Nurturing children, families, and community through progressive and sustainable early education and care.
Watershed Community School offers a daily educational program for 3- to 5-year-olds, as well as regularly scheduled family-child playgroups for infants and toddlers. We are located in the Historic South End neighborhood of Kent, Ohio.
Our Program
Preschool
We offer a preschool program for children ages 3-5. This program is guided by our school’s progressive and sustainable philosophy and features:
Low student-to-teacher ratios and small class sizes
Expert teachers with advanced degrees
Emergent, play-based curriculum grounded in educational theory and research
Daily practices focused on sustainability and community
Whole-child learning through caring and collaborative teaching
Spaces are limited and enrollment is on-going. Residents of the Historic South End receive priority for enrollment and a discounted tuition rate. Please contact us for more information and to join our waiting list.
Our Reason
We believe deeply in the profession of early years teaching and we want the best for children, their families, and their teachers. We believe that the wellbeing of children, their families, their teachers, and the broader community are connected. They are entangled elements of an educational ecosystem. In our experiences as educators, our deepest professional frustrations were a direct result of a disconnect and disharmony between these elements. In our time as educational specialists and teachers in early childhood settings, we found ourselves asking: What would it look like if every professional decision, without compromise, was dedicated to strengthening the local ecology of early childhood?
We founded the Watershed Early Years Partnership in 2020 at a turning point in our careers wherein we decided to dedicate ourselves full-time to repairing those disconnections, on aligning everything in our practice with educational theory and research. In 2023, Watershed Community School will begin serving young children and their families through sustainable and progressive educational programs. Watershed Community School will also serve as a leading resource for professional development, teacher education, and research in the field, as well as a neighborhood hub for community events and activities.
wa · ter · shed
An area or ridge of land that separates waters flowing to different rivers, basins, or seas.
An event or period marking a turning point in a course of action or state of affairs.
Our Mission
Nurturing children, families, and community through progressive and sustainable early education and care.
Our Philosophy
In service of our progressive and sustainable mission, our educational programs at Watershed Community School are guided by the following core principles:
Respectful Relationships. School should cultivate mutual respect for everyone involved. Listening, cooperation, and collaboration are foundational to both teaching and learning at Watershed Community School. We welcome families and children of all identities, backgrounds, affiliations, and faiths. By focusing on inclusion and equity, we prioritize getting along and living well together now and in the future.
Place-based Education. We believe that fostering a deep sense of place promotes healthy emotional attachment and a sense of belonging that benefits children, adults, and the planet. We draw upon the resources in our immediate neighborhood — neighbors, landmarks, businesses, and community events — to build curriculum specific to our community and meaningful to the children.We believe in being outdoors and exploring our neighborhood in all weather, as this provides critical learning opportunities such as learning how to manage your own body, take responsible risks, and compromise.
Sustainability. We believe that caring for each other and caring for the spaces and places we share should go hand-in-hand. At Watershed, we live a daily commitment to our shared planet, community, and classroom. As we manage the land our school sits on, we pledge to plant native species and refrain from using harmful herbicides and pesticides. We are committed to low-waste programming; we have removed single-use plastics from our daily operations and limit our use of disposable products. We employ strategies such as composting, recycling, creative reuse of materials, and water conservation in our daily work.
Community Commitment. We strive to be good neighbors by investing in our neighborhood. When sourcing the goods and services we need for the school, we look first to the people and businesses in this diverse neighborhood that we call home. We also give priority to Historic South End residents in all programming.
Our Curriculum
Learning Through Play. The process of playing together provides opportunities to nurture the skills and dispositions that research tells us benefits our youngest learners, such as noticing and observing, hypothesizing and questioning, listening and communicating, cooperating and collaborating. We strive to spend as much time as possible outside each day. The outdoors is a source of provocation for children’s learning because it is spontaneous, flexible, and ever changing. Our indoor learning space is thoughtfully curated, with a wide variety of sustainable and versatile materials available for children to create, construct, and imagine with each day.
We align ourselves with early childhood reconceptualists and the most recent research that tells us that direct instruction of isolated academic skills during early childhood, such as tracing letters on worksheets, is not meaningful or beneficial to preschoolers. It is our job, as skillful early childhood teachers, to facilitate literacy, numeracy, science, social studies, and the arts within events that emerge organically from children’s play.
