Anthony Chiles for #GaNeedsChildCare Story Bank

Speaker: Anthony Chiles, Principal/Site Director

Anthony Chiles: Hello, my name is Anthony Chiles, and I am the site director and principal at Waynesboro Primary School in Waynesboro, Georgia. We service students from preschool, age 3 to age 5, in our, Pre-K program. And also, my school does go up to 2nd grade. We also participate in the CAPS program and also Georgia Pre-K.

Anthony Chiles: My favorite part about working in the early childhood education profession is the immediate impact that we see when a child grows. It is so important, especially these first 5 years of a child's life. We know that their brain is developing very quickly, and so when a foundation is set, especially from the interactions that we're able to have with our students each and every day, that to me is most impactful. One of the most important things that I've seen this year is we had several students that have never been to a school, no daycare at all, and so they came and they had a lot of needs. We wrapped our arms around them. We gave them good structure. And this child right now is flourishing. Not all the way there, but I can again see the immediate impact of the support that we've been providing this child, in reference to their growth. And so again, I just love this, again, because it helps us to see immediate impact of what we do each and every day, which is to love our students and to see them grow.

Anthony Chiles: One of the biggest challenges that our program– child care program– faces right now is the amount of needs that our students have. So we service about a little over 200 students in our program. And when I tell you that students now, let's say, more than even five or six years ago, are coming with some really heavy needs. We have a lot of students that are dealing with OT [Occupational Therapy], PT [Physical Therapy] issues, fine motor skills, some students are nonverbal, and these students have extreme behavior, you know, concerns. And so, while they're trying to communicate to us as best as they can, we are struggling, you know, to be able to answer them and do that with appropriate training. And so, that is really difficult right now to have students again that are not able to communicate with you. Again, especially at this developmental age, where that communication is vital, because some of those things are their basic, you know, life needs that they need to be able to have. And so, I think that's one of those challenges. Additional support could really be beneficial to overcome these challenges, especially–. I've seen, the need, an increased need for ABA [Applied Behavior Analysis] therapy, for more students now than ever that need it. Those students that may be on the the Autism spectrum. You have students that are coming in that, even at this young age, that have ADHD. And again, some of those specific things that they're struggling with, our teachers are struggling with being able to have the effective training and the consistency in which they need to be able to help these children to be successful. So with that additional support, whether that's funding and then bringing in some more of those outside agencies and training specifically dealing with these students' fine motor skills, again, the OT, the PTs, would help us be able to get these students where they need to be and helping them along the way.

Anthony Chiles: The capital needs that we need right now. I would tell you that an expansion, of–. I would call it, you know–. Again, going back to the original, or the third question, expansion of outside support, really of even having rooms, that are a little bit bigger to be able to support students' sensory needs. Sensory rooms: we do have a couple of them at my school, but the sensory needs are so wide and so vast, that it would be especially important to get some of these things. You know, help in those areas. Especially, like, for example, our playground, where, you know, when you have students that have sensory needs. You know, that's not necessarily updated with the amount of volume of students that have those needs that really could be able to provide them, with some support when it's time– when it's time to go outside. To be able to play and or learn how to do some of the things that need to do developmentally. So really being able to get some of that would really help us in expanding the, again, the opportunity and the support as it relates to, not just the academics, but some of those physical and social aspects of development at this early age that students need to be able to have.

Anthony Chiles: One thing that I would like elected officials to know about the need for greater investment in child care, is to do not allow funding to dry up. One of the things at this early age is we can see a greater impact, again, of the need, but also progress. I know when you get–. When students get older, sometimes a lot of those funding sources get a lot of overhead. But I'm telling you, when funds come down to this early age. and we're able to get something that's tangible, something that's extra training and support that is immediately provided, and we can see that immediate impact. So, at this early age, when students now, and we're seeing a lot more students, again, that are coming that have special needs, we want to make sure that the support is in place. And some of those investments with funds are greatly needed, especially in the time that we're in now where students do need our help.