Schools

Little Silver to Vote on Full-Day Kindergarten Referendum

Special election to be held Tuesday, March 13.

A special election will take place in Little Silver on March 13 to determine whether or not taxpayers will fund the majority of a $1 million addition to to accommodate .

The Little Silver Board of Education unanimously passed a resolution to send the project to a referendum at their last meeting on Jan. 12.

As proposed, the one-story addition would consist of two kindergarten classrooms connected by a corridor, bringing the total number of kindergarten classrooms at the school to five.

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The bond referendum being voted on would cover $750,000 of the project's costs, with the remaining $250,000 to be funded from the district's capital reserve. The project is potentially eligible for state aid, but the board decided not to pursue it, as the state has not been approving such capital projects.

Superintendent Dr. Carolyn Kossack estimated the impact to taxpayers would be between $20-40 annually, based on an average assessed home value of $501,846. She said definitive numbers will become available before the vote, once the bond rate and duration of the loan are determined.

Find out what's happening in Little Silver-Oceanportwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Kossack and a representative from Netta Architects, the architectural firm handling the design of the project, will give a presentation during an information session for supporters interested in joining the Community Action Team (CAT) at on Wed., Jan. 25 at 7 p.m.

There will also be presentation for the general public prior to the vote, with the date to be determined.

In her presentation to the CAT team, Kossack plans to provide an overview of the project featuring schematics and an artist's rendering of what the finished structure will look like.

Kossack will discuss how the plan has evolved over time as the result of various studies and surveys that were done since the project's inception at a community planning event in the Spring of 2008.

She also plans to talk about why she believes the program will be a valuable addition to the town and students in the district.

"I do not want the public perception to be 'we already have high test scores, why do we need full-day kindergarten, is it really going to help?' It's really not about test scores. Might it impact test scores? It might, but that's really not what the philosophy is," Kossack said.

According to the Department of Education, only 26 percent of New Jersey school districts currently have half-day kindergarten programs and Little Silver is in that 26 percent, Kossack said she told parents at a PTO meeting last Monday.

"About 70 percent have full-day programs, there's a handful that have a combination, and the remaining only half-day, so we're really in the minority," Kossack said.

Additionally, Kossack said local realtors have told her the lack of a full-day kindergarten has been a concern for prospective homeowners.

"The community has asked us for this consistently for the past few years," Board member Christian Smith said during discussion. "We're responding to the perceived needs of the community. This isn't board-driven, it's community driven."

Polls will be open on Tuesday, March 13 from 2 to 9 p.m.


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