Isle of Wight County Schools is accepting applications for next school year’s Virginia Preschool Initiative, a partially state-funded early childhood program designed to prepare at-risk four-year-olds for kindergarten.

Haley Cooprider, instructional elementary literacy and preschool coordinator for IWCS, told the School Board at its Jan. 16 meeting that she’d received 38 applications within the past 13 days for the 2025-26 school year. The window to apply will close May 1 and parents or guardians will learn their child’s eligibility determination by June 1.

The full-day program, offered at no cost to families, operates from 8:35 a.m. to 3:55 p.m. on school days following the IWCS school year calendar. Students are provided transportation from designated bus stops and breakfast and lunch are made available to students.

The program is funded through a Virginia Department of Education grant, which carries eligibility criteria, with the remaining funds coming from Isle of Wight County.

IWCS operates five VPI classrooms, each with its own certified teacher and a full-day instructional assistant. Two are at Hardy Elementary, one is at Carrollton Elementary, one is at Carrsville Elementary, and one is at Windsor Elementary. Class sizes are capped at 18 students.

Cooprider said the criteria she’s required to use to vet applicants includes whether students are from families living in poverty, defined as a household income at or below 200% of the federal poverty guideline; homeless, defined as living in shared housing or not living in a regular, fixed residence; from parents who have limited education, such as not completing high school; or children with special needs or a disability.

If there are additional slots available once all students meeting these criteria have been approved for the VPI program, Cooprider said she can consider additional criteria such as children being raised by relatives or in foster care, children whose parents are chronically ill, children who don’t speak English or children from single-parent households or where a parent is on military deployment or incarcerated.

Carrollton’s and Windsor’s VPI programs have historically filled up the fastest based on the VDOE criteria, Cooprider said.

Parents or guardians can apply at https://www.iwcs.k12.va.us/apps/pages/earlychildhood.