Do you need a doctor or dentist for your child’s back-to-school check-up? What does your child need to be ready for school? If you don’t have a family doctor or dentist, if you don’t have insurance, or if …

If you have summer food, health or clothing needs, Des Moines Public Schools and Polk County have resources for you. From immunizations to free meals, clothing to utility payments, you’ll find a list of places where help can be found. For a list of DMPS no-cost summer meal locations and times, and to learn more about other available resources, click on the headline.

DMPS will again offer breakfast and lunch over the summer months to children 18 and younger. The number of sites has grown, and so have the number of meals served. Last summer, DMPS staff fed children 28,722 breakfasts and 79,698 lunches. DMPS has sponsored a summer meal program for more than 30 years. Click on the headline for more information and a list of sites.

The first day of Kindergarten 2015-2016 will be here before you know it! It’s an exciting time for staff and students, but it all starts with registration. Sign-up begins on March 11. Register soon to guarantee a spot in your neighborhood school. To find out where to register and what to bring, click on the image.

DMPS is going to meet more needs and provide additional services to preschool students and families, thanks to support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. The district has been awarded $510,000 “to provide high quality, holistic early childhood education and family support services to children and their families” at the Taylor Education Center. Click the photo to learn more.

Some DMPS preschoolers met a TV celebrity on Friday. Martha the dog, from the show “Martha Speaks” and her friends from IPTV paid a visit to the Jesse Franklin Taylor Education Center.

Des Moines Public Schools has 19 Head Start classrooms; the parents in each of these classrooms elect representatives to serve on Policy Committee. We had our first Policy Committee meeting of the school year on September 16th; over …

Jumpstart’s Read for the Record mobilizes millions of children and adults to celebrate literacy with an effort to break the world record for the most people reading the same book on the same day. On October 21, 2014, …

Taylor and McKee Learning Centers are hosting Parent University nights with free, informative sessions on topics selected specifically for families with young children. Parents and caregivers are invited Taylor Learning Center on Tuesday, November 11th from 5:30-7:00 p.m. or McKee …