"We're trying very hard to make preschool a part of our school system," said Shirley Whitaker, assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction. "Those children are going to feed into the school system ... so the better the product coming out of preschool, the better the kindergarten student."

Superintendent Steven Ballowe started the initiative last year in his first year overseeing the system.

Whitaker said she believes the effort has been worthwhile.

"We help (child-care providers) any way we can with our expertise, and in turn that helps everybody," she said. "It's one of those win-win situations."

Vicki Finger, director at First Presbyterian, said the partnership has been valuable because "we're all into the education of a child."

"Anything that we do now will only be enhanced by what's done later (in school)," she said.

The school system held monthly meetings with child-care providers last year and plans to start them again soon.

The meetings might cover elementary-school expectations or feature a special guest talking about an issue of interest.

"We might have some evening meetings this year," Whitaker said. "During the day, directors are the only ones who can get away. With some evening meetings, we might be able to accommodate some teachers."

Also, parents and their preschool children are welcome to attend a program at any of the elementary schools, not just Enota Elementary, which serves kindergartners and first-graders.

"Some preschools have a buddy program with a class at Enota," Whitaker said.

Also, the system conducts "Lunch and Learn" workshops for parents.

Tuesday, parents attended "Children's Literacy -- Raising a Child Who Loves to Read" at First Presbyterian Child Development Center.

Other workshops are planned, including "Understanding Your 2-year-old" and "Preparing Your Preschooler for School."

Joyce Rucker, the school system's parent involvement coordinator, said the system will present workshops anywhere there's a demand.

"We've done them in public housing, churches, wherever people ask us to come," she said.

One frustration has been finding in-home caregivers, or those who may work alone in caring for several children at a time.

But even if these caregivers knew about the preschool program, they have trouble attending meetings because of the struggle to find someone to relieve them.

As a solution, the school system has set up a lending library. At-home caregivers can borrow a video, such as "Ages and Stages -- Knowing What to Expect and When."

Kay Walker, who oversees preschool special education for the system, also has her challenges. Her job calls for her to work with preschoolers with special needs and their families.

The system serves about 35 children, but "we're missing kids right and left," she said.

She said especially frustrating is finding kindergartners "we never heard about and they needed our services."