All-Day 'K' Back Before School Board

The Barrington school board holds a special meeting tonight on all-day kindergarten.

The meeting starts at 7:30 pm in the School Committee Room in Town Hall.

A report from the subcommittee for the Barrington School Committee that has been assessing all-day kindergarten will be presented, said Robert Shea Jr., School Committee chairman. Superintendent Michael Messore has been leading that subcommittee.

It’s possible that a decision on all-day kindergarten could be made tonight as the school board sits down again to deal with a proposed budget that right now is a few hundred thousand dollars short of what the committee wants for the schools next year.

The shortage comes from the Committee on Appropriations’ recommendation at last night’s budget hearing that school spending be increased by a maximum of $900,000. That increase includes about $144,000 as a “placeholder” figure for all-day kindergarten. 

But that figure appears to be well below what the administration needs to start a full-day kindergarten program next year: as much as $633,000, according to Shea.

An online petition in favor of full-day kindergarten had 271 signatures as of about 9 am Thursday.

If the School Committee decides not to pursue all-day kindergarten this year, there is the possibility that an amendment to COA’s proposed budget adding the full-day program could be filed for the Financial Town Meeting on May 22.