For the past 40 years, McRae-Gaines Learning Center has educated thousands of children in Selma, assisting them to realize their potential by utilizing a proven curriculum, "A Pathway to College," which begins at an appropriate level the minute a child enters the school at the age of 12 months. Mrs. Barbara Harris offers an accelerated, award-winningKindergarten program covering appropriate levels of reading, spelling, history and science through the State of Alabama's Office of School Readiness. In addition, Sister R. Abayomi Goodall teaches dance and music and visual art projects. Our staff provides a six-week Summer Enrichment Program that focuses on movement, art, dance and performance arts as well as reading and creative writing. The McRae-Gaines Learning Center is a certified provider of child care and pre-school programming for the State of Alabama Department of Human Resources. Subsidies for placement at McRae-Gaines are available to parents receiving services from the Department. The school also partners with Wallace Community College Selma (WCCS) to make affordable child acre available to single and low-income parents attending WCCS. Subsidies are likewise available for students who maintain a required grade level in their college courses.
Sadie Moss has educated children into their successful adult lives for over 50 years, and in recognition of her service to Dallas and neighboring counties board officials at McRae-Gaines Learning Center (MGLC), where she has served as director since 2006, recently announced the naming of its budding summer learning program the Sadie Moss Summer Learning Institute in honor of her distinct service and dedication to education. The Sadie Moss Summer Learning Institute focuses on educating children between the ages of 6 and 8 years of age providing them critical learning opportunities in English, mathematics, the arts, and athletics each June and July to prevent the summer learning slide. National studies show children, especially those from communities economically stressed, who fall beyond grade level reading and math before the age of nine, are never able to catch up academically in this nation over 90% of the time. “We cannot be cognizant of this data a and not educate our young ones to the best of our ability,” said Moss. “We are so thankful to our supporters in the Summer Adventures in Learning (SAIL) program from Birmingham, AL, the Daniel and Caring Foundations and private donors, who provide make this program possible. I am humbled to have a program of this magnitude bestowed in my name. It is very satisfying to know there are funders who care to partner with us to make sure our students are given a chance to flourish and succeed.” The third annual Sadie Moss Summer Institute was held from June 11th though July 19th and included testing at the beginning of the 5 weeks and at the end. The children received an intense review of their reading, writing and mathematics skills and experienced art, public speaking and other enrichment activities. For information about next summer's program contact the School Director, Mrs. Sadie Moss, at 334-872-7109.
Over the past five years, McRae-Gaines has attracted children with developmental delays including those on the autism spectrum disorder. These children and their families have touched the hearts of our teachers. It is our plan to open a better-funded and resourced program for these children in January 2023 and to continue development of the program for the community of Selma together with other childcare centers and pre-schools. This year we ask our major sponsors to support the Special Development and Autism Program as they have so generously supported Get Fit Selma! over the past seven years.
We won a grant from the Alabama Council on Developmental Disabilities and are hiring staff this winter. Dr. Doris Hill, Director of the Regional Autism Network (RAN) at Auburn University is ready to train our teachers as they work with this special group of students.