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Barnstable Interim Superintendent of Schools Bill Butler address town and school officials gathered for the opening of the new Enoch Cobb Early Learning Center.
HYANNIS – Barnstable town and school officials gathered under sunny skies yesterday for a dedication ceremony for the new Enoch Cobb Early Learning Center.
Barnstable Schools Interim Superintendent Bill Butler said the new center, which is located at Hyannis West Elementary School, was championed by the town’s previous schools superintendent.
“The driving force behind the early learning center was our former superintendent Mary Czajkowski. Mary recognized the need for a new permanent state-of-the-art home for the preschool from the moment she arrived in Barnstable and she pursued that goal relentlessly,” Butler said.
Czajkowski came to the dedication ceremony from her new job as superintendent of Lexington schools.
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Nicole Caucci is the principal of the new Enoch Cobb Early Learning Center.
“For so many years our teachers here, for the past 21 years, have been teaching in inadequate spaces and to have a place where a child is welcomed into an environment where they can learn and teachers can teach is really amazing,” Czajkowski said.
The school is named after an early benefactor of Barnstable’s youngest residents. Enoch Cobb, who died in 1876, bequeathed in his will about 100 acres of land near what is now the town’s airport that he specified was to be used to create a trust fund to benefit public school students.
The Enoch Cobb Trust has donated $100,000 in funds to the early learning center for furnishings and equipment.
The $2.3 million center was built using modular construction.
A new handicapped accessible playground next to the school was built with donations, including $35,000 from the Barnstable Disabilities Commission. Using fines collected from people who illegally park in handicapped spaces, the disabilities commission gives grants to projects that improve accessibility, according to Sheila Mulcahy, chair of the commission.
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Barnstable Town Manager Tom Lynch talks to teachers at the new Enoch Cobb Early Learning Center. Early in his career, Lynch was a teacher at Hyannis West Elementary School.
There are 115 children ages three to five currently enrolled at the school, but the rolling admission means children can begin attending classes any time, according to new principal Nicole Caucci.
Caucci, who grew up in Sandwich, came to the Barnstable School District from the Plymouth school system.
The preschool combines the previous inclusive preschool program at Centerville Elementary School and part of the program at Barnstable High School, Caucci said.
“We had a very successful opening day and first two weeks of preschool. Our students are comfortable in their new classrooms. They’ve settled in. They are excited when they arrive every morning to go see their new friends and their new teachers,” Caucci said.
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A colorful climbing wall is one of the innovative features at the new Enoch Cobb Early Learning Center.
The inclusive program educates children with special needs alongside their peers who do not have special needs. The so-called peers are screened in advance so ensure they can help to “model” behavior for the special needs group, Caucci said.
The school is free to all children, whereas the Centerville school used to be free just for the special needs children.
Caucci said, the new modular building that houses the preschool has been specially designed for children, complete with specially sized sinks and toilets.
The facility has the capacity to accommodate about another 50 children, Caucci said. Each class has about 15 students and there are six classrooms.
Teachers at yesterday’s dedication were showing off the school’s colorful climbing wall and new smart boards that teachers said will greatly assist them in the classroom.
By LAURA M. RECKFORD, CapeCod.com NewsCenter
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