Shawn Price
HOPE – Flat Rock-Hawcreek School Corp. (FRHC) is taking steps to establish community daycare and pre-school programs this fall.
If the school district receives approval from the state, the northeast Bartholomew County school district will strive to have two new preschool classrooms ready when a new school year starts in August, FRHC Superintendent Shawn Price said.
“For the first year, we envision two classrooms with 15 students a piece,” Price said. “The idea is to expand, if the demand is higher than that.”
One room would serve as a daycare for infants and toddlers up to age 2. The second would be a preschool for kids ages 3 and 4, the superintendent said. If the projects are approved, the new rooms will be built on the north side of Hope Elementary School.
But Price stresses there is a process for FRHC to obtain all needed certifications, ensure that the preschool and daycare staff are properly trained, that new facilities meet county and state building codes and that other procedural requirements are met.
“It’s a little premature to say we are going to have it, but we are working on getting that done,” according to Price.
Since most Bartholomew County preschools have open registration next month, the superintendent said he’d like to get the school board’s approval for the public daycare and preschool as early as February’s meeting.
Administrators are already receiving phone calls from parents who say they’ve heard Flat Rock-Hawcreek is going to have a preschool, Price said.
“It’s hard to tell people something definite until we get board approval,” according to the superintendent.
This month, board members received packets and handbooks outlining requirements and certifications.
Currently, there is no Flat Rock-Hawcreek daycare facility for the public. This is the second year for the “Little Flyers” program, which has 20 children from age 6 weeks up to 5-years old. However, “Little Flyers” is only available for the children of school employees. The program was created as an incentive mostly to retain professional staff members, the superintendent said.
But the school corporation now hopes to expand its services to meet community needs in the Hope area, according to Price.
“We’re trying to drive home that we can be an ‘infant to graduation’ facility,” the superintendent said.
In addition, there are as many as five developmental preschoolers who travel to Edinburgh four days a week. Price said administrators would like those children to receive their education in the Hope area.
New officers
During its organizational meeting, the Flat Rock-Hawcreek School Board elected the following officers for 2025.
President: Matthew Bruner (succeeding Patrick Walters)-
Vice-President: Chad Miller (succeeding Mathew Bruner)
Secretary: Dr. Jonathan Harker (succeeding Brian Rose)
FRHC Business Manager Melissa Dempsey has been retained as corporation treasurer, while Scott Andrews will serve another year as corporation attorney.
