East Hampton Mulls Prekindergarten Plan

Three organizations looking to provide prekindergarten for the East Hampton School District in the 2015-16 school year discussed their proposals at a school board meeting on Tuesday.

Hoping to expand the current pre-K offering from a half-day to a full-day program, in December the school board put out a request for proposals from organizations able to make that happen.

The Eleanor Whitmore Early Childhood Center (which now runs the district’s half-day program at its facility on Gingerbread Lane Extension), Long Island Head Start, and SCOPE Education Services responded with proposals and were on hand Tuesday; only one appeared to have met the board’s criteria.

Currently, about half of the kindergarten class at John M. Marshall Elementary School attended the pre-K program at the Eleanor Whitmore Early Childhood Center.

Robert White, its treasurer, explained that a half-day program for 54 children would cost the district about $342,000 (or $6,346 per child) for the 2015-16 school year. By contrast, a full-day program would cost about $440,000 (or $8,156 per child). If the program were expanded to serve 72 or more students, the annual costs would increase by roughly another $100,000. As of now, 44 pre-K students are on the center’s roster.

“Given all of the research on early childhood education, pre-K is a critical moment to start in the district and bring the whole community together,” said Laura Anker, a Whitmore Center board member. “We really have cut our costs as much as we could to get the program. All that we’ve increased are literal staffing costs.”

Next, two representatives from Long Island Head Start explained that 16 children could be accommodated at its current location at the Children’s Museum of the East End in Bridgehampton. No information was provided as to proposed costs. Afterwards, however, board members noted that the request for proposals specified that each program must be located within East Hampton. Furthermore, the district will not cover transportation costs.

Finally, two representatives from SCOPE Education Services, a Long Island nonprofit that currently serves 1,300 children in Suffolk and Nassau Counties (including providing the half-day pre-K for the Springs School), explained that monthly tuition for a half-day pre-K program would cost $270 per child. The district would have to provide space, equipment, and various other services. Currently, SCOPE is only licensed to offer half-day programs that run for two and a half hours a day. In the East Hampton proposal, 18 children could be accommodated in the morning session, with another 18 enrolled in the afternoon.

Beth Doyle, the principal of John Marshall, spoke strongly in favor of a full-day pre-K program, citing data that shows children who attend such programs receive lifelong benefits related to graduation rates, salaries, and homeownership. She also said that the districtcould ultimately save money, with children who need special services receiving targeted interventions at earlier ages.

“We know right away the students who have attended pre-K and those who haven’t,” said Ms. Doyle. “Full-day pre-K is a gap-closing lever. We have a moral imperative to serve our kids and to provide this service to them.”

With budget season just beginning, Richard Burns, the superintendent, said that the board would crunch the numbers and have a more detailed discussion — including a final vote — at its next board meeting.

Later in the meeting, the board tackled the 2015-16 school calendar. Each year, the district includes two snow days in its calendar. Because of last week’s blizzard, the district has used three snow days. The current policy is to take days from the back end of the weeklong April recess. This year’s break, from April 6 to 10, will be shortened by one day, with students and staff expected in class on April 10. Should another snow day be necessary, April 9 would be the next vacation day to go.

Next year’s calendar poses a particular challenge. Since Labor Day falls late, on Sept. 7, students and staff will return on Sept. 8, even though the first day back has traditionally been a professional development day for administrators, teachers, and staff. In the coming school year, they will arrive earlier, and the school day for students will begin two hours later. Should the district go over its two allotted snow days next year, they would again extract dates from the April break — working backwards from April 29.

“Somebody is unhappy no matter where we take them from,” said Christina DeSanti, a board member. The board briefly debated whether to include the Wednesday or Friday of Thanksgiving week as an added instructional day so that three snow days could be planned in 2015-16. “April is not a guaranteed vacation,” said Jackie Lowey, a board member.

Joseph Vasile-Cozzo, the district’s athletic director, updated the board on progress made since last month’s heavily attended athletic forum. In response to various parent complaints, he said that a booster club would meet on Wednesday, with a dozen parents already committed. Besides administering a yearly athletic survey, he said that various districts planned to meet later this month to discuss middle school athletic programs.

Mr. Vasile-Cozzo also said that plans were underway for a sports summer camp for grades kindergarten to 6. In addition, four candidates are being interviewed for the vacant football coaching position. For the coming year, a junior varsity team is planned, with a varsity team hopefully in place by the fall of 2016.

In other news, the board approved Renee McCormack and Diane Yastremski as uncertified daily substitute teachers, each at a daily rate of $125. Teresa Lawler was also appointed as set-drawing coordinator at an hourly rate of $55. Finally, Annette Shideler, who teaches linguistics at Stony Brook University, was approved for 12 English as a second language/bilingual professional development sessions, at a cost of $1,200 per day.

Before adjourning, citing security concerns, the board briefly discussed pushing back on a board of elections requirement that schools be designated as polling locations. Currently, East Hampton High School and John Marshall are used, with residents going in and out of each building from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., which, school officials say, poses undue security risks.

The board will next meet on Tuesday from 6 to 8 p.m. in the district office for the first budget workshop of the 2015-16 school year. While the public is welcome, comments are not allowed.