After a hiatus of several years, the Hildreth Elementary School will again offer a full-day academic preschool program starting next fall for children from 3 to 5 years of age. At its Jan. 22 meeting, the School Committee voted to make preschool teacher Lauren Carchidi’s position full time rather than half time. Currently there is an academic preschool program in the mornings and a prekindergarten extended-day program with a learning assistant in the afternoons.
The primary function of the preschool program, Principal Josh Myler said, is to serve children with individual education plans (IEPs), as required by state law. By law, however, the preschool class must also have a majority of children who are typical learners and who are considered peer models for the children with IEPs. The maximum number of children in the class is 15.
Applications for typical learners to attend the preschool program are due Thursday, Feb. 15, with acceptances to be determined by lottery the following day. Myler explained that the drawing is being held earlier this year, to match the acceptance dates of other preschool programs and allow parents to know what options they have. Usually families seek to enroll their preschoolers because an older sibling already attends Hildreth Elementary, and this program allows parents to make just one drop-off in the mornings.
The bright, busy preschool classroom has knee-high tables, a big oval rug where children sit to hear stories, and shelves full of puzzles and blocks. Boxes of crayons, blunt scissors, and numbers worksheets are ready on each table. In one corner of the room is a child-sized kitchen with toy stove and sink. Drawings of snowmen deck the walls.
Carchidi says she is excited about the greater flexibility a full day will allow: “It has so much more potential.” In the current half-day academic program, she alternates morning lessons, teaching math one day and literacy skills the next. With a full day, Carchidi says, she could do both in a day. And because some IEPs call for only a half-day program, the full day would allow space in the afternoon if some other children with IEPs become eligible for preschool as they turn 3.
A full day will also allow more time for “specials”—art, music, gym, and health. Asked what health class involves for preschoolers, Carchidi mentions a game in which students match cards to learn the names of different vegetables.
And then there is the incidental learning that goes on during snack. “Snack is a big deal for 3- and 4-year-olds,” Carchidi says. It can incorporate lessons on sharing and good manners, not to mention coordination skills such as opening a package of crackers without spilling the contents.
Another benefit to the full-time program, cited by Myler, is that the teacher will be more available to meet with parents and educational specialists such as the physical therapist and the speech therapist.
Financial impact
Changing the academic program to a full day will add the cost of increasing the teacher’s position from half to full time but will not change the cost for learning assistant Jennifer Baranowski, whom the kids call Mrs. B, as she already holds a full-time position covering both the morning session and the pre-K extended day program in the afternoon. Nor will benefits be affected, as both positions were already covered by benefits.
Under state law, school districts must provide preschool programs at no charge for children with IEPs starting at age 3. In recent years, if a child’s educational plan called for a full-day preschool program, Harvard would have had to send that child to another district, at a cost of about $20,000 per year. If such a case arises next year, the child will be able to remain within the district.
Families that send their typically developing children to the preschool program pay tuition, as do children on half-day IEPs who stay for the extended day. Next year’s tuition will increase to $8,600 for the full-day program.
Superintendent Linda Dwight told School Committee members that there is always a waiting list for the peer model preschool program. She said the costs for this program are well below what families would have to pay for other options, even with next year’s increase. However, while approving the full-day proposal, the School Committee asked Dwight and Myler to report back on the effects of the increased cost for families.
