Students cut ribbon for Clark County Preschool
- Shanda Crosby
- May 20
- 3 min read
It was beautifully fitting that two students cut the ribbon for their new Clark County Preschool this morning as an energetic crowd witnessed history.
Families, staff, and community members came together to celebrate this banner day for Clark County Public Schools, officially solidifying the district's commitment to the indispensable role of early childhood education.
“This is a very, very long time coming for our community, for our staff, for our kids, for our parents,” said Superintendent Dustin Howard. “We have dreamed about this since I joined the district way back in 2003 and we're here today to celebrate.”
The ribbon-cutting represents the culmination of a comprehensive run of District Facilities Plans that began with the new George Rogers Clark High School opening in 2013 and subsequent fabulous athletic facility, to the Clark County Preschool opening in 2025.
It's a full circle win for the students of Clark County Public Schools from preschool to graduation.
“I want to thank our taxpayers and constituents for believing that not only are our facilities world-class," Howard said, "but they actually don't compare to our students who are the shining stars for the future of Winchester and Clark County.”
Principal and Early Learning Director Jill Blanton calls the school “a dream come true.”
“This is an amazing, beautiful, state-of-the-art building, but this staff -- my family -- right here behind me are the ones who truly grow greatness here,” she said. “We are so blessed to serve a school district and community that truly value and advocate for early childhood education."
After the ribbon cutting, guests were invited to tour the facility with staff members available to answer questions. A reception of cookies and lemonade was held in the gym where CCPS partner Clark Regional Medical Center was set up with free gifts and information.
With friendly, engaging learning communities, innovative classrooms, custom-designed sensory areas, developmentally-appropriate play areas, and much more, the Preschool was purposefully designed with our Little Cards in mind.
“This is a really special project for us at RossTarrant Architects,” said architect Brian Buckner. “We've been working on this alongside the district for quite a while, and I want to give a huge shout out to the staff that you all have in this facility. They're incredible. I've been at this for about 18 years now, and this is easily one of the best groups of educators that I've had the honor to work with.”
Buckner said the size of the facility is unique, emphasizing Clark County’s laser focus on early childhood learning. “This is a big facility, he said. “We typically do not see preschools like this, and we started this process asking a lot of big questions. What does it look like to expand access to quality early childhood education for up to 450 students? What does it look like to kind of house all resource specialists that deal primarily with early childhood education under one roof? How do you design a building this big for three- and four-year-olds that doesn't intimidate them, but instead inspires learning and a sense of community? I hope that at the end of the day this is a testament to asking those big questions early in the design process, and seeing this as being the culmination of that.”
