Principal's Message

Greetings!

Welcome to the ECC and to Van Wert City School District. My name is Lori Bittner and I am the principal at the Van Wert Early Childhood Center (VWECC). Our building serves the preschool and kindergarten children for Van Wert City Schools.

A little about myself.  I received my Bachelor Degree from Bowling Green State University with a dual major in Elementary and Special Education. I then obtained my Master’s Degree from the University of St. Francis in an additional field of Special Education. An Early Education of the Handicapped Degree from Bluffton University and a second Master’s Degree from the University of Dayton with a Supervision and Principal diploma completes my educational career. I am married to my husband Mark (of over 30 years) and we have three grown married children along with six grandchildren.

I began my education career in Indiana where I was a special education teacher for 12 years serving children in grades K-8. With a move from Indiana to Ohio, I stayed home for 2 years before entering the world of preschool special education as an itinerant teacher. After one year in this position, I became the Children’s Director of the Van Wert Board of Developmental Disabilities where all the preschool programs were housed for the county, another position I held for 12 years. I am beginning my fourteenth year with Van Wert City Schools, six as the Special Services Coordinator for grades preschool through fifth, and now eight, as the principal of the Van Wert Early Childhood Center.

As I previously stated, the VWECC serves children in grades preschool and kindergarten. We currently serve approximately 350 children with more than 50 staff members. Our children receive classroom services as well as specialized therapies in occupational, physical, and speech therapy, should they qualify. While each grade also has board-adopted curriculums we must follow, we strive to serve your children through authentic play experiences as we carry out the state standards for each grade level and the curriculums of Creative Curriculum, Heggerty Phonemic Awareness, Literacy Collaborative Framework, Lucy Calkins Writing, and Big Ideas Math with the Number Talks Framework.

VWECC was awarded the 2018 and 2019 "All A Award" by the State Board of Education for receiving all A's on the state report card. Also, VWECC has been a recipient of Ohio's coveted 5 STAR Award for our preschool program since 2016. We are very proud of both these accomplishments!

Again, we welcome you to the Van Wert City School district and we are so very happy that you are beginning your child’s educational career in our program!    

Mrs. Lori Bittner