New London — On a recent Wednesday evening, New London School Superintendent Cynthia Ritchie stood at the doorway inside the former B.P. Learned Mission building at 40 Shaw St., smiling and welcoming dozens of families to one of the school district’s recurring community events.

At the front door of the New London Birth to Age 8 Early Childhood Resource Center on Shaw Street, parents with kids in tow looked over tables where there was a spread of free diapers, baby food, wipes and other essentials. Inside the school’s auditorium there was food, free books and a raffle underway, with top winners leaving the event with new bicycles. Younger children outside were treated to a petting zoo with a pig, duck, chickens, rabbits and a goat. Tiger the therapy dog wandered around the premises receiving pats and hugs.

The Birth to Age 8 Early Childhood Community Gathering on June 8 was the finale for a series of themed events focused on early childhood development that the school district has been hosting every three weeks. It brings together families, introduces them to the services available from the city and school district and provides some comfort for many of the Spanish-speaking families who are able to network, Ritchie said.

“Word is spreading. We’re getting to know families a lot sooner and we’re connecting,” Ritchie said. “We’re trying to get every child we can find to provide these opportunities. And we’re trying to serve families that need so many different things now, especially post-COVID.”

For parents Amanda and Dennis Valdez, the program has made a difference for their 3-year-old son, Grayson. Grayson attends the school as part of state’s Birth to 3 program, which operates under the federal Individuals with Disabilities Act and provides for specialized programming for students with developmental and health-related needs.

Young Grayson had speech problems and was hesitant when he first started attending full-day programs.

“Now I’m lucky to get a ‘Bye, mom.’ He loves it,” Amanda Valdez said. “They all seem very nice. It’s been helping him a lot.”

Ritchie said the community gatherings are one small part of a larger plan to rethink education in a city with a focus on engaging children at a younger age.

Part of that that came with the expansion of the district’s preschool program, which nearly tripled to 90 children this year because of the acquisition of the BP Learned building. Even more preschoolers are expected next year and include a high percentage of English language learners and special-needs students.

Ritchie said children show up in kindergarten in the district with a wide variety of skill levels depending on where they are coming from. New London’s programs are taught by certified teachers backed by a team of therapists, special education and bilingual teachers.

“When they do integrate into the school system they have a leg up already. To me, really it’s getting the kids as early as they can to get the basics,” Board of Education member Bryan Doughty said.

On Friday, New London Human Services Director Jeanne Milstein attended the preschool graduation program with Mayor Michael Passero. She called the collaboration with the school district “groundbreaking” and Friday’s ceremony “uplifting.”

“We all know children succeed in school if they’ve had a quality preschool experience,” Milstein said. “We also recognize that with COVID, our families need more than an educational experience.”

The city is providing mental health consultants for preschool and for the teachers. The city’s Parks and Recreation Department is using the building on most evenings for a variety of its own programs.

“This is the first city-school partnership of a project of this magnitude," Milstein said. "It’s very exciting to see how the city is looking out for the well-being of our families and our community.”

Among a host of other initiatives being undertaken by the school district to reach young students is a new alternative school program piloted this year. It is an optional year-round school option for kindergartners and first grade students. That program had proven to be so popular, it will expand in the fall to include second and third graders.

The overall goal, Ritchie said, “is we want kids to be able to master grade level skills, to read, write, problem solve and be independent.”

The district also has a new core literacy and math curriculum, systemic phonics and phonemic awareness program, progress monitoring assessments, interventionists to work with small groups and various enrichment programs.

The lease and eventual purchase of the B.P. Learned building is being accomplished through grant funds. It was the largest investment by the city of federal American Rescue Plan Act funds to date. The city’s finance department estimates the cost to operate the programs, combined with the $1.5 million purchase price of the building, will cost the city about $2.1 million through four years of operation. At the time the building opened, the city’s school district estimated a cost of $1.67 million in the first year, some of the money coming from the $16.5 million obtained by the district through the federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund program, or ESSER. State Smart Start grants are being used to fund some of the additional teaching positions but Ritchie said a commitment will need to be made in the coming years to maintain all of the programs. Some of that may come through the federal push for universal preschool.

“We’re really hoping universal pre-k will come to Connecticut,” said Valarie Kelsey, director of special services for the district.

Ritchie said the school district, after four years, will have to reassess where the funds will be obtained to continue what she considers essential programs.

“I think this is amazing. I truly believe that children that have this opportunity have such a better start in their educational careers and it makes all the difference,” school board President Elaine-Maynard Adams said.

“In my opinion, there’s no way the board is going to let this go,” she said.

The 13,500-square-foot building at 40 Shaw St. is the longtime home of B.P. Learned Mission, which was established in 1859 to serve children from low-income families and while on Shaw Street has offered afterschool and summer programs, as well as parenting programs. B.P. Learned merged with the nonprofit Child & Family Agency of Southeastern Connecticut in 2003. It had closed at the end of 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic and later agreed to sell the building.

g.smith@theday.com