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Date: 11/13/2015
CHICOPEE – When Gov. Charlie Baker proposed a cut to the state budget that would have cost Chicopee Public Schools more than $300,000 for its full-day kindergarten, the district was prepared to make sacrifices to keep the program.
“We would have made cuts elsewhere,” Superintendent Richard Rege Jr said. “This program is just too important to us. We never would have given this up.”
While the cut was ultimately vetoed, Rege used the situation as an example of how valuable the district and the community find free full-day kindergarten to the educational and social development of their children during state Sen. Eric Lesser’s recent tour of the new Fairview Veterans Memorial Elementary School.
With middle school redistricting, the school, previously a middle school, was converted to a school for younger students previously attending James C. Selser School and includes three kindergarten classrooms.
All three rooms had a full-time teacher and paraprofessional, while additional math and reading coaches were also present for a time to help with individualized learning.
Lesser, a co-sponsor of An Act for Universal Early Education and Full-Day Kindergarten, which would establish fully funded voluntary pre-kindergarten programs throughout the state, sat with children in each classroom and discussed with them what they were learning and read a story to a small group of students during the visit.
He said having that interaction was important to gain a complete understanding of the initiative for which he is fighting.
“When you have a little bit of time to chat with the students and the teachers and the other people helping, like the special education teachers, you gain a real appreciation for just how important this is,” he said.
Fairview Principal Irene Lemieux and Rege explained the expectations for kindergarten students are much higher than they were in the past with educational mandates such as Common Core State Standards and full-day programs are necessary to meet the demand.
“I think people lack an understanding of what is expected. Back when we were in kindergarten, the majority of it was play, but now, there is a structured curriculum,” Rege said.
“They need the consistency to be able to establish a routine schedule. For them to come in and out as fast as they would for a half day, there’s not really much you can do beyond getting all the mandates you have to get in,” Lemieux noted. “Having a full day, you have the time to meet the mandates and also get to address the educational needs of the students.
Rege and Lemieux also explained the school has space currently not in use that has been earmarked for programs currently offered at Szetela Early Childhood School.
Lemieux said, when relocated, the program would provide the opportunity for full-day preschool for all city residents on site, but separated from the older students at Fairview.
Lemieux said there was a “slim possibility” the space would be ready for students next fall, but it was more likely the preschool space would be ready for the start of the 2017-18 school year.
“A lot of these kids can’t go to preschool because they don’t have the money to go to preschool or the transportation to get to a preschool,” she said.
Lemieux also indicated there is a noticeable difference in the educational development of students who participated in a full-day preschool as opposed to a half-day program or none at all.
“The new Common Core is so demanding that if they don’t have a start, it makes it harder for those students in a class compared with students who have had a start,” she said. “It’s easier to have them all on the same playing field. They all need a good start. Some kinds come in not knowing a letter and then some come in knowing their letters and can write their name and all of that.”
Lemieux also touted what she called advantages in the social development of young children who attend full-day preschool.