Explanation
BACKGROUND: Mayor Ginther’s vision for Columbus, America’s Opportunity City, is that every child is ready for kindergarten. Kindergarten readiness is a multidimensional construct reflecting young children’s preparedness for instruction in areas related to both academic and social-emotional skills. Children who arrive to kindergarten with limited readiness in one or more of these areas face challenges in the transition into the kindergarten setting, and are susceptible to academic achievement over time.
Participation in quality early childhood education can provide an important mechanism for developing children’s school readiness; likewise, certain intentional parenting practices, such as shared book-reading and numeracy discussions, also can support school readiness. However, not all children have access to year-round quality early learning programs and/or intentional parenting practices.
Because of this, the Mayor’s Office of Education is requesting the authority to partner with Columbus Early Learning Centers (CELC), a non-profit corporation, on the Summer Success Program, an eight-week summer intensive learning readiness program focused on pre-kindergarten children with limited early childhood education experience and those who may not have sufficient support at home for developing key kindergarten readiness skills. The Summer readiness camp is scheduled to begin June 3, 2026.
Therefore, the Office of Education requests permission to contract with CELC to provide this crucial work.
This contract is being awarded pursuant to City Code Chapter 329, which allows for the City to negotiate not-for-profit service contracts. This organization was selected due to their existing contract with the City to serve as the master operator of the Hilltop Early Learning Center (HELC) and their experience in providing quality early learning programs. Existing city employees lack the requisite skill to provide the services needed. In addition, as the upf...
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