Longfellow Elementary

The Statewide Voluntary Four-Year-Old Preschool Program provides opportunities for Iowa children to attend quality preschool.  Children who are age 4 by September 15, 2024, are eligible to attend our preschool program.  Children who are age 5 by September 15, 2024, should register for kindergarten at their resident school and are not eligible for MISD preschool.  The Marion Preschool program will be housed at both Longfellow Elementary and the newly constructed Parkview Elementary (currently Starry Elementary) next year. 

State funding provides for a partial day program, but the full day program does have a fee.  Why are we charging for Full Day?  Our preschool budget is not able to support this program without additional funds.  We currently only receive 0.5 funding from the state for preschool students, which is why our half day programs are free.  Rather than cutting our programs/staff, we felt this provided the best option for us to continue to provide our current high-quality programming and be fiscally responsible.  

Full Day program tuition will be $350/month for nine months total (September-May and must be paid before the first of the month.  Failure to pay your child's tuition will result in your child not being able to continue attending the Full Day program.  If a spot in our Half Day program is available, your child will be placed in the Half Day program.  Questions regarding tuition payment can be directed to Christie Van Wey, MISD Business Manager (cvanwey@marion-isd.org).

Students who qualify for free/reduced lunch will have a reduced monthly tuition of $210/month.  Free/Reduced Lunch applications are available from any MISD secretary or on our district website (https://www.marion-isd.org/page/free-reduced-application-information).

The district once again anticipates a partnership with the Marion Head Start Program for some spots in our full day program.  This program offers financial assistance to full day students who qualify based on income.  Please visit this link (https://www.hacap.org/news-events/apply-head-start) prior to applying  to learn more about the Head Start Program to see if you qualify.  There is a question in the application asking if you are interested in being contacted by a Head Start representative.  If you are interested, please mark that question accordingly.

Sessions MISD will be offering for the 2024-25 school year:

• AM Class (8:20-10:50 AM) *Free of charge*

• PM Class (12:50-3:20 PM) *Free of charge*

• Full Day (8:20 AM-3:20 PM, MISD resident students will be placed first) *$350/month tuition fee ($210/month reduced rate for income eligible students)*

*Note: Longfellow and Parkview Elementaries do not provide before/after daycare for preschool students.  There are area daycares that provide care and transportation before/after preschool.

The application process for Marion Preschool for the 2024-25 school year will begin at noon on Friday, February 16th.  At that time, a Google Form will go live on our district website and you will be able to apply for our program.  Students will be assigned a placement in this order: Marion Independent School District resident students, siblings of open enrolled K-12 Marion Independent School District students, everyone else.  Every effort will be made to place Marion Independent resident students in the building where they will attend K-2nd grade.

Families will be contacted via email on Friday, March 22nd of their child’s preschool placement.  If you apply after this date, you will be placed on our waiting list to get into our program and contacted when a spot opens up.  Families who receive placement into the Full Day program will have 30 days following placement notification to pay a $100 non-refundable deposit to secure their child's placement.  That deposit will be applied towards September's tuition amount.

If you have questions or for more information about the preschool enrollment process or our programs, contact Longfellow Elementary at 319-377-0183, email the Longfellow principal, Nicole Harmer at nharmer@marion-isd.org, or contact Starry Elementary (will be Parkview Elementary next year) at 319-377-4698 or email the Starry/Parkview principal, Chad Zrudsky at czrudsky@marion-isd.org. 

If you are interested in the Marion Preschool Program for the remainder of the 2023-2024 school year, please contact Longfellow Elementary at 319-377-0183.