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But, since that 68-62 vote, some Lyme parents haven’t given up hope that they might join other Upper Valley communities in offering full-day kindergarten.
In a proposal they outlined to community members at a meeting last Thursday, the parents suggested extending the kindergarten day at the Lyme School next year at an additional cost of approximately $58,000. The cost of the partial-day program currently in place is about $80,000.
“Ninety-seven percent of Upper Valley schools offer full-day kindergarten,” said Matt Prince, parent of a second-grader, a first-grader and a 2-year-old. “Essentially what we would like is parity with the other districts.”
Prince, who teaches at Hanover High School, and other parents supporting the effort said extending the day would help teachers recognize and address special needs, potentially saving money later on. It would also help reduce behavior problems in the future. And, as standards become more rigorous, extending the kindergarten day would give students more time to delve into the material they are presented with, the parents said in their presentation to a crowd of about 35 people gathered in the Lyme School cafeteria.
But other residents said they could not afford the increase to their property taxes. The local education portion of Lyme’s 2016 tax rate was $14.68 per $1,000 of property value, according to the New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration. For context, that’s above Hanover’s local education portion of the 2016 tax rate of $10.40, and Lebanon’s of $13.43, but well below Plainfield’s of $17.40.
Sara Vargo, a social worker and mother of two, spoke in support of the proposal as a way to better address students’ social and emotional development that’s worth the cost.
“Would it potentially mean that our modest income would be taxed more?” Vargo said. “Our children are worth it … I think my family is fully ready to support this endeavor. We believe that educating our youngest is only going to make this community better and stronger.”
At the invitation of the parents’ group, Mark Woodcock, a 29-year veteran kindergarten teacher at Plainfield Elementary School, told those gathered that he was initially resistant to making the change from half-day to full-day kindergarten in Plainfield, which switched to full-day in 2015.
“I didn’t want to lose the concept of play,” Woodcock said.
He was not interested in extending the day in order to spend more time on academics at such a young age. But, he said, Plainfield townspeople weren’t interested in that either.
With the full-day program, Woodcock, or Mr. Woodie as his students call him, brings his students outside for an hour every Friday.
“Kids are really overly scheduled,” he said. Now, they have more time to play.
“I would not want to go back to half-day,” he said.
But, as one parent in the audience pointed out, Plainfield’s half-day program ran from 8 to 10:50 a.m., and Lyme’s is almost two hours longer, running from 8 to 12:30.
After the kindergartners’ day is over, many parents pay for the Lyme After School Program, which takes place at the school. This year, 12 of 15 students regularly attend the program, according to the parents’ presentation. Two others drop in occasionally. Some stay until the end of the regular school day at 3 p.m., while others stay until 5:30.
“I absolutely love these kindergarten kids,” Megan Fryman, who runs the kindergarten after-care program, said at the meeting. “However, I feel like I spend more time with them than Mindy (Lyons, the kindergarten teacher,) does.”
Lyme School Principal Jeff Valence said that Lyme’s kindergarten program would never become first grade. The curriculum will continue to be play-based — structured, but exploratory, he said.
No matter whether voters opt to lengthen the kindergarten day or not, the Lyme School plans to add two new elements to the class’s curriculum next year: a program called Forest Friends, which brings students outside, and a program called Know Your Neighbors, which teaches students about people in their community, Valence said.
While Valence seemed open to the idea of extending kindergarteners’ school day, he warned that it should not come at the expense of other school programs.
“Whatever benefits there are to extending our day here, those benefits would be washed away completely if as a result of a full day it would result in the unsustainability of our budget, year in, year out,” Valence said.
Selectboard Chairwoman Susan MacKenzie did not dispute the potential benefits for the town’s children, but she indicated those benefits are not worth the cost.
“I have no doubt that this program would be beneficial to all,” she said. “I also know that regardless of whether or not you go to (a partial) day or full day these kids are going to get a wonderful education.”
She noted that the town has other expenses, such as repairs for River Road and rising personnel costs.
“All of these things are adding up,” she said. “It’s going to shock all of us.”
In 2016, the town’s total tax rate was $25.46, but this year Lyme is looking at a rate of closer to $28 per $1,000 of value, she said.
“Every day someone says to me ‘I’m not going to be able to live in this town’ … Because there’s no other source of revenue other than the property tax.”
Katie Jenks, who grew up in Lyme and owns Kid’s Time Child Care Center on High Street, said she is one of the people who will be forced to move if property taxes continue to rise.
“I do feel strongly that kindergarten is important,” Jenks said. “On the other hand, the affordability of it is very important also … Are there ways to make it more affordable?”
School Board member Jay Davis said the board opted not to include the cost of extending the kindergarten day in their proposed budget of $6.77 million because “there were other priorities.”
For example, high school tuition costs continue to rise at a rate of 4 percent annually, Davis said.
“We want to make sure that we’re able to support our kids all the way through,” he said.
But, if voters approve the warrant article, Davis said the School Board would be committed to making it work.
“Whatever the will of the town is, we are going to follow it,” he said.
The parents group has filed two warrant articles for voters’ consideration during their annual school meeting, according to an email from School Board Chairwoman Elizabeth Glenshaw last week. If approved, the first would allocate approximately $58,000 to fund the extended day for kindergarten. That cost would bring the kindergarten teacher and an aide from part time to full time — including salary, benefit and retirement increases — she said in her email.
The second article, taken up only if the first is approved, would set aside an additional $30,000 in case enrollment increases and a second kindergarten class is needed.
The School Board is scheduled to finalize all warrant articles tonight, before sending them on to the town’s Budget Committee. The committee will hold a public hearing of town and school warrant articles at the Town Office on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
The Lyme School District meeting, where voting on the school warrant articles will take place, is set for March 9 at 6 p.m. at the Lyme School.
Nora Doyle-Burr can be reached at ndoyleburr@vnews.com or 603-727-3213.
Correction
Cornish Elementary School started offering full-day kindergarten this school year. An earlier version of this story included a quote with outdated information about Cornish.
