‘Best in Class’
Rugby Early Explorers preschool reaches children from all backgrounds

Kendra Strand, Rugby School District preschool teacher, left, stands with Head Start teacher Jennifer Suko outside their classrooms at the Rugby Early Learning Center. The pre-kindergarten program begins Tuesday, Aug. 29.
A program offered through the Rugby Public School District that reaches all children is beginning its preschool session Tuesday, Aug. 29.
Funded by a North Dakota Best in Class grant, Rugby Early Explorers Head Start combines services offered by Head Start, a federal program, with Rugby Public School District’s Early Learning Center. The program also includes children with unique needs.
“It’s really a model for the rest of the state,” Allison Driessen, Regional Director of Early Explorers Head Start and Early Head Start. “It’s referenced often, because we’ve combined two entities to serve more children. “
The partnership between the federal Head Start program and Rugby schools’ Early Explorers preschool serves children age four at the Early Learning Center’s classrooms. Eligible families can begin receiving in-home services beginning before children are born.
North Dakota Head Start Director Allison Driessen said the program began as an idea in 2013. With help from Rugby Schools Superintendent Mike McNeff, the district opened the Rugby Early Learning Center in 2014.
Driessen said she wanted to highlight the program’s Early Head Start prenatal and home-based services. Early Head Start began during the COVID pandemic and struggled to manage the restrictions placed on home visits at the time. The number of participants has built up since then.
“I keep thinking, ‘I wish that when I had my babies, I had somebody that could come in and be my cheerleader and help me, that was non-judgmental, wasn’t a relative, basically, who had the answers and could help families.'” said Driessen. “A big thing is making sure the expectant mom has a medical home, that means a physician – they’ve gone to the dentist, they’ve got good nutrition, that they kind of know where their baby is at with its development, and they’re getting ready for that birthing plan, making sure you have all the supplies, visiting the hospital and kind of giving parents everything you can have to be successful.”
Driessen continued, “they continue with home visiting until the baby is three. Visits focus on pregnancy, the child’s development, health, nutrition, parenting and family goal setting and bi-monthly playgroups.”
Head Start services also include vision, hearing and health screenings as well as development tracking to identify any possible special needs children might have. Services continue at Head Start preschool when children reach the age of four.
Kendra Strand, Rugby School District preschool teacher, works together with Head Start teacher Jennifer Suko. Brenda Olson teaches unique needs preschoolers.
Although unique needs students traditionally have Individualized Education Plans, or IEPs, all children at the center have individualized plans to help them get the most of their education.
“The beauty of the merger is that we can serve all four-year-old children regardless of family income,” said Driessen. “Typically, in a Head Start classroom you can only serve income-eligible kids with a percentage of over-income kids. We have the luxury of serving all kids between the two.”
Strand, an elementary teacher who will begin her first-year teaching at the preschool, said she felt “excited” about the new school year.
“I’m going to be teaching social-emotional development,” she said. “There’s a whole bunch of curriculums we can choose from – balls, trees, buildings, water, tunnels, building structures – everything. Play-based is what it is.”
“It’s a unique opportunity to provide the best services to the most kids. Head Start preschool doesn’t differ from other preschools in most ways. It’s the funding source behind it,” said Suko. “Before Best in Class, a lot of preschools were privately funded or tuition based. Head Start is the same services, but they’re funded with federal dollars.”
Suko said she expected lots of energy from her students. “Always with this age,” she said. “They’re so excited about school and meeting new friends and learning new things and exploring topics.”
Brooke Craine, a Rugby mom whose two daughters graduated from Head Start said, “We liked the program.” She said her youngest daughter, Lyaine, “learned how to write her name. She can tell me her ABCs and it got her on a school schedule so she was more prepared for kindergarten, which I really liked.”
Craine’s oldest child, Nayeli, had a chance to branch out creatively at Head Start. “My oldest daughter likes to draw and color and things like that. She’s very artistic,” she said.
Craine and her daughters weren’t able to take part in the Early Head Start services offered before they turned four due to COVID restrictions.
“I think my kids had a lot of fun in the program. They both enjoyed being there,” Craine said. “They both enjoyed the teachers and the helpers that were in the classroom, and I feel like they gained from it.”
Early Head Start and Head Start services are available at no cost based on income eligibility. Families participating in the Rugby Public Schools’ preschool program do not have to pay tuition but must pay for meals.
Families interested in participating in Early Head Start’s prenatal and home-based services or Head Start preschool can visit www.earlyexplorers.org to apply or call the enrollment coordinator at (701) 665-4449. They can also contact Rugby Site Supervisor Kim Berdahl at 776-5721.