By: centraljersey.com
SPRINGFIELD – The interim superintendent has presented the Board of Education with a full-day kindergarten proposal.
"This is only in the thinking stage," Superintendent Joseph Miller said.
Earlier in the school year the school board set a list of goals to implement in the coming school year and the possibility of a full-day kindergarten program is one of the goals.
Mr. Miller on Jan. 18 presented the board with an in depth picture of what effect the program would have on the school including transportation and teaching staff.
"I used it to point out all of the things that need to be considered before voting," Mr. Miller said.
Mr. Miller also recommended that the school board consider placing the full-day kindergarten program on the ballot as a separate proposal question. He said he believes that it would gain more public support this way and it would also be outside of the 2 percent cap placed on school board budgets.
The program however would take a few changes in the districts.
Currently, the district has a half-day kindergarten program and one teacher is teaching both the a.m. and p.m. classes. The full-day program would require the district to hire another kindergarten teacher for a second class.
"We would have to come up with a new classroom, but that would just take some shifting around," Mr. Miller said. "The state law says that a kindergarten classroom has to be so many square feet and have a bathroom. There is some pretty strict legislation about kindergarten."
The elementary school does have a classroom that qualifies to be used as a kindergarten classroom that is currently being used as a second-grade classroom, but according to Mr. Miller they would just relocate that teacher to a new classroom.
The district would also have to buy new furniture for a second kindergarten classroom since the current furniture is being used by both classes.
"For transportation, we’d actually appreciate a savings," Mr. Miller said.
Currently, the morning kindergarten class rides to school along with everyone else but there is a special bus to drop them off after the half-day and the afternoon kindergarten class is picked up.
"We would be able to eliminate those two special midday runs," Mr. Miller said.
The district has lost a number of students because they only offer a half-day program and many parents want their children in a full-day program and send them to private schools.
"Some (parents) would bring their children back for first grade, but others don’t," Mr. Miller said. "We’re really missing out on several students that we’d have in the district because of only having a half-day program."
The possibility of a full-day kindergarten program will continue to be discussed throughout the budget process.
