Approximately two dozen Island Trees residents turned out on Tuesday evening for the school district's Universal Pre-K Program. Though next year will be the fourth year of this statewide prekindergarten initiative, the 2001-2002 school year will be the first time that Island Trees is eligible for state funding.

Although every district in the state is eligible for the Universal Pre-Kindergarten program this coming year, currently there are no additional funds in next year's state budget for districts that do not already have an established Universal Pre-K program to receive funding. Island Trees Superintendent of Schools Richard Segerdahl, pointed out at Tuesday night's meeting, that that could change since a state budget has not been approved.

In order to establish a Universal Pre-K Program, in case the state funding is available, according to Segerdahl, one of the first things the district had to do was establish a Pre-K Advisory Board. That board, for Island Trees, consists of parent representatives Gloria Acton and Gloria Makowski; kindergarten teachers Alison LaPersonerie, Christine Roberts, Susan Reibel, and Deborah Mahler; Stokes School Principal Madeline Montone; Sparke School Principal Mary Modica; Board of Education Vice President Kathy Safrey; Len Kramer, from SCOPE; and Superintendent of Schools Richard Segerdahl.

Segerdahl explained that there is a certain sequence of events that must take place, according to state guidelines, if the district wishes to go forward with this program if funding is provided. In the fact-finding phase, the district must form an advisory board and hold a public hearing and in the planning phase, the district must establish a Universal Program Plan, the advisory board makes a recommendation to the board of education as to whether or not the district should go forth with the program. If the recommendation is not to go forward and the board agrees with that recommendation, that is the end of it. If the advisory board recommends that the district move forward and the board of education agrees, then the implementation phase begins. In the implementation phase, the competitive process, where the district sends out Requests for Proposals (RFP) begins and after the district gets back the proposals the announcement is made at a board of education meeting as to who is awarded the bid. The district then submits an application to the state and the program is implemented.

The district has an established timeline for the various phases of the proposed program. The advisory board has been established and held their first two meetings, Tuesday marked the public hearing and the advisory board made a recommendation to the board of education as to whether or not the district should proceed. On Wednesday May 30 the board will take action based on the recommendation of the advisory board. If the district chooses to go forward, the RFPs will go out the next day. The due date for those RFPs will be June 13 and Wednesday, June 27 will be the award of contract for program implementation. By July 2, the district will have completed filing the application to the state.

Segerdahl pointed out that in order to be eligible for the Universal Pre-K program, a child must be 4 years old on or before Dec. 1 of the current school year. Those who will be old enough to attend kindergarten the following year can be enrolled in the Universal Pre-Kindergarten Program. Thus to be eligible for the 2001-2002 school year a child must have been born between Dec. 2, 1996 and Dec. 1, 1997. Children eligible for kindergarten cannot be enrolled in the Universal Pre-Kindergarten Program.

Segerdahl explained that the district currently, through SCOPE, offers a preschool program for 3 and 4 year olds. The Universal Pre-Kindergarten Program would be open to 4 year olds in the district, would run five days a week as opposed to the three days a week the district's SCOPE program runs, and would be free to residents of the district. Though the district currently has a few out-of-district students, this program would only be offered to residents of Island Trees. Segerdahl believes that the district has the space to offer the 2 1/2 hour, five-day-a-week Universal Pre-Kindergarten Program, which will be housed at Gallow, to 180 children. There are currently 134 4-year-olds enrolled in the Island Trees/SCOPE program.

One major difference between the SCOPE Program and the Universal Pre-Kindergarten Program, besides the fact that the parents would not have to pay for the Universal Pre-Kindergarten Program is that students must attend all five days of the Universal Pre-Kindergarten Program. Segerdahl stressed that because this is a state funded program and attendance records are kept, a parent cannot sign their child up for the Universal Pre-Kindergarten Program and decide to only send them to the program three days a week instead of five.

The Island Trees School District sent a survey to the 184 parents that they know have a child eligible for this program next year. Of those surveys sent out, 106 parents responded and 78 parents did not respond. Of the 106 surveys returned, 95 parents said they would be interested in sending their child to the program, nine parents said no, they would not be interested, and two parents responded "maybe."

Segerdahl encouraged those parents present to write letters to the governor and state legislators urging them to not only include the required funds for the program in next year's budget, but to pass a budget in a timely fashion so the district can run this program for this coming school year. Segerdahl, in response to a question from the audience, said that the only way the district could get the program going for the 2001-2002 school year would be if the state budget was passed, with the required funds in it, by the middle of August. Madeline Montone, one of the members of the advisory board, encouraged parents to get other parents, who may have a child who is eligible in future years, to also write to the state representatives.

In response to another question from the audience about whether this Pre-K program would help prepare children for the full day kindergarten program that the district is planning to begin in September, members of the advisory board responded that they really felt that this would help the children be better prepared. Kathy Safrey, one advisory board member noted that with the new state standards, the Universal Pre-Kindergarten Program is a good way of combining learning with play for these children. Segerdahl noted that they would be going from the three day a week, 2 1/2 hour SCOPE preschool program as 3 year olds, to the 2 1/2 hour, five-day a week Universal Pre-Kindergarten Program to the full day kindergarten, thus working their way up to the full schedule. One parent in the audience, who moved to Island Trees from Howard Beach where they had the Universal Pre-Kindergarten Program, stated how wonderful the program was and encouraged the district to move forward with this, if the funding is available.

When asked by an audience member if the funding would be ongoing, if it is offered for next year, Segerdahl said that the state, in the past has not taken back funding for a program such as this once it has been established so he thought it would be ongoing. He further added that if, for some reason the state did withdraw funding, the district would go back to the SCOPE program rather than putting the cost of the Universal Pre-Kindergarten Program onto the school district residents, through the school tax. It is expected that Island Trees would receive, from the state, $2,000 per child, approximately $426,000.

Segerdahl concluded the meeting by promising to keep the parents informed as the district received information from the state.