Pre-K On The Way In Nutley: School District Seeks Staff, Space

NUTLEY, NJ — The Nutley Public School District is hitting the pavement running when it comes to rolling out its new pre-school program.

Last week, Nutley school administrators learned the district is one of 27 that will be getting a big chunk of state funding to create or expand access to “high-quality preschool programs” in the 2022-2023 school year.

Nutley's share will come to $1,228,170. Districts receiving the funding will begin their programs in early October 2022, the governor’s office said. Read More: $1.2M In State Aid Will Power Preschool Program In Nutley

District officials in Nutley gave an update about the next steps on Friday.

“Yesterday, we learned that Nutley was one of 27 public school districts in the state to receive Pre-School Expansion Aid, which will help us build a high-quality pre-school program for Nutley students, ages 3 and 4,” administrators wrote.

The district continued:

“This program will help remove barriers and provide opportunities for all the families and students in Nutley. Early childhood education is critical to the growth of our educational community, and vital in setting up our youngest learners for success. This expansion aid is a positive opportunity for the entire Nutley community. The process to begin this program will begin immediately as the district will need to hire administrators, teachers and support staff as well as continue the ongoing conversations of acquiring additional space in the town. The NJ Department of Education has initially allocated the district $1.2 million to fund this program.”

“We look forward to finalizing details in the coming days/weeks and sharing more information with the community,” Nutley district officials said. “As we move forward in this process, we will communicate with the community, specifically with the parents of students impacted by this program. We will plan a Parent Night to speak more in depth about this program. Details to follow.”

Some Nutley residents and community members have already begun to speculate about where the young learners will be placed.

“And where are they going to put those kids?” one commenter wrote on the district’s social media page. “The system is already overcrowded.”

Another commenter had a suggestion, however. They wrote:

“They should use the old Ciccolini property to build a pre k3-4, kindergarten building… it would pull all the kindergarten classes and existing pre k classes out of the school buildings freeing up classroom space. And yes the state does require administrators but utilizing one building would cut down on the need for a top heavy program. The state also dictates class size so the district will indeed need to hire more teachers and yes class sizes will be smaller —which is also required by the state in pre k education. This is a great win for Nutley here’s hoping they play this card well.”

The town’s taxpayers haven’t always agreed with pleas from local parents, staff and school administrators that more space is needed. In 2017, Nutley residents voted against a proposed $70 million school bond issue that would have provided the funds for a massive construction effort to combat overcrowding in the district's schools.

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