{"id":49862,"date":"2025-11-17T14:44:06","date_gmt":"2025-11-17T14:44:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/49862\/"},"modified":"2025-11-17T14:44:06","modified_gmt":"2025-11-17T14:44:06","slug":"lee-county-adds-vpk-classrooms-in-cape-coral-for-2026-2027-school-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/49862\/","title":{"rendered":"Lee County Adds VPK Classrooms in Cape Coral for 2026-2027 School Year"},"content":{"rendered":"

The School District of Lee County has grown its Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten program into Cape Coral for the 2026-2027 school year. This state-funded, free three-hour weekday early learning program prepares 4-year-olds for kindergarten.<\/p>\n

Seventeen schools now host the program, including Gulf Elementary, Skyline Elementary, Amanecer Elementary, Early Childhood Center, and Franklin Park Elementary.\u00a0Cape Coral gained four new VPK classrooms through this growth.<\/p>\n

The district stretched its VPK into a full-day program by adding three extra hours at no cost. It mirrors elementary school instructional hours and follows the same calendar.<\/p>\n

Dr. Bethany Quisenberry directs Early Childhood Learning for the School District. She says VPK matters because it builds kindergarten readiness skills. The Florida Department of Education reports that 90% of a child’s brain develops by age 5.<\/p>\n

Kids who skip VPK face a 75% chance of never catching up to grade standards, according to Quisenberry.<\/p>\n

“It’s the strongest predictor of later achievement \u2013 a huge impact on your third-grade scores and high school graduation,” said Quisenberry, according to Cape Coral Breeze<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Demand far outstrips available spots. The district maintains a waitlist with 350 students that grows to 600 by January and February.<\/p>\n

Each classroom caps enrollment at 18 students. An early childhood certified teacher and a paraprofessional run things. Kids begin their day with a family-style breakfast to discuss nutrition and their food choices.<\/p>\n

The program offers a reading block using songs while teaching foundational skills. Instructional centers provide 45-minute play-based learning. There’s an art area and play area, plus math centers. Students also get nap time and can receive services like speech therapy when required.<\/p>\n

Parents enroll their students in January, when kindergarten open enrollment happens. Seats are claimed first-come, first-served basis and disappear quickly. Students must turn 4 by Sept. 1 to qualify.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The School District of Lee County has grown its Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten program into Cape Coral for the 2026-2027…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":49863,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210,356],"class_list":["post-49862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news","tag-lee-county"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49862","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49862"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49862\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}