Full-day kindergarten will start in September
By Caitlyn Kelleher JOURNAL REPORTER

The Ashburnham-Westminster Regional School Committee voted unanimously on Tuesday night to institute full-day kindergarten with no tuition in the 2008-2009 school year.

The committee members heard from more than a dozen parents during a public hearing preceding their formal discussion on the matter, and also were updated by elementary-school principals before taking their vote.

"I'm here also to support the free fullday program," said Nicky Vasalo, of Westminster. "All taxpayers need to be considered, not just those with older children."

She said she will spend over $6,000 a year to send her one of young children to pre-school and one to the district's full-day tuition program, and to play a sport each.

A number of the parents attending the meeting have had children go through the district's kindergarten program already.

"I think the long-term benefits are known in other way (beyond educational studies)," said Westminster's Joe Olivari. "I think we would be foolish to overlook this opportunity."

Some residents expressed concerns about the full-day program and simply had questions about the process.

"I feel like some of the children at the kindergarten level aren't ready for the full day program. … We don't know how these children's will adjust," Maureen McFadries said. "I feel like why do we have to rush these children."

Superintendent Michael Zapantis pointed out that parents are not required to send their children to kindergarten and that the school district would develop a curriculum option and an ability to remove their children at a half-way point in the day. The state does mandate that the school district provide at least half-day kindergarten.

"There will always be an option for parents to bring their children home," Zapantis said.

The district received a $90,000 transition grant to help fund the supplies, parent outreach and curriculum studies from the Department of Education this year. The transition committee will be able to help with answering many of the questions for the parents.

The committee is planning to fund the new program through money in this year's excess-and-deficiency account, which is money remaining from the FY07 budget because of a spending freeze instituted in October 2006, and additional state reimbursement for special education, transportation and other aid.

In the following years, Zapantis said additional state aid from Chapter 70 will cover the majority of additional cost of the full-day program, because the state will count each of the kindergartens as full-time students instead of part-time students.

"I don't know when we will have another chance to pull this off," School Committee Chairman David Christianson said.

Committee member Gwen Farely said she has considered the options for the $785,000 in the excess-and-deficiency account. She said she would like to see more programs offered to students, such as a foreign-language program for all grades.

"Can we use E&D to fix these problems? No," she said.

So she decided to support the implementation of the full-time kindergarten program.

In Westminster there are currently 108 students registered for kindergarten next year, which would require six sessions, and may require the relocation of either the Special Education Offices, or the art room in Meetinghouse School.

At John R. Briggs, there are currently 56 students registered for kindergarten and this would require music classes to be held on the stage.

But both principals said they wanted to see the full-day program instituted.

The school district currently offers a full-time option for students that is tuitionbased and filled through a lottery system.

Committee member Keith Glenny has historically voted against the tuition-based program because of his stance on providing equal opportunity to free and public education.

"I think we go forward," he said. "It is best."

Many of the School Committee members said, after listening to parents speak about their desire to have full-day kindergarten and the economics of paying the tuition, questioned their support of the tuition-based program.

"I'd have a hard time bringing back tuition-based kindergarten," committee member Leonard Beaton said.