Crookston Public Schools will have Early Childhood Screening for children three to five-years-old who have not been screened on Monday, January 6, and Tuesday, January 7, from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church. School districts are required to screen children in their district beginning at age 3, said Washington School Principal Denice Oliver. “Every school district in the State of Minnesota is required to screen children in their district starting at age three, and also four and five-year-olds,” said Oliver. “We’re required as a school district to screen children entering pre-school or kindergarten in our district. The screening itself takes about 90 minutes unless you do your paperwork in advance, saving yourself about a half-hour. The paperwork is on the Crookston Public Schools website if you’re interested in completing that in advance.”
The screening looks at the whole child, explained Oliver. “We do a comprehensive screening of many different areas to look at the whole child,” said Oliver. “The parent follows the child through every screener. It’s a fun day for parents and children, and it’s our hope when they leave screening that they’ve had a great day. The child goes through a series of screeners. The first is a developmental screener, then a nurse and school staff measuring height and weight, they do vision and hearing screening. Our speech teacher does speech and language teaching. The school nurse and Polk County Public Health go through a health history with the parent.”
The screening process ends with an exit conference to answer questions of parents and provide them with any resources they need, said Oliver. “At the very end, they do an exit conference where parents can talk about what happened during screening, any questions about pre-school programs in the community,” said Oliver. “They can also ask for parenting tips, information, and resources for anything they are having trouble with. So, for instance, if a child is having trouble learning how to toilet, they can get information on toileting. If their child is having trouble with tantrums, we can give them information and resources about what they can do as parents to help with that process.”
Oliver also said each child would receive a backpack with school supplies to help them prepare for kindergarten. “The other part of screening is getting children ready for kindergarten,” said Oliver. “So, they receive a backpack with a bunch of school supplies in it based on what we think parents could use to help their kids get ready for school. So, in that backpack is crayons, paper, pencils, a pencil grip that helps parents determine how to hold a pencil best. They have other school supplies like number cards, cutting pages, writing pages, and then a piece on social and emotional growth. So, all of those things, every child takes home with them. They receive that backpack, and that helps them to get ready for kindergarten.”
The school district sent out additional information about Early Childhood Screening to families they are aware of with children who need to be screened. If you didn’t receive any information, you can call 218-281-2762 or 281-5078 for more information. Walk-ins are taken. However, if possible, they do request you schedule a time for your screening by calling one of the numbers provided.
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