Jackson Free Press

Dr. Kanesha Bennett has served as director of Jackson State University's Lottie Thornton Early Childhood Center since 2017. She previously worked as a preschool teacher at JSU starting in 2015 before assuming her current position.

The Lottie Thornton Early Childhood Center is a childcare program for children age 3 to 5 and is open to JSU faculty, staff, students and the Jackson community. The center also serves as a laboratory site for JSU students in the early childcare field, as well as any other major that involves working directly with young children.

In 2020, the center received an A-rating from the Mississippi Department of Health Childcare Licensure Department. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, MDHC conducted the first-ever virtual inspection of the Lottie Thornton Center's facilities via Zoom. As part of the requirements to receive an A-rating, MDHC staff normally come to a facility anonymously to inspect staff and student records, insurances, placement of fire extinguishers and first aid kits, classroom and playground safety, food nutrition and more. The center is now in the middle of the licensing period for 2021, which lasts until April.

Because the LTECC has had to conduct preschool virtually due to the pandemic, Bennett stressed the importance of staff developing a plan to combine virtual and hands-on learning opportunities for their preschoolers.

"Our plan involved finding a way to take face-to-face instruction online, which is not easy for preschool kids, especially when we normally try to limit computer screen time for them," Bennett says. "We needed to find ways to keep students engaged in a virtual setting while also making sure that everything is inclusive, especially for parents who are also working from home. It's vital to get them the resources they need while still teaching the children as if they were here in front of us.

"Parental engagement is also a large focus for us, because parents are a child's first teachers. We want to include the family in the learning process and give them anything they need from school supplies to books so they have a knowledge base for what they need to do. And because we still don't want children being glued to a screen too much, we've found ways to provide small activities they can do themselves with their children."

As part of an effort to incorporate movement and music more heavily into its programs, Lottie Thornton recently partnered with Little Stompers, a music program by New York-based Second Line Arts Collective that provides online musical instrument instruction every Wednesday. The center has also been conducting parent-teacher conferences via Zoom and offering other engagement opportunities like Friday movie days and pumpkin decorating lessons.

Born in Jackson, Bennett moved to San Diego, Cali., with her family as a child but moved back to Jackson when she entered elementary school. She graduated from Ridgeland High School and enrolled at JSU, where she received a bachelor's degree in social sciences in 2013. She also received a master's degree in early childhood education from JSU in 2016 and a doctorate in the same subject in 2020.

Bennett says her interest in early childhood education sparked when she began working in a childcare facility as an undergraduate student.

"Working with the children there, I found that there was never a dull moment," Bennett says. "I found that I loved making a connection with them and getting to know their families and what they loved or struggled with."

In addition to her work with JSU, Bennett is the co-president of the parent teacher association at Ann Smith Elementary School in Ridgeland, where one of her sons attends. The school also named her its Parent of the Year in 2020. Bennett also works as an educational consultant with Loving Hands Educational Services in Jackson.

Bennett lives in Ridgeland with her three sons, Kingston, age 9, Karter, age 7, and Kyan, age 1.