Caldwell School Officials Are Pondering Full-Day Kindergarten

WEST CALDWELL, NJ — Administrators in the Caldwell-West Caldwell Public School District are pondering a full-day kindergarten program in addition to other upcoming initiatives, school officials stated during a recent Board of Education meeting.

Superintendent James Heinegg and Assistant Superintendent Scott Klepesch gave presentations about facilities planning, instructional programming, and the potential for initiatives including “full-day kindergarten” at the Nov. 14 BOE meeting.

Klepesch reviewed one of the district’s short-range plans, an “innovative Kindergarten Wraparound program based on structured play and design thinking.”

According to Klepesch, the program would be an “optional enrichment opportunity,” with all costs covered via tuition and no increases to the local tax levy.

Klepesch stated that more information about the new kindergarten enrichment plan would be released in the upcoming months.

The idea of creating full-day kindergarten in the Caldwell-West Caldwell district has been raised before at Board of Education meetings, with dozens of parents packing the April 4 meeting in favor of the concept.

During the April 4 meeting, parents claimed that full-day kindergarten could:

• Provide more hands-on learning opportunities that can prepare students for new Common Core standards
• Improve students’ performance in STEM-related classes in the 3rd and 4th grades

Photo: David Ashleydale, Flickr Commons

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