Emergent Curriculum. Instead of doing the same projects and crafts, season after season, year after year, we engage in daily cycles of attuning to children’s interests, inquiries, and intra-actions in order to plan and facilitate a meaningful, play-based curriculum. We capitalize upon what emerges in children’s play, in their explorations outdoors, and with the people and places in their community in order to nurture growth and development within several domains: social, cognitive, language and literacy, and physical development. This ensures that children receive an educational experience that is specific to who they are.
Rochelle Hostler | Co-Director & Lead Teacher
“I am keenly aware of the ways young children are constantly learning, and I believe that children learn best when they are able to self-direct their play and collaborate with peers in a welcoming and supportive classroom environment. At the forefront of quality early years education are enthusiastic and experienced educators who believe in being partners in learning with children and their families.”
Our People
Casey Myers and Rochelle Hostler have over 40 years of combined experience in the early childhood field and have worked in professional collaboration for the past 10 years, publishing and presenting their work on progressive early years curriculum internationally. Award-winning teachers and scholars, they have extensive experience in the early childhood classroom, in mentoring novice and practicing teachers, and in growing innovative school programs. In their roles as co-directors and teachers at Watershed Community School, Rochelle and Casey combine this wealth of expertise with genuine care and appreciation for young children, a deep commitment to teaching, and a longstanding love for the Kent community.
Rochelle L. Hostler
Co-Director & Lead Teacher
Rochelle began her career working as a preschool teacher in southern California with children ranging in age from 12 months through 5-years-old. She has also taught kindergarten and supported teachers in early elementary classrooms. Rochelle has served as both the Curriculum Coordinator at the Kent State University Child Development Center and a Lecturer of Early Childhood Education, specializing in the preschool years. Most recently she has served as a primary years consultant and classroom mentor. Born and raised in Kent, Rochelle currently lives in Akron, Ohio.
Education
B.S. in Early Childhood Education
Kent State University
M.A. in Human Development
Pacific Oaks College
Casey Y. Myers
Co-Director & Lead Teacher
Casey began her career working with children as a preschool teacher and child welfare aid in rural Ohio. She has also worked as a licensed pediatric therapist and developmental consultant. Most recently she was the coordinator of Studio and Research Arts at the Kent State University Child Development Center, as well as an Assistant Professor of Early Childhood Education and Social Studies Education at Kent State, specializing in the role of humanities in early years teaching and learning. Casey was born and raised in southern Ohio but has lived in Kent since 2007.
Education
B.S. in Health and Human Services
Ohio University
M.A. in Speech-Language Pathology
Early Intervention Concentration
Kent State University
Ph.D. in Curriculum & Instruction
Early Childhood Education Concentration
Kent State University
Casey Myers | Co-Director & Lead Teacher
“My highest priority is that young children are valued as whole people within a caring classroom environment. And I believe the best way to accomplish that is through an innovative curriculum with masterful teachers who recognize the crucial role of family and community in the lives of young children. A school must not only educate children, but support families, nurture community, and sustain the profession of early years teaching.”
Our Place
The proposed site for Watershed Community School is 349 W. Elm Street in Kent, Ohio. We are thrilled to be in the Historic South End, a diverse neighborhood of meaningful spaces, helpful neighbors, and a long history of community engagement. The community post office, a recreation center, an excellent K-5 public school, innovative restaurants and businesses, and a thriving community garden are all within walking distance.
Watershed Community School is small on purpose. Our proposed facility is essentially a one-room house, designed to blend-in to the neighborhood and maintain a discreet profile using natural landscaping. We have worked with a Kent-based architectural firm to ensure all elements of the site will meet or exceed the zoning requirements to ensure we are an asset to the community rather than a disruption.
Our Difference
Bringing both breadth and depth of experience in early childhood education, we at Watershed are confident that our educational programming is unlike anything else available to families locally.
Our expertise in and dedication to young children, our respect for their families, and our love for the community guides every decision at Watershed Community School.
We go beyond minimum requirements in all aspects of our programming so that young children, their families, and the broader community can flourish together.
