SEE COMMENT ADDED 1/27. According to the writer of the Comment, the Region 18 Board of Education has changed its proposed policy to include children born between Sept. 1 and Dec. 31
To the Editor:
The LOL Board of Education has proposed to expand the current special-needs lottery pre-K program into one available to all children in the district. This is great news! Unfortunately, there is a gaping hole in the proposed program. It introduces a September 1st age eligibility cut off date even though the state of Connecticut strongly encourages children turning five before January 1st to enter kindergarten. This discrepancy means that children born after September 1st cannot participate in the program the year before they are slated to begin kindergarten.
Leaving out children born in the last four months of the year results in one out of every three children in a potential incoming kindergarten class being excluded from attending pre-K. It seems to directly contradict the stated intentions of the program. If the proposed pre-K program wants to “ensure limited variability among kindergartners in terms of skills and school readiness,” then why are we leaving out one in three kids? Surely kindergarten teachers would prefer all of their students, not just some, have access to pre-K before coming to them.
This program has the potential to be a transformative equalizing force for our children and for our town, but it needs to truly include every child in order to do so. If the program is just available for some of our children while leaving out the youngest members of an incoming kindergarten class, it becomes instead something great for only some and a way for others to be left behind, and that isn’t universal or fair.
If you are interested in signing a letter in support of having the LOL pre-K expansion program’s age eligibility align with that of Connecticut kindergarten, please go to https://tinyurl.com/preK4all and thanks!
Sincerely,
Danielle Kuczkowski,
Old Lyme.
UPDATE: The LOL Board of Ed. heard our concern re the 9/1 cut-off and is now accepting children born through 1/1 to take part in the Universal Pre-K program this Fall! ( the budget still needs to be approved on 2/6)