Committee Recommends Preschool (Definitely) and Full-Day Kindergarten (Sort of)

The Granby Board of Education’s curriculum subcommittee recommended to the full board the implementation of an integrated preschool program and full-day kindergarten at a regular meeting on Wednesday evening.

The committee’s recommendation of when both programs should be integrated into the school district is a matter of debate, however.

Specifically, the committee endorsed that the preschool program, which would service the needs of special needs students and integrate non-disabled peers at a 50/50 ratio, be implemented for the 2012-13 school year, according to school board member and curriculum committee chairman Ronald Walther.

A more spirited discussion centered around whether to adopt full-day kindergarten, said Walther, noting that it is supported by both the administration and many of the members of the community.

Much of the debate, however, centered on the argument that Granby students were performing at a high level with the district only offering half-day kindergarten.

What “tilted” the debate in favor of full-day kindergarten were the new state-mandated common core standards that are coming down the pike in the next several years, Walther said.

Those mandates include additional math and science instruction at the kindergarten level; as it stands right now, current requirements have led kindergarten teachers facing time crunches to slash recess from their class days.

As such, the committee recommended that the district adopt a full-day kindergarten program, but without a date certain.

“We understand that it is a significant additional cost to the district, but the recommendation is to pursue full-day kindergarten at the earliest opportunity,” Walther said.

Superintendent of Schools Alan Addley said that the extension of kindergarten from half- to full-day would cost the district an additional $317,000.

That’s a significant increase for a community the size of Granby. Further complicating the issue is that the district must account for a projected $700,000 shortfall in the 2012-13 budget as a result of increased costs in health insurance coupled with the loss of several grants.

“In the current economic climate, where we are, the recommendation is that [full-day kindergarten] be implemented when we can allocate the money for it,” school board and curriculum committee member Ed Ohannessian said.

School board Vice Chairperson Matthew Wutka said that he wanted more data as to how much better students fared in having full-day kindergarten over half-day kindergarten.

“A lot of the discussion centered on that,” Walther said. “Right now there are no additional core requirements and right now [kindergarten teachers] are at their limit. They have to leave things out because of time constraints.”

Walther said that the school district would likely benefit from getting ahead of the state’s mandated common core standards by adding full-day kindergarten, a notion with which Superintendent of Schools Alan Addley agreed.

“Without question, the board would be taking a leadership role by adopting full-day kindergarten,” Addley said.

The next step is for the full school board to discuss the issue at its next regular meeting scheduled for Nov. 2.

In other business, the school board heard presentations from Aimee Martin, director of pupil personnel services, on the programmatic and academic performance of special needs students.

Martin addressed what she considered to be a wide achievement gap between the district’s general education population and its special education students on the Connecticut Mastery Test and the Connecticut Academic Performance Test.

While she declined to speculate as to why there were such significant disparities in students’ scores - for example, 81.1 percent of Granby’s student population scored at or above goal in writing, while just 31.2 percent of special education students met that benchmark - Martin said that she and her staff would continue to challenge and set high expectations for the special education population.

“[The achievement gap] is real and it needs to be addressed,” Martin said.

Addley said that the district would not continue to show improvement as a whole unless all groups, including special education students, continue to improve.

“We’re trying to confront beliefs and practices that create inequities,” Addley said.

Director of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning Diane Dugas presented to the board data on the Open Choice and Hartland students.
The town of Hartland does not have a high school; students in grades 9-12 attend Granby Memorial High.

According to Dugas, there are 72 choice students currently in Granby public schools, representing about 3 percent of the population, and 60 Hartland students currently attending Granby Memorial High School.

Granby can and should have more choice students in its schools, but clerical entanglements in Hartford have delayed enrollment.

“That’s unacceptable,” said school board Chairman Cal Heminway, noting that while most suburban school systems were shunning choice students, Granby was encouraging their enrollment.

An analysis revealed that choice students achieved at a lower level in standardized tests and grade-point averages than students who reside in Granby, but they performed better than their peers who remained in Hartford.

Addley acknowledged the gains made by choice students who attended Granby schools, but said that most urban students who attend suburban schools are going to improve out of hat.

Like the focus on the special needs students, Addley said that inequities and beliefs needed to be challenged to show marked improvement in that student population.

and that more of a focus needed to be made on improving choice students’ performance.