Original Research by School Decision on Early Childhood Special Education
This is Early Childhood Special Education, a pre-kindergarten-only program within the Faribault Public School District, and it is designated as a special education school. Because it serves only pre-kindergarten, the state testing metrics and graduation rate that typically define a school’s profile do not apply here. There are no state assessment results or a graduation rate to report, and that absence reflects the school’s grade band, not a weak performance. A parent should understand this as a targeted early intervention setting rather than a general-education elementary school.
The school enrolls a small number of students, all in pre-kindergarten. The student body is diverse. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which is a common indicator in a district serving a mixed-income community. The racial and ethnic composition includes a predominantly white student population, with a large share of Hispanic students and a smaller share of Black students. This reflects the broader demographics of Faribault itself, which public sources describe as a steadily growing city with a strong manufacturing base and a historic downtown. The city sits along Interstate 35 about fifty miles south of the Twin Cities and is home to major employers like Faribault Foods, Jennie-O Turkey Store, and the Minnesota Correctional Facility. The district, Faribault Public Schools, operates an early childhood center, four elementary schools, a middle school, a high school, and alternative programs across the city, and this pre-kindergarten special education program is one piece of that system.
As a special education school, this program is designed for children who have been identified as needing early childhood special education services. The curriculum and environment are shaped around those individualized needs. The school’s website would be the place to confirm how services are structured, but the data available tells you this is a specialized setting, not a typical pre-kindergarten classroom. Because the school serves only pre-kindergarten, there are no data on chronic absenteeism, discipline, course access, or staffing ratios. Those metrics are typically collected for schools serving older students.
The housing market in Faribault sits at a level that is modest relative to the state as a whole, making it more affordable than many communities closer to the Twin Cities. The school itself is located at an address in southwest Faribault, a short distance from the city’s historic downtown and its civic anchors, including Buckham Memorial Library and the Paradise Center for the Arts. The city has been growing steadily and has published a strategic plan, indicating a community that is thinking about its future.
The comparison to other districts in Rice County was not possible for this school because the key metrics—proficiency, graduation rate, and chronic absenteeism—do not apply to a pre-kindergarten special education setting. It sits outside those comparisons by design. For a parent considering this program, the relevant question is whether the school offers the specific early childhood special education services your child needs, and the best next step would be contacting the school directly to understand the evaluation process, the types of therapy and instruction provided, and how the program connects to the district’s early childhood and elementary continuum.
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