Full Day Kindergarten A Real Possibility in Berlin For 2013-2014 School Year

The Berlin Board of Education's plan of continuous success has recently included a plan for full day kindergarten and that plan may come to fruition starting as early as next school year, 2013-2014.

With the plan comes questions of funding, teachers and other logistics.

All of those topics will be discussed at a special Berlin Board of Education meeting, Oct. 22, to be held in the cafe of Griswold Elementary School, 133 Heather Lane, beginning at 7 p.m.

Superintendent David B. Erwin said in a press release Tuesday: "The topic of full-day kindergarten has received considerable attention in Connecticut as well as across the country. With the implementation of the Common Core State Standards and the implementation of the Smarter Balanced Assessment scheduled to begin in 2015, it is increasingly evident that the districts need to consider the implementation of full day kindergarten."

Erwin went on to say that he and the Board of Education will lay out the groundwork and rationale for going to a full-day kindergarten in Berlin at the meeting. They will also discuss the costs to start the program.

“The Board of Education has long wanted to move to all-day Kindergarten," Berlin Board of Education President Gary Brochu said. "But, increasing curriculum demands and higher standards across all elementary grades have made the move to all-day Kindergarten more important than ever. As evidenced by neighboring school districts also proposing all-day Kindergarten.”

Anyone not able to make the meeting can call Erwin at (860) 828-6581.