Space Is The Issue—

Kindergarten

Proposal

Questioned

By John Voket

The Board of Finance, in a 4-1 vote with one member absent November 8, resolved to back First Selectmen Pat Llodra’s request to temporarily put the brakes on a full-day kindergarten initiative under consideration by school officials. One week earlier, Mrs Llodra informed the Board of Selectmen that she issued a letter to Baord of Education Chairman William Hart regarding his board’s intentions to move forward in considering, and possibly initiating, a full-day kindergarten program in the district.

“It’s certainly not my role to weigh in on [the value of] full-day kindergarten,” Mrs Llodra told the finance board. “But I have that responsibility to keep the focus on planning.”

Mrs Llodra previously told The Bee that the school district’s work toward possible implementation of a program that would double its need for space is poorly timed. And she reiterated to finance officials that both the district and the community as a whole are currently inventorying facility space, while the town is also in the early stages of comprehensively examining future community and agency space needs.

That study could include a recommendation of repurposing of school space for other uses, the first selectman said.

Finance board Vice Chair Jim Gaston said while he commends the town’s planned examination of space, if the district independently determines there is need for a full-day program, it should be considered and factored into whatever space is required to accomplish its goal.

“I kind of view it as putting the cart before the horse,” he said. “You want to look at what all your needs are, and then look at what facilities you have to accommodate those needs.”

Mrs Llodra agreed.

“What I’m saying is, hold off on implementation until we know what all the needs are, and what all the other opportunities are,” Mrs Llodra countered. “And trust that we’re going to make the decision that is in the best interest of the community.

“If you implement before you do the whole study, then you have made a decision before examining all the data. There’s nothing wrong with studying it,” the first selectman added.

Mr Gaston said the school board has an obligation to thoroughly examine the need and merits of full-day kindergarten, and to provide the best education possible.

Mrs Llodra said there are likely ways to improve overall educational performance, and that she would expect school officials to pursue that end. And she acknowledged the district may recommend full-day kindergarten, versus consolidating school space.

“To implement without having that other discussion means you’ve already decided what you’re going to do,” Mrs Llodra said. “So why have the study? If the program is implemented, it’s not going to be un-implemented.”

Finance board member Joe Kearney wondered how the district could even begin discussion of full-day kindergarten without having a space-needs study completed first.

Finance Chairman John Kortze reminded his board that its role is not to determine the merits of full-day kindergarten. He suggested that candid public discussion about the role of the district’s space needs study in relation to the district’s overall assessment of a full-day program should be required.

Mr Kortze also confirmed the district’s space assessment is not expected to be complete until after the district’s final budget recommendation for the 2011-12 budget cycle has been issued. As a result, he did not see how a recommendation for funding full-day kindergarten could be part of the next district’s budget request.

Mrs Llodra said from her perspective, preempting a community discussion about its overall space needs by in any way formalizing a full-day kindergarten program would be unfair.

“This is something we really need to talk about, because it’s about values,” she said. “There’s this constant pitch for long-term planning. And the same folks that are saying, ‘We need a long-range plan, where’s the long-range plan?’ are now saying, ‘Let’s make an ad-hoc decision — to heck with the long-range plan.’ We need a long-range plan, especially around facilities.”

Polling the rest of the finance board in consideration of supporting a resolution to complete space needs assessment before implementing full-day kindergarten, finance board member Michael Portnoy said he was in favor of looking at townwide space considerations “before anyone implements new programs.”

Harrison Waterbury said it is the finance board’s responsibility to analyze the taxpayer burden to run the town. And that in consideration of possibly closing or repurposing a school facility, in part, because of declining enrollment, “We have to be primarily in support of that because it will save the town money.

“If there is a fair argument that a full-day kindergarten outweighs saving money from closing one of the schools, that argument has to be made,” Mr Waterbury added.

Mr Gaston maintained that backing such a resolution would be stepping into the realm of school officials. But he acknowledged that in the end, it will be the taxpayers who make the ultimate decision to back a budget that includes the cost of implementing full-day kindergarten.

The board subsequently agreed with Mr Gaston as the sole opposing vote against supporting the first selectman’s position on completing all space needs studies before implementing full-day kindergarten.

“At some point we’re going to have to fund it, which is our role, whether its an operational expense of full-day kindergarten, [or future] space needs expense,” Mr Kortze concluded.

Mr Waterbury added that he was loathe to support spending taxpayer dollars “before determining whether the town can afford it.”