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Board committee recommends further planning, feasibility study for full-day kindergarten
Summary
A board-appointed committee reported broad support among teachers and stakeholders for exploring full-day kindergarten; administration seeks a board motion to continue planning and to commission feasibility and enrollment studies before any adoption or hiring.
A district committee that studied full-day kindergarten presented findings to the board and asked for approval to continue planning and pursue a targeted feasibility study paired with the previously approved enrollment study.
Committee co-lead Mrs. Landis said the committee was "tasked with not coming up with a recommendation for all day care" but to compile data for the board to consider. The committee met multiple times and surveyed kindergarten teachers, reading specialists and intervention staff; staff and principals identified benefits (more instructional and play time, social-emotional supports) and challenges (classroom space, staffing, scheduling and implementation logistics).
Board member Mr. Stout and committee members outlined next steps: if the board approves continued planning at the April legislative meeting, administration would commission a feasibility study to map building capacity, classroom space needs, transportation implications and cost; that study would be coordinated with the enrollment study expected to return data in summer 2025. The administration estimated initial staffing to implement full-day kindergarten districtwide would require roughly 9.5 additional teachers and an approximate recurring cost of about $1.5 million, to be built into budgets over multiple years.
The committee also discussed alternative, longer-range facility solutions to create classroom space if needed, including modulars and an "outside-the-box" option to reconfigure grade spans (for example, K–4 in elementary schools and a restructured 5–6 and 7–8 configuration) to free elementary classroom capacity; the presenters noted such reconfiguration would require deep study of transportation, extracurriculars and community impact.
Administration told the board it had included two full-day kindergarten positions in the proposed 2025–26 budget as a placeholder while clarifying that hiring and program implementation would occur only after the board approves continuing the planning process and the necessary follow-up studies. The board was asked to take a nonbinding motion in April to continue planning; final decisions on program adoption, facility changes and budget allocations would come after feasibility and enrollment studies and separate board votes.
