Board Approves Full-Day Kindergarten

After years of trying, the East Brunswick Board of Education announced Thursday that it would provide full-day kindergarten to district students beginning in September.

“I’ve waited 27 years for this moment, from the time I moved to East Brunswick. It’s one of the reasons I ran for the Board of Education,” said Board member Susan R. Karp.

School board president Todd Simmens echoed Dr. Karp’s sentiments.

“This has been a goal of the board, probably since the beginning of time. I see no drawbacks or downside to a full day kindergarten,” he said.

The move was made possible because the opening of the new Memorial School and a shift in enrollment has freed up the needed classroom space up. In addition, additional staff will be needed, though district officials did not say how many.

“Providing full-day kindergarten has long been a goal of the East Brunswick Board of Education,” said Superintendent JoAnn Magistro said in a statement during Thursday’s school board meeting. “Developmentally, kindergarten children are naturally curious and excited about learning. A full-day kindergarten program allows children and teachers time to explore topics in depth and provide for greater continuity of day-to-day activities in an environment that favors a child centered, developmentally appropriate approach.”

Karp said providing full-day kindergarten will remove a burden from many parents who often struggle to find and afford places for their kids to go during the half a day they aren’t in school.

“People can work with a clear head, knowing not only that their kids are well taken care of, but are being stimulated and educated,” she said.

On hand for the announcement was a group of district kindergarten teachers.

 “As a mom it’s tremendous. From a teacher’s perspective, it’s even more tremendous,” said Karyn Grant, a kindergarten teacher at Bowne-Munro with two children of her own in the district. “We’ve tried to take a full day of curriculum and cram it into a half day. We feel like we have so many ideas in our heads of what we wan to do with the children. Now we can.”

In order to be eligible for kindergaten for the 2012-13 school year, children must be 5 yeaers old by Oct. 31, 2012.

Registration for kindergarten will be held from 2:15 to 3:30 p.m. at each elementary school on the following dates: Tuesday, March 6 for students with last names that begin with an A through L; Wednesday, March 7, for students with names that begin with J through Q; and Thursday, March 8, for students with names that begin with an R though Z.

In addition, an evening registration has been planned for 5 to 7 p.m. for all students.  Evening hours will be held on Tuesday, march 6 at Bowne-Munro, Chittick, Frost, Irwin and Warnsdorfer, and on Wednesday, March 7, at Central, Memorial and Lawrence Brook.