RED BANK CRAMS FOR MORE PRE-K SPACE
Pre-kindergarten student Leslie Herrera at Red Bank Primary School. (Photo by Dustin Racioppi; click to enlarge)
By DUSTIN RACIOPPI
Demand for Red Bank’s heralded pre-kindergarten program is spiking, and the school district is on the hunt for more space and money to offer every three- and four-year-old in Red Bank the chance to attend.
Superintendent Laura Morana said she’s involved in serious discussion and has a “pretty good lead” to add four more classrooms at a sixth location for the borough’s scattered pre-k classroom setup to accommodate a waiting list that precluded 76 three-year-olds from getting into the program in the 2011-12 school year.
“If we can get four more classrooms then everyone in Red Bank will have the opportunity,” she said.
Getting funding to support the program, which currently costs $2.8 million and is covered by the state, is another potential challenge. But Morana said if the New Jersey Department of Education updates its enrollment projections, the money should come through in 2012-13.
“For us, working with the Department of Education, the intent of the department is to expand and continue pre-k education,” Morana said. “I am positive, and we can only operate under the assumption that the state Department of Education is committed to early childhood education. I can only see further supporting it.”
The state allocates money to the district based on enrollment estimations that proved this year to be underestimated.
Now serving 81-percent of pre-school-aged children, the district had to shut out 76 three-year-olds (an additional 11 did not complete the registration forms) for the coming school year, in part to make room for 164 four-year-olds, which is all who registered, Morana said. Because of the demand, the district, as it has in the past, held a lottery last month to determine which three-year-olds would get into the program.
“We’re not meeting the needs of every family, and we wish we could do so,” Morana said. “But the interest we had completely exceeded what we had expected.”
State projections put enrollment figures at 124 students per age group, making 248 students the maximum allowed by its funding. For ’11-12, there will be 158 four-year-olds and 90 three-year-olds enrolled, according to figures Morana handed out Thursday.
For the 2011-12 school year, 177 three-year-olds and 164 four-year-olds registered. The district cut out two three-year-old classes and added two classes to make room for the four-year-olds, Morana said.
The district is dotted with five locations for classrooms: the primary school, Head Start, Monmouth Day Care Center, St. Anthony of Padua church and the Community YMCA. Morana would not comment on where she’s looking to add the sixth location, but said, “I’ve been speaking with people and they’re very interested” to sign a lease on a space.
And she said she’s confident the state department will approve more funding to expand. There’s an October 30 deadline for the district to find out what kind of money it will receive, she said.
“We will definitely do what we need to advocate for that program,” she said.
Jun 10, 2011 @ 17:31:23
51 Monmouth St (the old police station) would be a wonderful place to house four more, if not all,of the RB pre-schools. Maybe the “Y”, which rents the building out to RBC, would consider letting the RB pre school use it. Mayor Menna and Councilman Ed Zipprich have stated, they would like to see the building used for a public purpose. This is what this building was intended for, when it was sold to Children’s Cultural Center. Restrictions for giving a municipal property away for a dollar are that: The building should revert back to the Boro when the charity ends & that the building not be used for any religious purposes.
Jun 10, 2011 @ 19:26:03
Cindy:
Excellent idea.
Will you drop your money draining lawsuit if they do that?
Jun 10, 2011 @ 23:09:13
Ditto 51 Monmouth St. as the perfect location.
Regardless of what the Borough uses the building for in the future, the alleged improper actions taken by RB officials in regard to 51 Monmouth St. are not negated.
Jun 11, 2011 @ 10:13:04
As parents of a three year old who did not make it into the Red Bank pre-K program, we applaud Dr. Moranas desire to provide universal capacity for our community. However, the experience with the district has left us with a number of pressing questions not the least of which is why Red Bank does not verify the residency of the applicants. Other local districts do make an effort to independently verify that students enrolling do in fact live within the district (and apparently Red Bank did so until a few years ago). The requirements for proof of residency for the Red Bank pre-K program were to show one of the follow: a deed or closing papers, quarterly property tax bill, sewer tax statement, copy of signed lease or a notarized letter from landlord, affidavit of residency or affidavit of support. The last two would be of concern as they are easily obtained, and easily fabricated. Particularly with such an appealing program, which offers free five day a week education, it seems it would be incumbent upon the district to ensure those enrolled are actually living in our town. Especially with an unexpected jump in applications this year, a general auditing of the residency requirement is necessary.
Jun 14, 2011 @ 15:09:29
Great article and great idea about using 51 monmouth, I just don’t want them taking more space away for the PRE K program from the Primary School – they already lost the art room in addition to other ‘special’ classrooms. I support the PREK and the tremebndous work of Dr. Morana and my 4YO is enrolled for next year, I just think we shouldn’t lose sight of the needs of our K-3 graders.