Tuesday night's Board Of Education meeting made public the district's consideration of providing tuition-free prekindergarten to three- and four-year-olds who reside in the borough through a state grant, presumably through the New Jersey Department Of Education (NJDOE). The name of the grant was not mentioned.
Mr. Garrido remarked that there was a training workshop the previous week where more information was provided. The deadline to apply for the grant is less than three weeks away on Monday, September 10th.
As this matter progresses it is not known if Mr. Leingang will need to recuse himself from a legal conflict of interest.
One of the requirements of the grant, according to Mr. Garrido, is that the district would be able to start the prekindergarten program on January 2, 2019, and to be able to provide a program for all students that apply.
Opening up the discussion to the school board, Sundjata Sekou asked if the program could be limited to four-year-olds only and asked if the district explore a lottery system.
The school superintendent reiterated that the grant required that the district must provide for every Roselle Park resident who is four-years-old that applies to the program.
He also asked who will be responsible for classroom instruction, personnel, and the curriculum. The school superintendent replied that the grant requires that the district either need to certify one of its current teaching staff or hire what is called a 'master teacher'. This master teacher would have special training that the state has requires and will be responsible to oversee the program throughout the district, including the Community Preschool. It would be the responsibility of the private preschool to hire a certified preschool teacher.
Mr. Garrido stated that the Community Preschool would have to comply. With that, Mr. Signorello stated that the program would be restricted to the first floor since the building on the corner of East Grant venue and Chestnut Street does not have ADA compliance for its second floor.
The discussion drew to a close with the understanding that talks would continue and that the school superintendent would keep the school board up-to-date. It is expected that the matter will be brought up again with a formal decision at the September 4th BOE meeting.
Will the prekindergarten program be a half-day or a full-day program?
Will teachers and aides at the Community Preschool become employees of the district?
What will happen to children who are not from Roselle Park who currently pay to attend the Community Preschool?
How will the contract with the Roselle Park Education Association (RPEA) impact staff at the private school that will be providing a public school education?
What if enrollment jumps the next year and the facilities can no longer address the increase in student population?
Why has "A Child's Experience", which is located at the John Adase Early Childhood Center, not been considered as a partner for the grant program?
These are just a few of the many questions that the district, the school board, and the administration will need to address for the benefit of the public at the first September meeting. That meeting is set to take place at 7 p.m. in the Roselle Park Middle School located at 57 West Grant Avenue.