Moon Teachers, Administrators Tout Full-Day Kindergarten

Full-day kindergarten would increase academic performance and bolster literacy skills among students from Moon-area low-income families, according to a district committee that examined the subject. 

The committee, comprised of district administrators, principals and elementary teachers, on Monday night presented a report to the recommending that the district adopt a full-day kindergarten program for the 2012-2013 year. 

The district has been exploring the option of offering a full-day kindergarten program since 2007, but budget constraints for the upcoming academic year may prevent the program from coming to fruition in the fall.  

"I am an advocate of all-day kindergarten," said school board member Gia Tatone. "... But we cannot ignore the financial issues that face the district and we have to make sure that our t's are crossed and our i's are dotted." 

In January, the school board  a $62.1 million budget that called for a .67 mill tax increase. Under an Act 1 exemption, the board is limited to a maximum .43 mill increase, but the board has said it hopes to cut up to $1.9 million from the budget to avoid raising taxes. 

Assistant Superintendent Cynthia Zurchin said even after an all-day kindergarten program is put in place as many as 22 classrooms between each of the district's five elementary buildings will be left empty. Fifth-graders, who are now housed in elementary buildings, in the fall will move into the district's newly renovated middle school.

Superintendent Donna Milanovich said the district may have to consider shuttering neighborhood elementary schools to "make better use of its facilities" under the plan.  

"I don't think we can economically sustain small classrooms like that in the future," Milanovich said of the district's current standard kindergarten class size of 16 students. "It's very expensive to have class sizes that small." 

Milanovich said the program will increase the district's kindergarten enrollment, drawing students who would otherwise attend private and parochial schools for a full-day program. The committee projected for a maximum of 299 students to join next year's class; 214 are now enrolled. 

Milanovich said four new full-time teachers would be needed for the program, but the district could likely make those hires from within its current faculty. Additional staff will need to be hired district-wide for the 2012-2013 year to suit the transition into the new middle school, she said. 

Under a full-day program, the district will need to purchase additional classroom materials and furniture to suit the increased enrollment. Alan Bennett, district director of fiscal services, said transportation costs will likely not increase under the program. The district does not transport students home at the end of half-day kindergarten. 

An extended-day kindergarten program was implemented at the beginning of the 2010-2011 school year for at-risk learners in Moon.

School psychologist Joni Shaw said students enrolled in the extended-day program have  increasingly improved reading skills compared with past at-risk kindergarten groups. The committee reported that 58 percent of Allegheny County school districts offer full-day kindergarten. 

The committee told board members that under a full-day kindergarten program more time would be spent on language arts and mathematics. Students would spend 90 minutes each day studying language arts. The current half-day program affords 45 minutes each day for language arts, committee members said. 

The district will hold its kindergarten round-up for incoming 2012-2013 students from March 26-30 at  Click  for more information.