By Mike Armstrong
Writer, Carbon County Comet
The preschool Wee Folks Place (Wee Folks) in Hanna, is facing the possibility of closure because funding is drying up after being open for over 50 years continuously serving the communities of Hanna, Elk Mountain, and Medicine Bow. It is the only State-licensed facility of this type in northern Carbon County. The preschool provides learning skills and services, along with a safe environment for children from the ages of 2 to 5. It is a non-profit organization that greatly depends on grants, donations, student tuition, and monthly fundraisers.
The tuition is not expensive at $200 a month for full-time and $110 for part-time, yet because of the demographics of the small towns it serves, it does not have the number of kids like other preschools in the County.
Wee Folks was founded in 1971 by a group of ladies who were concerned about the development of young children. At the time, there was no kindergarten in the Hanna Elementary School. The school was created through a ladies’ group who called themselves the “Progressive Diggers”. In the 1970s, Hanna was still a coal mining town. The ladies elected a board of directors and employed two staff. The school was located in the Miners Plaza Shopping Center and the maximum number of kids was eight.
The demand for services increased and a larger facility was required. The preschool moved to another area of the shopping center and is still there. After some time, Wee Folks decided to become a non-profit organization and did so in 1987. Then in 1990, Head Start got involved.
“Head Start was a blessing,” Lois Buchanan, a board member said. “But unfortunately about 10 years ago, Head Start said there was not enough participation, so they pulled out.”
Wee Folks, like the town of Hanna, has had its boom and bust cycles, but it was always able to maintain through donations, tuition, grants and Head Start. When Head Start left, a real struggle to keep the preschool open began.
Each year, Wee Folks found a way.
This year is not looking so good according to Robecca “Becky” Meyer, the director of the school. The staff took a voluntary cut in their pay and instead of being open until 3 p.m. are now closing at 1 p.m. to cut hours. They cut food out a few years back because it is too expensive to have a cook and kids now bring their own food for lunch.
Meyer, who has been with Wee Folks for 25 years, said she knows the school helps the young ones do better in kindergarten from a socialization point of view.
“The Elementary School has told me they see a big difference between a child who attended Wee Folks and one who didn’t by how they interact with their peers,” Meyer said. “That is very important as kids start their years in education at public schools. Out in the world, that might not seem like an important thing, but it really is.” Buchanan said.
Meyer said for saftey at the preshcool, there is CPR training for the teachers.
The children learn art and science in the classroom, although science is called discovery.
“The children here learn, they just don’t play,” Meyer said. “We believe learning makes a child happy and that is a major goal.”
Buchanan said the school is constantly pouring over grants, but even then, it takes time for them to come through and that makes things difficult. She did say the Carbon County School District No. 2 Recreation Board is very supportive of Wee Folks.
“The Rec Board has really made a difference for us,” Buchanan said.
There are currently two full-time staff and one part-time staff. Buchanan does the administrative work for free.
“Our fundraisers are used for building repairs and office supplies,” Buchanan said. “We did a fundraiser in October that was a success. It was a fire pit and we raised $2500. It was our best one ever. If it were possible for them all to be like that, we wouldn’t be in trouble. We try to do a fundraiser every month.”
“Usually January, we always tumble down a little, but we always seemed to find our way out,” Meyer said. “Right now the light is not shining so bright.”
“It is scary when you think about something that does so much good for participants closing up,” Buchanan said. “And when you close something down and then want to bring it back, quite often you cannot.”
Meyer started as a fill-in janitor and then janitor to bus aide. From bus aide, she went into the classroom as an aide and then full-time in the classroom.
“I have spent a lot of time here and I never dreamed that I would be the director,” Meyer said. “I worked for Head Start when they were here and Head Start does really good things.”
Meyer remembers when she first started in the classroom, her director told her being a friend to a child was fine in some ways, but to be effective when teaching, rules had to be enforced.
“Once I started to enforce rules instead of being their friend, I got more respect and more productivity,” Meyer said. “I never forgot what Rozada Smith (her director) said and I know, a lot of children learned from me. I would like to think I still have a few more years to teach children, but right now I just don’t know what the future is going to bring.”
There have been three generations that have been taught at Wee Folks over the 50-plus years.
Hopefully, Meyer will get to teach a fourth generation.
