Some kindergarten students in Mt. Laurel may be packing their book bags for a full school day starting next year.
District administrators and the Board of Education are exploring the creation of an extended day kindergarten program starting in the fall. The program would give parents an option to send their child to a center-based learning classroom for half of the day in addition to the child’s regular kindergarten class.
The extended day program is not a full-day kindergarten class. Rather, it is a center-based learning system where certified teachers and aides will work on skills with the students. The students may work on math in one center, phonics in another and would have a less-structured approach to learning.
Marie Reynolds, the district’s director of communications, said the center-based method of learning will be a complement to the regular classes.
“It’s really effective, because they gravitate to the center that they find more interesting,” she said.
Reynolds said the program would not be mandatory for kindergarten students. There would not be a structured curriculum like the regular half-day classes.
“It’s not a curriculum like they would have in the kindergarten program,” she said.
The extended-day program would operate separately from the regular class. Students in morning kindergarten would go to the extended program in the afternoon. Students in afternoon kindergarten would go to the
extended program in the morning.
The district’s community education department would run the program and it would be entirely tuition-based. The tuition would help cover costs such as additional staff.
Reynolds said the district would only present the idea if the community education department could fund it independently. The district did not want to increase taxes to add the
program.
“If we put it under (the community education department) and it’s tuition-based, then it’s not something that is taxing all of the taxpayers to support,” Reynolds said.
Adding an extended kindergarten program is something the district wanted to do in the past, but couldn’t because of reasons such as taxpayer impact. Reynolds said the district does not receive enough state aid to fund such a program.
The district also could not do a program in the past due to the lack of classroom space in the elementary schools. Reynolds said the district has figured out how to make room for an extended program in each school.
“We are now able to move classrooms around enough that each elementary school can have one available room for the program,” she said.
The district and school board will review feedback from parents before making a decision. Parents are invited to give feedback through an online form on the school district’s website, www.mtlaurelschools.org. In addition, parents will have the option to state their interest in an extended day program when they register their child for kindergarten.
Prior to kindergarten registration opening on March 10, Reynolds said the district had already received feedback from parents interested in the prospective program.
Parents who are interested in an extended kindergarten program can fill out the form located on the Mt. Laurel schools home page. There is no guarantee the district will go through with the program next year.
Reynolds said the district will look at the amount of interest the program receives and feedback before making a decision in the coming months.
