Early learning now a reality for 36 4-year-olds

The school system is leasing space at the church and is using federal dual subsidy funding that Cabarrus Partnership receives from the state.

The center is named for the late Dr. David A Lockhart, a local pediatrician. Lockhart was a member of All Saints Episcopal Church and was involved in many groups in the community, including Cabarrus Partnership for Children. He was also a member of the Concord School Board and an adviser to the North Carolina State Board of Education.

When the Cabarrus County Board of Education approved expanding its programs through this partnership in July, there were 300-400 students on the waiting list for its early childhood programs.

“If you’re standing here today, you’re making a difference because you took children off the waiting list,” said Jackie Whitfield, a member of the vestry, the governing body, at All Saints, on Monday.

She recalled that All Saints closed its preschool doors last year, and at a conference last year, “a spark grew” between the groups involved in the partnership.

“Less than 10 months ago was our first conversation,” Whitfield said.

The church received a grant from the Cannon Foundation in June that allowed the church to bring its education wing up to code, renovate and obtain a new HVAC system. In July, the furniture and materials arrived, and in August and September, the school system began hiring teachers, Whitfield said. Students arrived on Oct. 16.

“In mid September, parents who had children on a waiting list got a phone call: ‘We have a seat for your child at the Lockhart Early Learning Center.’ … Today we celebrate this creative grassroots program. … Working together, we solve problems, we use resources and we are more realistic in how we do things. … We all have the same goal. … We’re all dedicated to serving children. … Our challenge is to continue to find ways as a community to serve all the other children on that waiting list who might enter kindergarten unprepared,” Whitfield said.

As Ann Benfield, executive director of Cabarrus Partnership for Children, said, “The first 2,000 days of a child’s life are the most important.”

“We’re here to open a high-quality center … to help 36 children get it right in their first 2,000 days,” Benfield said.

U.S. Rep. Richard Hudson attended the ceremony and cut the ribbon with Cabarrus County Schools Superintendent Barry Shepherd and Lockhart’s wife, Betty Sue Lockhart.

Hudson said, as the son of a public school teacher, he is “committed to the idea that every child should have an excellent education. There are children out there who need that extra hand up.” He added that there needs to be more local control, and he is going to fight for that.

“He was a giant in our community. … He had such a heart for children,” Hudson said.

Betty Sue Lockhart said she was thankful to everyone at the ceremony for their support.

“I am overwhelmed by your kindness,” she said. “David’s smiling down on us.”