Full-Day Kindergarten Advocates Expected To Pack Board of Ed. Meeting

Parents in favor of full-day kindergarten are expected to pack a Board of Education meeting Thursday in response to residents voting down implementing it in the township.

“We’re not going away,” one post read in a Facebook group dedicated to bringing full-day kindergarten to Wayne.

Wayne is the only Passaic County school district and one of an ever-dwindling number in North Jersey not to have full-day kindergarten. Nearly 90 percent of New Jersey public school district offer full-day kindergarten.

Those in favor of full-day kindergarten were angry at reports that poll workers made comments and urged residents to vote the measure down Nov. 3.

Township Clerk Paul Marigotta said a poll worker at John F. Kennedy Elementary School commented to voters about the full-day kindergarten vote. Another worker at George Washington Middle School allegedly told a voter that their taxes would be increasing should they vote in favor of full-day kindergarten and that they gave their own commentary on how to vote or why they shouldn’t vote.

The school portion of residents’ municipal tax bill would have increased $65 this year had the referendum question been approved. Nearly $1.9 million would have been added to the district’s tax levy to hire 20 new teachers and five instructional aides, increase the hours cafeteria playground aides would work, and pay for staff development and employee benefits if the ballot question passes. The funds would be added to the 2016-17 district budget and result in a “permanent increase in the district’s tax levy,” which is the portion of the district’s budget raised by local taxes.

The board of education meeting will be held in the Wayne Town Hall council chambers beginning at 7:30 p.m. It will be broadcast online and on cable channel 77.