By Sherry conohan
Staff Writer
EATONTOWN — Overcoming some last minute hesitation, the Board of Education approved a policy change on the age for admittance to kindergarten to Nov. 30.
Under the present policy, children must be 5 years old by Oct. 1 to be accepted into the district’s all-day kindergarten without having to take a test. Children who turn 5 between Oct. 2-31 are allowed to enter kindergarten if they take a test and are approved as mature enough and ready for school by a teaching team. Parents pay the $125 cost of the test.
On a 6-3 vote at its meeting Monday night, the Board of Education moved the final cutoff date for admittance with a test back from Oct. 31 to Nov. 30.
The proposal, put forward by board member Kevin Gonzalez, was almost waylaid when board member Sandra Staba asked why the policy change was being made. Staba said unless there was some compelling reason to do so, she thought it best not to make the change now in light of the district’s troubled financial picture because it didn’t need more students when layoffs are looming.
"I don’t think this is the right time to do this," she said.
Staba got unexpected support from board member Charles H. "Skip" Fischer III, who earlier had advocated easing the cutoff date even further, to Dec. 31. Fischer said he was disturbed to see the projection, in the supplementary materials to the agenda, that the district may have as many as 20 children per class with the additional enrollment estimated to occur with the new cutoff date.
Gonzalez said that if the change in date brought in 15 to 20 additional students, it would give cause to hire an additional kindergarten teacher and lessen the pain of the layoffs.
He said the new superintendent of schools, Jean E. "Nina" Hoover, who arrives July 1, was OK with the change.
"If children are ready for kindergarten, we shouldn’t discriminate against them," he said, arguing that it really wasn’t known how many additional students, if any, the new opportunity would bring.
Fredric Naimoli, chairman of the Insurance and Finance Committee, said he agreed with Staba that changing the cutoff date could pose a risk at the present time, given the district’s financial condition. He suggested tabling the measure to a future board meeting.
In addition, Naimoli noted, the proposed policy change came from the board rather than the superintendent. He felt it was an educational matter that should be left to the superintendent.
Gonzalez said he was "flabbergasted" to hear what Naimoli was saying, given their previous conversations. But Naimoli said the latest financial figures had changed his mind.
Superintendent Robert J. Soprano, who retires June 30, intervened to urge the board to make a decision right then, at Monday’s meeting, because parents have to enroll their children.
When the roll call was taken, Staba, Fischer and Naimoli voted no. The other six board members voted yes. They are Gonzalez; Pamela Clarke, the board president; Mark Van Wagner, the immediate past president; Joseph Gaetano; John Schiels and Thomas Smock.