Full-Day Kindergarten Registration Open In Chatham

CHATHAM, NJ - The hottest lotto ticket in town may belong to residents signing up for the School District of the Chathams inaugural full-day kindergarten option for the 2019-2020 school year.

According to officials, a child must have turned five-years of age by Oct. 1 to be eligible for admission. Forty-eight slots will be available on a lottery basis, at a tuition rate of $7,000.

Key features of the program include:

• One full-day kindergarten section will be a stand-alone class held at Milton Avenue School and another section will be a stand-alone class held at Washington Avenue School
• students will not start the day in a half-day section and then switch classrooms to complete the day students will remain with their same homeroom for the full day
• The parents of any Chatham child who turns five-years-old by Oct. 1 may enter their child into the lottery, regardless of neighborhood school zone.
• Selection of students will be proportional to overall kindergarten enrollment so that there is no “over-representation” of one neighborhood versus another (e.g. if 40 percent of the district’s total kindergarten enrollment lives in the SBS neighborhood, then 40 percent of the slots for full-day kindergarten will be allocated to SBS students).
• If they are able to offer one section at WAS and one at MAS, students in those school zones will attend their home school. That is, MAS students selected via the lottery will remain at MAS and WAS students selected via the lottery will remain at WAS.
• Students selected from the lottery who also qualify for the federal free/reduced lunch program will not be charged a tuition payment.
• Transportation to and from school will be the responsibility of the parent; the school district will not provide transportation to or from the program

The school day in the full-day kindergarten sections will resemble a typical full-day kindergarten or first-grade schedule in terms of time allotted to academic subjects (like math and E.L.A.) and special subjects (like physical education, art, and music). The school day will also include lunch and recess time.

Upon completion of kindergarten, students will attend their neighborhood elementary school for first grade.

Those interested in registering for the lottery for the pilot full-day kindergarten program can visit the website. Additional information about the date and nature of the lottery drawing will be sent to all registrants in the coming weeks, officials said.

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