Board votes to expand Open Choice seats at elementary grades to 15 total

The Tolland Board of Education voted Sept. 24 to expand the district’s Open Choice seats from the current five kindergarten slots to 15 seats spread across kindergarten, first and second grade for the next school year. The expansion will require administrative planning for implementation and was moved to board action by roll call before approval. Superintendent Dr. Willett described the program as an interdistrict Open Choice program that allows students from Hartford to attend the town’s public schools and said increasing seats would require a year of planning before seats open next fall. “So if you wanted to expand the number of seats, right now, typically, it's 5 seats in kindergarten every year. We could ask… now 5 for K, 5 for 1, and 5 for 2, and we'd have 15 open seats here versus 5 open seats here,” Dr. Willett said. Board members discussed capacity and counseling/psychological supports, with Trustee Katie noting the district’s limited guidance, school psychologist and social‑work resources and urging administrators to account for those needs as enrollment grows. Trustees approved the motion to move the expansion to action and then approved the expansion in board action; the superintendent will now plan logistics and staffing implications for next school year and report back to the board. The board emphasized this would apply to next year’s admissions cycle — seats for the coming year are already set. The district did not change current year assignments and said it would use the intervening months to coordinate training, classroom assignments and student supports.