By Kathy Chaffin
Salisbury Post
Norma Honeycutt said she’ll have to do a lot of praying to make up for the lies she has told lately.
“But it was all for a good cause,” she told parents and board members of the Partners in Learning Child Development and Family Resource Center Wednesday.
Honeycutt, executive director of Partners in Learning, said she lied when she told her administrative team Tuesday that a Charlotte child-care center headed up by one of her friends had failed to be reaccredited under the reinvented standards of the National Association for the Education of Young Children.
“If we don’t get it, what will we do?” Honeycutt said she asked the team, trying to sound worried.
Last week, she sent out a newsletter describing how difficult the reaccreditation process had been. “It really sounded scary,” she said, “that maybe we wouldn’t get it.”
Honeycutt said she and Program Coordinator Deborah Howell told several lies while arranging for Wednesday morning’s surprise announcement.
When the fire alarm sounded at around 11:15 a.m., Partners in Learning’s 42 staff members guided the 100-plus children outside for their monthly drill. When they were all outside, Howell called Honeycutt on her cell phone to give her the go-ahead.
Honeycutt was waiting at the front of a downtown trolley filled with parents and board members holding carnations to give to the staff.
Harrison’s Florist donated the flowers.The cost of the trolley, which had signs on each side announcing the reaccreditation, was paid by an anonymous donor, she said.
A Salisbury police cruiser led by Chief Mark Wilhelm, a member of the center’s board of directors, escorted the trolley around the side of the Catawba College field house to where staff and children could see them. Staff cheered, and the older children pointed excitedly.
When Partners in Learning first received accreditation in 2002, Honeycutt said it was the first child-care center in Rowan County to do so. Since then, the child-care center at Rowan-Cabarrus Community College has also been accredited.
Partners in Learning, however, is the first Rowan child-care center to be accredited under the new standards. Statewide, only 18 of 134 accredited programs are under the new system.
The others are still in the process of applying for reaccreditation, Honeycutt said, or are simply opting out because the new standards are so stringent.
Nationally, 645 programs have been accredited under the National Association for the Education of Young Children’s reinvented standards.
Honeycutt said centers are required to score a minimum of 80 percent on four classroom observations and 10 program standards: relationships, curriculum, teaching, assessment, health, teachers, families, community relationships, physical environment and leadership and management.
Partners in Learning’s average score was 95 percent. “This is such a big deal,” Honeycutt said. “The teachers are going to be ecstatic.”
The infant classroom, which has eight infants and two teachers, scored 100 percent on its observation. The center also scored 100 percent on five program standards.
When she heard the news about the reaccreditation, Mary Burridge, lead teacher for the infant room, said, “Wow. I’m very proud of that.” Burridge has worked for Partners in Learning for more than three years. Barbara Safely is the assistant teacher in the infant room.
Millisa Sierawski, a teacher in the 3-year-old classroom, said of the announcement: “This is awesome. We had to do tons of work, but it was pretty easy because we had all the stuff done.
“We work regularly to keep our program where it’s supposed to be.”
Sierawski said she didn’t know what to think when she saw the police car and trolley headed toward them. “The kids were all excited,” she said.
The children became even more excited when Judy Newman, retired director of the Rowan Tourism Development Authority, offered them rides on the trolley.
“This is a bonus,” Honeycutt said.
She led the children in a song about the trolley while the different classrooms waited on their turns to ride. “The wheels on the trolley go round and round …” she began, making up the verses as they went along.
April Brown, lead teacher for the 4-year-old classroom, said she was sure Partners in Learning would be reaccredited. “She didn’t fool us,” she said of Honeycutt. “I know how hard we worked and how many hours we put in.”
Aleashia Brown, a parent and board member, was among the group on the trolley. She said her 3-year-old son, Damian, has developed learning skills and positive social skills in the program.
Camille Robinette, a parent and past board chairperson, said her two children who graduated from the program entered kindergarten more prepared because of their time at Partners in Learning.
Her 11-month-old son, Alexander, is in the program now.
Parents and board members were as excited as Honeycutt about surprising the staff and children. “I knew it would go off wonderfully,” she said. “We just have the greatest group.”
As for the celebration, Honeycutt said it would continue all week. “We’re going to do something special every day at lunch,” she said. “Everybody’s worked so hard. They’ve earned it.”
A total of 108 children ages 0-5 attend Partners in Learning. Sixty of them have physical and developmental disabilities and other special needs such as cerebral palsy, Down’s Syndrome and autism.
Honeycutt said the center provides early intervention services for 30 more children in their homes.
Partners in Learning is supported by the Robertson, Woodson and Rehab foundations and the Rowan County United Way.
Contact Kathy Chaffin at 704-797-4249 or kchaffin@salisburypost.com.