We’re a very privileged group here on Apt. 11D. Sometimes we have to sit back and acknowledge that. Even those of us with modest incomes are rich in other ways.

Half of all Kentucky’s school children are not prepared for Kindergarten. What does that mean exactly? Well, at Kindergarten Intake, kids are asked their name and age, to recite the alphabet and count to 30. They also evaluated in terms of physical well-being, language, cognitive skills, self-help and social-emotional skills.

In some schools, only 14 percent of the incoming Kindergarteners can pass that test.

“We have six different languages represented in this year’s kindergarten class,” said principal Zac Eckels. “A lot of students that come to us who have never had the formalized structure that we have in a school building. We have kids from refugee camps, they were at a camp two weeks prior to coming here.”

In addition, some students come to kindergarten not knowing how to hold a pencil or have never seen a book before. Some are still wearing diapers, Eckels said.