The Daniel Boone School District Finance Committee and School Board, at their meetings on Monday night, discussed the proposals to reinstate full-day kindergarten and to close Monocacy Elementary.
Superintendent Marybeth Torchia presented a proposal to reinstate a full-day kindergarten plan at the Curriculum and Instruction Committee meeting on February 23.
Torchia stated that the 2015-16 budget provided the opportunity to bring back the program, which ended with the 2010-11 school year.
In her report she indicated there would be no new costs to the district.
The plan would require the reallocation of five teachers and expansion into five empty classrooms in the Amity and Monocacy Elementary buildings.
Richard Martino, School Board President, disagreed with the superintendent's proposal, citing the requirement to furlough teachers in the district in order to make necessary budget cuts.
He said that those savings should be applied to growing pension costs and not to extending the kindergarten program at this time.
At the same meeting, Finance Committee Chairman Andrew Basile proposed that the existing empty classrooms and continually declining enrollment requires the board to consider the need to close a building next fall.
Monocacy Elementary, the smallest of the buildings in the district, was targeted. Basile suggested closing the elementary, moving all fifth grade students to the middle school and redistricting elementary students to the remaining two buildings.
At Monday night's Finance Committee meeting the committee presented data on the steady decline in enrollment.
The maximum capacity for the existing schools is 4872 students, and the district currently has 3500 students enrolled. Forecasted enrollment for 2019 is as a low as 2900 students.
This was approximately the population when the board made the decision to build the Monocacy building in 2001. All enrollment data presented will be made available for public review online.
Following the presentation many parents expressed their concerns about overcrowding and how higher teacher to student ratios would affect their children’s education.
The Finance Committee's final recommendation Monday night was for the board to postpone its vote on closing the Monocacy Elementary building until it had more time to review projected enrollment data and the many other considerations that would be required before making the determination.
The school board met immediately following the finance committee on Monday night and voted unanimously not to schedule a public hearing, or to take a vote on closing a building at this time.
Basile announced that the Finance Committee will discuss a more detailed timeline and considerations for the administration to begin looking into the closure of buildings at its next meeting. There is no date scheduled at this time.
President Martino also revisited the full-day kindergarten program. He opined that while declining enrollment mandates the staff is reduced, which will create savings for the district, expanding to a full-day program would eliminate the savings realized.
Board members indicated that they understood the benefits of a full-day kindergarten program, but that they are also responsible for maintaining programs for all other students, with the district currently nearly $88 million in debt.
A number of board members suggested that since the board barely managed to maintain the district's music, sports and extra-educational programs this year, and since the board is considering closing buildings due to budgetary constraints, they do not feel it is in the budget to extend the kindergarten program at this time.
"If we're going to discuss closing a building and we are going to take the time to make sure it is the right decision, we should do the same with the kindergarten program," said school board member Brian Doty.
Board member Tamara Twardowski explained the board must consider, "If we bring it back, can we bring it back to stay and make it work, and still take care of the needs of first through twelfth grade as well."
The final decision by the board is that they are unable to make a proper determination on the kindergarten program prior to enrollment, which opens March 16, but they intend to review the program for coming school years.
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