Greenfield studies all-day kindergarten for 4-year-olds, child care for preschoolers

GREENFIELD - All-day kindergarten for 4-year-olds may be on the way to the Greenfield schools.

The district soon will begin a study to see if it's feasible and desirable.

Related to that will be a study of offering preschool child care to help attract top teachers. The plan is to extend the low-cost child care to the general public if there is room in the eventual program.

The study of all-day kindergarten for 4-year-olds is slated to start this fall with the beginning of the new school year.

"It is certainly done in other districts and we are trying to see how it fits the needs of the Greenfield schools and the wider community," said Greenfield School Board member Robert Hansen.

Pros, cons

Whether it would work out cost-wise is one of the questions that remains to be answered, he said. Certainly, there would be additional costs, but they would be offset somewhat by more state aid, Hansen said. More aid can be expected because the state aid formula would count the 4-year-olds as full-time students. Aid is based on enrollment.

Parents of 4-year-olds also could get a financial break in not having the expense of sending their children to day care for the rest of the day, he said.

Academically, the full-time kindergarten is appealing, Hansen said.

"Based on studies we've seen to this point, it seems to be a benefit," he said. The younger children can receive instruction, the better the academic outcomes, he said.

The Greenfield schools already have all-day kindergarten for 5-year-olds.

Child care

Children as young as 6 weeks would be eligible for the day care program school officials are studying. It would be divided into four sections – one for infants, another for toddlers, another for ages 2 and 3, and the fourth for preschoolers through age 4.

The goal is to offer it at low cost. That would enhance Greenfield's attractiveness to top teachers, Hansen said.

If approved, Greenfield would be the only school district in the area and only the seventh in the state to offer a district childcare program, according to a recent presentation to the Greenfield School Board. It indicated that six districts in Wisconsin have public school child care. They are in Amery, Elcho, Frederic, Oakfield, Wausaukee and in the school district of Chetek-Weyerhaeuser.