Conversations with Jackie Thatcher

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jackie Thatcher. 

Jackie, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Mesa K-Ready is a kindergarten readiness program founded in 2018. The program was a collaboration of different community partners, including The City of Mesa, Mesa Public Schools, Mesa Chamber of Commerce, and Mesa United Way. The mission of our program is to give children and families the foundation of early childhood education so they can arrive to kindergarten ready to succeed. Children who are enrolled in Mesa K-Ready attend a 1-hour class once a week with their grown-up, During the pilot year of the program, classes were held in a conference room instead of a classroom where there was no access to toys or learning materials other than worksheets. Mesa K-Ready has grown so much that we now have 2 classrooms in Mesa, each one in age-appropriate classrooms. We have been able to furnish our classrooms with centers such as social-emotional, writing, blocks, and book corners. Our students are always so excited to come to class and we often hear them saying they don’t want to leave when class is over. We are so proud of how far our program has come in the last few years and are looking forward to growing and expanding in the future. 

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Mesa K-Ready has had its struggles in the past and we are still working our way through them. Our biggest obstacle has been the COVID-19 pandemic. When I was hired in October 2019, all of our classes were full and the program was really starting to take off from its first year. However, in March 2020 COVID hit and we immediately discontinued the remainder of the program (March-May). We spent the summer building a virtual program for our families, which began in September 2020, and although we lost families throughout the year, we had many families successfully complete the program. Using drive-thru pick-ups we were able to provide families with many resources such as diapers, cleaning supplies, and food boxes. Our partners, First Things First, Kids Need to Read, i.d.e.a Museum, AZ Museum of Natural History, and Mesa United Way provided our families with phenomenal kits filled with school supplies and activities for families to do together at home. We are back in the classroom this year and our families have been doing amazing work! 

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on? 

Mesa K-Ready is a free kindergarten readiness program that we offer to low-income families residing in Mesa. Our program is known for providing an age-appropriate curriculum to give our students the best educational foundation possible. We are also known for connecting families to community resources when they are in need such as food boxes, bus passes, or getting their child evaluated if they have developmental concerns. We believe it is really important that children get the support they need to learn the best they can and if we can get them connected to those supports before entering kindergarten, that much more successful. At Mesa K-Ready we are most proud of our students who demonstrate incredible growth and progress throughout our program. The success stories from parents and kindergarten teachers are an incredible honor to hear and we look forward to providing our services to more families in Mesa in the coming years. 

Something that sets us apart from other prekindergarten programs is that we have community partners who host Family Fun Fridays for us! Our families get to attend the library or a museum, for free and get a special activity created solely for our program. After the structured activity, families are able to explore the museum on their own for however long they want! 

Can you share something surprising about yourself?
At Mesa K-Ready we are here to support and advocate for you and your child(ren). Our focus is to get your child kindergarten ready but we also want to educate adults on how to be a supportive and active part of their child’s education in the future. Mesa K-Ready wants to provide you and your child with a judgment-free place where you can ask for help about anything, whether it is about your child’s education or needing rental assistance. We know that a positive home life helps children succeed in school and we want to help you with that in any way we can. 

Pricing:

• Free

Contact Info:

• Email: jbthatcher@mpsaz.org
• Website: mpsaz.org/mkr
• Instagram: @mesakready