Full-Day Kindergarten in Mansfield Moving Along

The Mansfield School Committee heard an update on progress for the full-day Kindergarten program and grant to be implemented this fall.

The school committee voted 5-0 to forward with the plan, which will fund teachers’ salaries through tuition costs. Superintendent Brenda Hodges said that the tuition will be right in the middle of what many area school systems are charging for full-day kindergarten services.

“We tend to try not to be the highest or the lowest when we impose any kind of fee or cost,” Hodges said. “We are looking to break even rather than to make money on it.”

The grant is a start-up fund for implementing the setup of rooms and facilities from the state for public school systems. Currently, Mansfield is one of about 30 schools not offering full-day kindergarten in Massachusetts.

Robinson Elementary principal Kate Kristenson said that with this grant, and possible subsequent grants, Mansfield public schools would be able to offer the program to all students.

“As a grant recipient, we could be eligible for further funding to support the following full-day kindergarten grant,” she said. “The full day program was positively related to school success with reductions in grade retention and improvements in test scores.”

As it stands now, the program will cover four rooms (with the possibility of adding two more later) and use a lottery system to select which parent applicants will have their students in the program.

“You can’t argue with the education value of the full day program,” committee member Jim Perry said. “My concern is not having it available to all students, that’s a real concern of mine.”