Immanuel’s Encore Program

        Lee McClure, Director of the Immanuel Preschool, Christina Crice, Coordinator of Encore, and the Immanuel Preschool Advisory Board have faced a difficult decision. The decision is to end our after school program called Encore with the conclusion of the 2009-2010 school year.

        This decision was reached in the aftermath of new regulations established by the State of Kentucky for licensed day care centers in 2008. Since our Preschool and Encore program are licensed, these new regulations affected both programs. The new regulations are the same for preschool children and school-age children. While the state recognizes the complications of one set of regulations for both groups, it will be several years before after-school regulations are drafted and approved.

        Implementation of these regulations required more staff for our after school program. At the same time, while the new regulations are appropriate for preschool children, many of them are not appropriate for school age children. The cost associated with the number of staff members required to administer these new regulations made the viability and sustainability of Encore doubtful.

        We had several discussions with representatives of the state and explored different options to make Encore work in this new environment. Yet, after much deliberation, our Advisory Board made the decision to conclude our Encore program.

              We are grateful for your support of Encore as a congregation. We sought to provide a quality environment and program for school-age children, and we hope the families we served will have good memories of their participation in Encore.