Parents in the Marysville School District will soon have a pre-kindergarten program available to their children.
At a board of education meeting Thursday night, District K-6 Literacy Coordinator Steve Griffin gave a presentation about “Alt K,” or “alternative kindergarten.” The program would be available as a grade level between preschool and kindergarten.
“If they want to enroll into the all day, every day program, and they’re kindergarten-age eligible, they can absolutely do that,” Griffin said. “However, they might feel like they need an alternative step, and they might not be sure their young 5-year-olds are ready for the all day, every day program. Now they have another option.”
Griffin said district officials recently observed data on kindergarteners and concluded there is a need for young 5-year-old students to have this extra program. The coordinator said this is another option for parents to take as opposed to keeping them home or enrolling them into another year of preschool.
“It’s really a triangulation of our data,” Griffin said. “We listened to our teachers and we listened to our parents. The data matched with what they were talking about.”
Griffin said the program will cost the school district an estimated $15,000 to $20,000 for the first year due to transportation costs. Other expenses will be included, but he said they would be minor, such as for educational supplies.
Griffin said the goal of the district is to use current staff members, rather than hiring new ones. He said the Alt K program will be free to parents.
“We will closely monitor enrollment numbers as they come in,” he said.
He said phonemic awareness, the measure in which a person can comprehend or manipulate oral language, was observed among kindergarteners, from the older to the younger age spectrums.
“The most important thing we can establish in our early readers is instant word recognition,” Griffin said. “When I saw that separation, by looking at this data and listening to our teachers, they were telling us our young kindergarteners were having more challenges than the older ones are.”
The program is designed for children with birthdays between May 1 and Sept. 30. Griffin said this demographic was chosen, while excluding dates like April 30, because “it really matches the data.”
Griffin said the curriculum will provide individualized learning. He said the district will look at reader and learning profiles to “design the appropriate curriculum depending on the kid walking through the door.”
He said special needs children are eligible as long as they meet the birthday requirements.
The program would be split into morning and afternoon groups. Griffin said the maximum enrollment will be 80 students, and the program needs at least 24 students to start.
Griffin said Alt K would be hosted at Navin and Mill Valley elementary schools. He said transportation will be provided for both morning and afternoon classes.
Board member Dick Smith asked Griffin if there is a way for parents to ask questions about their child’s eligibility. Griffin said he is the direct contact, and once more research and program experience is gathered, principals can become contact sources.
Board member Brian Luke asked Griffin if he expects a lot of parents to sign up for this, and if there is a mechanism to help insure parents make the choice. Griffin said the district will personalize contact with parents and give them advice. Griffin said the district will not forcibly put students into Alt K.
“Ultimately, it will be the parent’s decision,” Griffin said.
Luke also asked if the research cited to start Alt K considered any other factors, such as gender. Griffin said gender differences weren’t observed.
“In the data we had, the common denominator was age,” Griffin said.
After the meeting, Griffin said alternative kindergarten is an educational term that has existed before. In other districts, he said the program is called “begindergarten.” Griffin said “Alt K” was chosen because “most people understand what that means.”
“The way we’re doing it is unique to Marysville,” he said. “Alternative kindergarten was the preferred term.”
Alt K registration for the 2019-2020 school year opens Wednesday and the deadline is May 31. Parents will be notified about their child’s acceptance, as well as building location, around June 14.