All-Day Kindergarten Is All About Timing

East Haven officials said starting all-day kindergarten for the town’s children in the 2011-12 school year is all a matter of timing.

If the town moves quickly, it might qualify for reimbursement of 80 percent of the cost for portable classrooms needed to open up the necessary classroom space in the town’s elementary schools.

Also, this year the teachers won’t get a pay increase, as they will the following two years, which frees up funding to hire the new kindergarten teachers the Board of Education will need to extend half-day kindergarten to a full day.

There are other expenses as well, to change the kindergarten curriculum to reflect the extended hours of instruction, education officials said during budget talks this week.

Much of the discussion about the budget had to do with the portable classrooms, which are estimated to cost $430,000.

The portable classrooms will be located at Ferrara School and Momauguin School.

When the Town Council meets on Tuesday (7 p.m. at the Community Center) to approve the 2011-12 town budget, an item on the agenda will be to authorize the Board of Education to apply for reimbursement from the state for the portable classrooms.

The state reportedly is ending that reimbursement program, so if the town doesn’t get its application in before the end of June it can’t expect to receive any money.

Councilman Paul Carbo Thursday asked what happens if the state doesn’t approve the reimbursement funds.

Finance Director Thomas Thompson said in that case the money would come out of a bonding package the Council approved earlier in the week. If the state approves the reimbursement grant, it would reduce the amount the town would borrow through bonding, he explained.

Carbo had opposed the purchase of the portable classrooms for another reason as well. He said it made more sense for the Board of Education to consolidate the entire all-day kindergarten program at Hays School rather than spreading it out to the various elementary schools. That way, the portable classrooms would not be needed, he said.

But board member Nick Palladino said the Board of Education wants to move the Pathways special education program into Hays School from its current location on Dodge Avenue.

Pathways is a regional program that helps East Haven reduce its spending for special education. Using Hays School would give the city schools additional savings, Palladino said.

Another question was whether school officials intended to put the kindergartners in the all-day classrooms, or if they would move second-graders and third-graders in them.

"If you’re going to displace second and third-graders to portable classrooms so you can put kindergartners inside the school, I don’t think you’re serving your children well," said Carbo in an interview.

But after he heard Palladino’s explanation Thursday, he dropped his objection. It especially makes sense in light of the Pathways move, Carbo said.