South Huntington board approves two vendors to expand Universal Pre-K seats

The South Huntington Union Free School District board voted to award two vendors to provide Universal Pre-K (UPK) seats for the upcoming 2025–26 school year, a move the district says will significantly reduce the current UPK wait list.

District administrator Doctor Hender told the board the district is "looking to award 2 companies tonight," naming KinderCare at Huntington among the providers. He said the awards "will help us exhaust our current wait list of UPK students," raising available seats from about 150 last year to roughly 252 for 2025–26.

Board members praised the months-long procurement effort. "When you think about a creative solution, I know Doctor Hender has exhausted every angle and left no stone unturned," said Miss Meyer, thanking Hender and his team for expanding seats in the community.

The awards were announced as part of the board’s consent/business agenda and were adopted by voice vote without recorded opposition in the public transcript. District officials said the additional seats will be available at multiple local providers and that the district expects to post final contracting details and enrollment steps on its website and communications channels.

The board did not detail specific seat counts per vendor or the precise timeline for enrollment in the portion of the public record transcribed; those contract specifics were not specified in the meeting transcript.

Next steps: the district will finalize contracts with the selected vendors and implement enrollment to place students in the expanded UPK seats for the 2025–26 school year.