Hermosa’s OLG debuts preschool program
Our Lady Of Guadalupe School is under new management, with a new principal, a new team of junior high teachers as well as a new preschool about to start up next month.
After Cheryl Hunt retired in June after 21 years as principal, April Beuder, the vice principal of American Martyrs in Manhattan Beach, was brought in. Beuder hired three new junior high teachers for grades 6 through 8.
“That was one of my first goals: To restructure the upper grades and make sure we were meeting all the kids’ needs and
OLG Preschool Director Marianne Mitchell (left) and Principal April Beuder stand inside the new preschool classroom at the school. Photo by Ed Pilolla.
giving them the academic rigor to be prepared for the challenges of the 21st Century,” Beuder said, adding that she is still interviewing for a junior high science teacher and putting together a blended curriculum for science that incorporates technology and mathematics.
The Catholic school has about 170 students enrolled in its kindergarten through eighth grade classes, and about 20 3- through 5-year-olds enrolled so far in the new preschool program. The school has capacity for 30 preschoolers.
The preschool has been a vision of school officials for the past year and a half, and another of Beuder’s hires since coming aboard this summer was Marianne Mitchell as the director of the preschool. Mitchell, a licensed educational psychologist, said the preschool day lasts from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. The five part-time slots have already been filled up, leaving only full-time slots available.
“They need daily reinforcement of the curriculum, and the curriculum for preschoolers is so much more than reading and writing and math,” Mitchell said. “They just don’t send their brain on a plate to school.”
She noted that the preschool curriculum focuses on language and socialization for the 3- and 4-year-olds.
“Language is big, language explodes at age three,” Mitchell said. “Four is a very social age. Four is where you learn to play. You lean all the rules of the game. If you don’t get ‘em there, there will be a problem for you as an adult.”
Instructors will work on the reading skills of five year olds if they are ready, Mitchell said, adding that each child has individual goals that are assessed every week.
A former school psychologist in Lawndale for nine years, Mitchell is also a former preschool director and teacher as well as the former assistant director of special education at Loyola Marymount University.
Beuder said Mitchell was hired to bring her strong background in inclusive education to OLG. She will provide professional development for the teachers as well as in-class support.
“An inclusive learning community goal is for any parents wanting a Catholic faith-based education for their child to be able to come to our school regardless of ability, learning style or any specific challenges they may have,” Beuder said.
OLG’s student enrollment and parish membership reflect California more than Hermosa Beach, school officials said, with a multicultural population and strong Latino presence.
The parishioners financed the renovation of the school to accommodate the new preschool and new technology in multiple classrooms, school officials said. The kindergarten computer classroom on the lower level was converted into the preschool, complete with little kids’ bathrooms. The parish and principal’s offices were also relocated to accommodate classrooms, and the kindergarten had to be moved to another classroom as well.
Pastor, Father Ray Mallett, said the cost of the project was a “significant investment” by the parishioners, and the parish is very excited about it, with folks asking how the project is going and others dropping by the school to have a look at the new facilities. Our Lady of Guadalupe has about 2,500 families that make up the parish, Mallett said.
“It was a dream to have a preschool for our school, as a feeder to our Catholic school, but also because there’s such a tremendous need in our community,” Mallett said.
The first day of school for kindergartners through eighth-graders at OLG is Aug. 27. Preschool starts Aug. 20.
Editor’s note: This story was published on July 18.