Potential Conflict Over Space Needs, Full-Day Kindergarten Heating Up

By John Voket

First Selectman Pat Llodra is the latest town official to step up and pitch concerns to school board and district representatives about planning and practices. On November 1, Mrs Llodra informed the Board of Selectmen that she issued a letter to school board Chairman William Hart regarding his board’s intentions to move forward in considering, and possibly adopting a full-day kindergarten program in the district.

The Board of Education received positive recommendations about the idea during a presentation November 3, while no mention of the first selectman’s letter was made. (See a full report on the school board meeting in this week’s edition, or hear audio on the full-day kindergarten presentation at newtownbee.com).

While Mrs Llodra and Selectman Will Rodgers both pointed to declining enrollment projections and the ongoing space needs study during a brief discussion Monday, Selectman Bill Furrier said the move to try and fill space left empty by declining enrollment made sense to him.

“If you knew you were facing increased space because of declining enrollment, then I would be thinking about taking advantage of that,” Mr Furrier said. “If I had specifically been holding off on [implementing all-day kindergarten] because I knew I didn’t have the space for it, given declining school populations, that is the first thing I would put back on the table to discuss.”

Mr Rodgers countered, “This just doesn’t seem to be the environment for such expansion.”

Mr Rodgers added that he would not fault the school board for considering the idea, but given what he described as “town crises” he thought the idea of considering full-day kindergarten was “ill-advised.”

Mrs Llodra took pains to ensure her board that she wanted to approach the issue diplomatically, as the Board of Selectmen has no role in dictating school board policy.

“There’s no value judgment on the advocacy for full-day kindergarten,” Mrs Llodra said. “But talking about using space the same time we are studying space needs seems to be inconsistent. It could be given the circumstances we still support a full-day kindergarten. What I’m pitching for is to just not have those decisions be made before everyone weighs in as a community.”

Mrs Llodra told The Bee following her board’s meeting that she recognizes full-day kindergarten is the top priority, while space concerns rank fourth in the 2010-2011 goals for the Board of Education. But as her memo points out, in view of planning, both short- and long-term, “Using available space for the purpose of full-day kindergarten reduces the overall options that should be fairly assessed during the space needs study and may, in fact, predetermine the outcome of such a study.”

Twice The Space

The first selectman also said that implementing full-day kindergarten would likely require twice the space currently utilized for the split half-day sessions, and that would derail any ideas about consolidating school facilities to create a single vacant district facility for optional public use.

And the idea about repurposing an existing town-owned school facility for possible recreational, senior center, and social service uses if declining enrollment and related circumstances permit has been a point of concern for Board of Finance members and council representatives as well.

During a recent “state of the schools” presentation by Superintendent Janet Robinson to the finance board, finance board member Michael Portnoy said that based on student population projections, he believed there would be space for such an expansion, but he was interested in seeing the cost.

“I’m sure you’re going to find that all-day kindergarten will pass the test of educational efficacy,” Mr Portnoy added.

Finance board Chairman John Kortze said after the meeting that it was logical to expect a townwide space needs report would be generated and discussed before any new use of space was initiated.

“It is the Board of Selectmen that is responsible for the planning aspect [of space usage] by charter,” Mr Kortze said. “Looking at space needs from a capital and usage perspective, I would agree — we should see a report and discuss it before implementing. I think looking at everything before we start moving stuff around and spending money is the right thing to do.”

Council Concerns

Eight days earlier, under questioning by council Education Committee Chair Kathryn Fetchick, Dr Robinson said she expected to have cost parameters for implementation of a full-day kindergarten by December.

Dr Robinson said the space committee of the school board has footprint plans of all school facilities and that they would make a recommendation about where and if such considerations for the full-day program are even logistically feasible.

Council Chairman Jeff Capeci asked who was involved in the initial fact-gathering about the full-day proposal, and Dr Robinson replied that it was administrators who took on the initial fact-finding, but subsequently parents were polled and they were “thrilled with the idea.”

Dr Robinson added that perhaps the biggest proponents were the kindergarten faculty themselves, who are supporting the full-day idea from purely an educational perspective. The superintendent told the council that according to those teachers, more time would translate into better academic preparedness, a concern echoed by first grade staff.

The council did not hold a regular meeting November 3, but Mr Capeci said he “absolutely” supports putting the full-day kindergarten idea on hold until all town space needs are determined.

“I do not believe we should allocate any resources until all townwide needs are understood,” he said, adding that full-day kindergarten “would have to be implemented in a rush to make it through the budget process this year and that, in my opinion, would result in mistakes being made.”

Mr Capeci, instead, supports “weighing the pros and cons along with the needs of the entire town to see what is in the best interest of all voters.”