Starting with the next school year, kindergartners in Pleasantdale will be offered a full school day on the district’s dime. The district now offers half-day kindergarten, with the full-day option available for a fee.
“Enough parents have come to me that we have some responsibility to provide full-day kindergarten as an option,” said board member David Negron.
“We do offer full-day kindergarten. It is just fee-based right now,” said board President Mark Mirabile, who expressed opposition to the move.
Kim Barker and Kristin Violante voted in favor of waiving the fees..
Board member Gina Scaletta-Nelson and Beth Tegtmeier were absent from the March 18 meeting.
School Board member Lisa Houk abstained from voting.
“I am leaving the board,” Houk said after the meeting. “I didn’t feel I should be making a decision that is going to have an effect on a future board. There is going to be a new superintendent and a new board who are going to be affected by the decision.”
Negron said many parents have talked to him about the need for free full-day kindergarten.
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“We can talk about free iPads and iPods too, but the bills are going to come due,” Mirabile said. “I think it is going to be tough for a future board to be able to get a referendum passed.”
Negron said the because 50 of the 62 children in the district’s kindergarten program are in the full-day program, that was proof the option is needed. He said Common Core and other standards are requiring more of students at younger ages.
“All the research I have seen shows that students who go to full-day kindergarten are at much more of an advantage,” Negron said. “The research shows that full-day is beneficial. Students in full-day kindergarten out perform students in half-day.”
It was noted the district could always go back to having a fee-based, full-day kindergarten, if money because an issue.
“It is much harder to take something away once it is there,” Mirabile countered.
Superintendent Mark Fredisdorf said there are families who have a child in the full-day program free of charge or at a reduced rate because of family financial issues.
Negron noted that a lot of districts in the area are also offering full-day kindergarten.
“A lot of districts are broke too,” Mirabile retorted.
It was noted that the fees paid for full-day kindergarten go into the general fund.
“I don’t want to burden people needing to pay for their child to be here (for the full-day program),” Violante said. “The problem I have is that community residents are paying and it is not going to the program.”
Mirabile said the money goes into the education fund so it does pay teachers’ salaries and other expenses of the kindergarten program.
“You can’t trace every dollar back to the kindergarten program,” Mirabile noted. “It is like the money people pay for school textbooks, that goes into the education fund too.”
Per state regulations, parents would still have the option to only have their child in half-day kindergarten, if they would so choose.
Kevin Beese is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press