primarily at Skillin, Brown and Kaler elementary schools, who were in need of “intense kindergarten intervention.”

“There is a definite need given that 50 or so students have been identified as lacking the readiness skills [needed for kindergarten],” Godin said.

Those skills, Godin said, include letter identification, basic spatial language such as above, below and beside, and book identification-how to hold a book and knowing pages begin on the left.

“We know that early literacy skills start at an early age,” Godin said. “By waiting until kindergarten to do that basic literacy skills, students are starting with an age gap with their peers who have had a formal early education.”

School board member Rick Carter said because of that, the decision to move forward with the early education push made sense.

“I think this is one of those things that the data shows clearly needs to be done,” he said.

The district is looking toward grants to continue the program beyond the pilot phase. The program in the future would follow the calendar for the South Portland School District.

The goal is to expand the early education program to Kaler Elementary School, which will have classroom space for the program in the 2012-2013 school year. Eventually, Godin said, she hopes to have universal access to early education for all 4-year-olds in the city by 2015, whether that means through the city-run facility or through the city securing spots in private facilities.

Also on Jan. 19, a forum was scheduled with local early education providers to discuss how private providers can partner with the school in the effort.

“We are not looking at eliminating programs across the city. We are looking at where our best partnerships are and which programs we can support,” Godin said.

A number of places across South Portland, including the Spring Point Children’s Center at Southern Maine Community College and the South Portland Community Center, already run successful and popular early education programs.

Tappan Fitzgerald, the newest member of the school board, sees value in launching such a program in the city.

“It’s a great pilot program,” he said. “I know many of our surrounding communities have successful programs.”

“I think it is a fantastic program,” said board member Sara Goldberg. “I have talked to people across the state. There has been terrific results, so we are behind actually.”

The next step, Godin said, is to get a license from the Maine Licensure Board, a process that is currently under way.

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