Inclusion of All Children
Oak Brook Park District is a diverse community of families representing a wide range of ethnic, cultural, and geographical backgrounds. Children, parents, and staff each arrive here with unique traditions and beliefs. It is the goal of the Early Childhood Program staff to respond with sensitivity to the diverse background and actively encourage a broad understanding and acceptance of diversity.
Staff will attempt to use a multi-cultural approach in discussion of holidays, accomplishing this goal by:
- Providing information to children about a wide range of various celebrations.
- Making efforts to include traditional celebrations of all cultural groups in our programs. Implementation of these efforts may vary from classroom to classroom. The variations are based on the particular interests of the parents and children within the specific program. You are encouraged to provide information and advice to assist staff in providing children with a broad range of opportunities. We welcome parental input, understanding, and assistance.
Through our partnership with Butler School District 53 and the LaGrange Area Department of Special Education (LADSE), we are proud to provide a fully inclusive preschool program. Our staff consists of certified early childhood education teachers, special education teachers and classroom aides, as well as speech/language, occupational, and physical therapists. These individuals and the parents of students work together as a team. Our entire staff is CPR and first aid certified. We strive to maintain a staff to child ratio of 1-to-6 for our three year old preschool program, and 1-to-7 for our 4 year old program.
Oak Brook Park District is committed to implementing the intent and spirit of the Americans with Disabilities Act. We believe in the inclusion of all children of differing abilities within the program enriches the experiences of all the children. The teaching and support staff will, as far as possible, be responsible for the implementation of individual family service plans with context of the Early Childhood program.
