The Chelsea Standard
A Heritage Newspaper
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School board to drop talk of full-day kindergarten
Board members are interested, but cost appears prohibitive
By Erin Ryder, Special Writer
PUBLISHED: January 26, 2006
After weeks of discussion, the Chelsea Board of Education has decided not to pursue full-day kindergarten as an option for the fall of 2007.
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While Superintendent Dave Killips and board members have expressed interest in the program at a future date, the current school budget would not be able to support the operating costs associated with the change.
"We've come to the realization that it's going to be very difficult moving forward with this, with state and district budgets being what they are," Killips said. "It's a very worthy goal and we would like to see it happen, but not for the next two or three years."
Though the timeline has been pushed back, a community forum on the proposed change is still scheduled for Feb. 2 at the Washington Street Education Center, 500 E. Washington St.
Full-day kindergarten would require the hiring of additional staff, and a potential addition to an existing school building. The board had previously discussed adding on to Pierce Lake Elementary School, moving second grade to Pierce, and relocating kindergarten, with new staff, to North Creek Elementary School. The proposed addition had a price tag of about $2 million.
While the district has the funds to build the addition and add staff, the ongoing costs of the program would stress an already-thin operating budget.
"If we were to do it, the other grade levels would be impacted greatly," Board President Dayle Wright said.
Adding to the district's budget woes, a new state policy requiring electronic fingerprinting for all school employees will cost the district around $75 for each individual. This would include all workers using school facilities, including lifeguards, community education instructors and possibly even contractors working on school buildings.
The law, which went into effect Jan. 1, also requires that all current staff have their fingerprints taken again on the new system so that even staff hired in December have to be re-scanned.
"This is another mandate from the state, with no money to follow," Killips said.
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