SAN ANTONIO — Tynan Early Childhood Center is a school with rhythm. It is also a school with room for three and four-year-olds to get on an early path to education.
"If anything that the pandemic has taught us is that children need to be in school," Gregorio Velazquez.
Velazquez has been the principal at Tynan for ten years. The school is a dual language campus at 925 Gulf Street.
"It is more than a school," he said. "It's an institution."
According to Velazquez, his educators operate from a High Scope curriculum, which means the classes are active, play-based, and collaborative.
"They sit together in groups," he said. "They learn from each other, and more importantly, they are able to indicate how they like to learn."
The class sizes are small and inclusive of co-teaching. There is a mix of special education and regular ed children who connect.
Tynan is one of five early childhood centers in the SAISD system. Gonzales, Carroll (Dual language), Knox (Dual language), and Nelson are the other facilities.
Students are not required to live within the school district of the early childhood centers—Head Start programs funded by the City of San Antonio and SAISD run.
Quae Moragne does live near the East San Antonio school, and he likes what his son Zakai is getting from the center.
"If he started first grade today, he would fit right in," Moragne said.
His four-year-old son and others come into the school with a rotating music playlist as parents walk them to class.
Velazquez said early dropoff starts at 7 am, but school begins at 7:30. Parents pick their children up at 2:30 pm.
The students get free medical and dental services, and their families get wrap-around benefits.
One of those benefits is a chance to pursue their life. Kristina Moreno said while her son, Dominic Ramirez, is at Tynan, his father works, and she's back in school.
"I was driving him to school, and I asked him, baby, do you like school?" Moreno said. "He goes, mom, I love school. And that made me really happy to hear because I didn't like school."
The unique learning environment frees students from walking in single-file lines. Velazquez said the youngsters could stretch across the hallway as they get led to their next stop singing.
Each teacher gets a music bar. As students climb their obstacle course outside, 'Eye of the Tiger' plays.
Students also chill in yoga--getting centered to learn the day's lesson. And they have lunch in their classroom.
Gonzales and Nelson reached their enrollment goals of 128 and 207, respectively. SAISD said it would hire teachers and create additional classes if needed.
Carroll has 28 open seats now, and Knox has four. Tynan has 16 seats available.
Interested parents or guardians should call SAISD's Early Childhood Department at 210-554-2410 or log on at saisd.net/earlychildhood.