District 200 to Offer Full Day Kindergarten

District 200 will offer one full-day kindergarten class in each of its 13 elementary schools next fall. The District 200 school board voted last Wednesday to approve the program after discussing its components. 

In order to offer the program at no extra cost to the district, half of each class will consist of tuition-paying students, and half will pay as they are able. A full tuition will cost $4,000, based on a class of 24 students.

Half of the students in each class will pay full tuition and half will pay as they are able. “We feel that in fairness to all students and families, we need to ask everyone to contribute something,” Margo Sorrick, assistant superintendent of educational services, said. She added that the district will work with families who can’t contribute anything.

Further, half of the student body of each class will be “at-promise” students, who are not as ready for school as the other students. Placement would be on a first come, first serve basis.

Kathy DeMarzo, principal at Lincoln Elementary School, told Patch in January that academic readiness skills include letter and number recognition and the stamina to sit and listen to a story.

District 200 board member Ken Knicker, asked why District 200 couldn’t offer an all-day program to everyone. Sorrick explained it was a combination of a lack of space and budget limitations.

Superintendent Dr. Brian Harris said that if the district sees success in the program, they could look at space options, noting Jefferson Preschool as a potential site.

In a worst case scenario, there would not be sufficient interest in the program and the district would then compact the program and limit sites where it is offered, Sorrick explained. If this happens, Sorrick said the district would offer a program that is representative of the original plan, “but not as comprehensive as we wanted.”

While the district plans to offer the program in each of its 13 elementary schools, officials say they won’t know where it will be offered until they know enrollment numbers.