Last March, the Mt. Laurel Board of Education approved an extended kindergarten option after receiving a sizable amount of interest from parents.
About six months into the program’s inaugural year, positive feedback and a steadily increasing enrollment has parents interested in enrolling their child in the program for next year.
With kindergarten registration well underway, district director of communications
Marie Reynolds said many parents have expressed interest in the program for next year. Parents can enroll their child in EKO when they register for regular kindergarten classes. The district plans to have one room in each school for the program again in 2015–16.
“Many people have called here and asked how to get the EKO form for the program,” Reynolds said. “They’re coming in at a pretty good rate.”
Extended kindergarten is a center-based learning system where students reinforce skills taught in regular kindergarten class, engage in fun and interactivity activities and have time for more social-emotional development. Students enrolled in half-day kindergarten have the option of attending extended kindergarten. Students in morning kindergarten attend EKO in the afternoon and students in afternoon kindergarten attend EKO in the morning. The program is tuition based with the tuition fee $400 per month.
Interest in extended kindergarten has increased has the school year has progressed. Reynolds said enrollment numbers in EKO has continued to grow since September.
“It started off slowly, but we left enrollment open throughout the year and we continued having people coming in throughout the year,” she said.
Suzanne Haftman, supervisor for community education and extended day care, and Diane Willard, director of child study team services, updated the Mt. Laurel Board of Education on the program’s progress at its Feb. 24 meeting. They said the success of the program this year will allow it to continue through next year and likely beyond.
Each of Mt. Laurel’s six elementary schools has one room dedicated to extended kindergarten. Right now, the district has 132 students enrolled in the program. The district has rolling admission throughout the year as space allows. Springville and Fleetwood Schools have both filled all of their EKO spots this year. The large amount of interest in the program stems from positive reaction from parents, staff and district officials in the program’s inaugural year. Reynolds believes the program has exceeded many people’s expectations.
“In the EKO program, they are doing things that are so productive,” Reynolds said. “The children are very happy. The staff is very warm.”
Haftman said the program has exceeded parents’ expectations, with many parents being excited with the amount of individual attention their children are getting, the interactive aspects of the program and how their children are building upon what they learn during their regular kindergarten class.
Reynolds credits much of the program’s success to the EKO teachers and staff. She said the staff did a great job with coming up with interactive activities and new ways to engage the students.
“We’re very pleased with the outcome,” Reynolds said. “They were so excited and enthusiastic and had great ideas.”
For information on how to register for extended kindergarten, visit www.mtlaurelschools.org.
