Schools (Rapid City, Spearfish: day cares, home, preschool)

[annetteanne]

I went to know waht any community colleges in the Rapid city area and wenting some info on preschools in Rapid city

[DannyBanany]

Western Dakota Technical Institute (WDT) is a large school that also has a daycare for its students' kids. There's also National American University (NAU). The major colleges in the Black Hills are the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology (SDSM&T) in Rapid City and Black Hills State University (BHSU) in Spearfish.

What do you plan on studying?

[sd_gjax]

My kids go to the daycare at WDT and I am very happy with their program. We have been with them for about 2 years now, the kids are now 3 & 4. (We moved there after being not so happy with other day cares.)

[ashnat]

Most preschools are church affiliated unless you use a public or home daycare that wraps preschool into the day.

There's Zion Lutheran, Calvary, and Memorial Christian School and more. My daughter went to Zion, my son went to Memorial. When my daughter went to Zion there was a lot of mommy bickering so I didn't enjoy that school so much. But Mrs. G, the preschool teacher, was wonderful. If Mrs G is gone for a day, the assistant teaches alone. She let my daughter go thru 2 hours of preschool with a bloody dirt filled knee, and didn't clean it off or get her a bandaid. That still bugs me to this day. (silly I know) The school wasn't as personal and I never saw the principal (who also teaches a grade to earn additional money). Not sure if the school had cameras, but the main entrance was always unlocked and there was no one monitoring who entered and exited.
Memorial was wonderful for my son! If a teacher is gone they actually have substitutes lined up so there are always 2 in the classroom. The teachers, secretary, and principal took the time to get to know everyone. They always greeted parents, asked how things are going, and commented on our kids by name. There is camera security at the school that the secretary can monitor from her desk. All doors are locked from the outside except for the doors by the secretary.
Both of the schools didn't care if you were religious or not, yes the children learn religious aspects along with the Alphabet and reading, but it wasn't a main focus.
When my kids went to prek, it was around $100 a month. It's been 2 years since my youngest so I'm sure it's gone up. The standard is 3 hours a day, either 2 or 3 days a week.