News 12 at 11 o'clock / Tuesday, April 12, 2011

COLUMBIA COUNTY, Ga. -- The Columbia County School Board is trying to figure out what to do with the 25-year-old Camelot Kids program aimed at giving high school students hands on teaching experience.

The Evans High School early childhood education program mainly deals with preschool aged children, which already face large cuts from the state.

Both parents of preschool children and students from Evans High School don't want the program to be cut.

Kristin Dotson is one of the main parents who doesn't want the program cut because of what it has done for her child's development.

"He was in a preschool program last year and everyday he woke up and said he didn't want to go," Dotson said. "This year he wakes up and he's excited to go."

Dotson says it's not just good for her son, it's good for her too.

"It's four days a week," she said. "It's $60 a month and it's the best deal financially that you can find."

That's why a large group of about 20 parents came to the Columbia County School Board meeting to say they don't want the program to close.

"It's just a very valued program and there's nothing like it around here," Dotson added. "If it were to go we would be left without very many options as far as what we want out of a preschool."

The Columbia County School Board is already having trouble funding its Pre-K program, but they say this decision is really about not having enough high school students who want to be teachers in the Camelot Kids program.

"We just don't have enough students that warrant to keep that teacher all day and bring that program up to standards when we're probably closing Pre-K programs as it is," Columbia County Schools Superintendent Charles Nagle said.

But without Camelot Kids or Pre-K programs, Evans High School seniors like Katrina Shultz don't get to experience that kind of career.

"With a textbook you can learn all about the philosophers, you can learn what to do but you're not going to know how to do it," Shultz said. "It's a hands on experience and it's something that's priceless."

A priceless lesson the school board says they may not be able to afford.

"Not having it in the school denies high school students an opportunity to work with children later on," Shultz added. "It's not just a program for high school kids it provides for people in the community."

The Columbia County School Board says they will discuss it when they start to discuss next year's budget. If they can't fund it, at the end of the school year it will leave Evans High School.