Members of the Student Government Association started the Jan. 23 East Penn School Board meeting reporting progress in East Penn sports, with recent wins in boys and girls basketball over Pleasant Valley, as well as a good season so far for swimming and wrestling; the rifle team remains undefeated for the season and faces East Stroudsburg next.

Former school director Lynn Donches addressed the board, asking them to consider holding standing community committees or workshop meetings preceding voting meetings, so agenda items may be discussed prior to the voting meeting.

Donches cited the East Penn School District is “The only board out of those around us that do not have committees, a few have workshop meetings as well to discuss the agenda and then have the voting meeting next.”

The committee formed to progress the availability of full-day kindergarten to eligible students gave a presentation offering projected goals. EPSD was one of the first to offer a full-day program; about 10 percent of kindergarten students are currently in the program.

The committee believes all the students should have this opportunity; therefore, they are recommending full- day kindergarten be offered to the rest of eligible students.

The 2018-2019 school year is the target year for expanding the availability of full-day kindergarten, with March 2018 holding the first run of kindergarten registration.

Full-day kindergarten is not required by the state, but it is required in 13 states across the country. East Penn has offered some full-day kindergarten since 2003, when it introduced a program at Lincoln Elementary School.

In 2007, the East Penn School District offered a second full-day program at Lower Macungie Elementary School, serving students from four elementary schools. After Lower Macungie Elementary School closed in 2010, the program was restarted at Alburtis Elementary School and continues to operate.

During 2017, administrators and the committee plan to consider what additional resources are needed to make the full-day kindergarten program a reality. Initial plans show needed space would be available if student numbers stayed constant; however, additional teachers, support staff and materials would be needed to facilitate such a program. Specific numbers were not provided at this meeting.

Anthony Moyer, principal of Willow Lane Elementary School, gave a presentation on the results of the community input survey which included multiple choice as well as open ended response type questions. When asked if they support full-day kindergarten, 81.4 percent of those who responded support the idea and 19.6 percent say it is too long for a kindergarten student to be away from home.

The committee also quoted a statement from the Pennsylvania Department of Education, stating full-day kindergarten provides “greater learning in letter naming fluency and initial sound fluency, both of which help with reading... students not reading proficiently by the third grade are four times more likely than readers to drop out of high school.”

A mother of a East Penn kindergarten student said afternoon kindergarten allowed for mornings to be used for family activities and allowed her to spend time with all her children. She was “sad to lose that transition of time with my child...they [the EPSD] are doing their homework for what is best for their students. The program EPSD has to offer is something I can see my daughter attending and benefiting from...it’s simply not the norm anymore to have half-day kindergarten.”

Jefferson Elementary School kindergarten teacher Stacy Confer added, “Current half-day of kindergarten offers best practices, but only a half day of them, and leads to segmented instruction...hands-on activities are right up these children’s alley. The potential benefits of a longer kindergarten day can be attributed to the amount of time children spend at school, but more importantly to the way in which the extra time is spent.”

Director Carol Allen remarked, “In more recent years, the academics of kindergarten have increased, and given up play, and that’s how they learn things with their friends. This would be good if they returned that proportion to the students.”

Director Charles Ballard asked if the committee has any numbers regarding the program.

The committee said, “If enrollment is the same, we have the space available. Ten additional teachers would be needed and an unknown number of support staff (as lunch would then be needed). Ballard also questioned Moyer regarding the survey used, pointing out the questions used were cherry picked to possibly produce a positive response.

Ballard asked, “Were there questions that prompted a negative response? Do you think full-day kindergarten is an extension of kindergarten? Are you willing to support a tax increase to pay for full-day kindergarten?...Have we fully asked the community all the questions we need to ask them?”

Anthony replied, “We do have some of the questions.. we decided to keep things more on the positive end. They had an opportunity to provide their own input and gave them a chance to express their interests... A lot of folks had concerns about the costs and childcare but are relieved to have some relief to their families.”

Director Chris Donatelli asked the committee, “When will it stop? Will we eventually require 4-year-old students to go to a half day? Part of the point of kindergarten is that it should be a transition period for kids to go from not going to school to going to school.”

Director Ziad Munson pointed out “Kindergarten is not compulsory; they are not required to send them to all day, they are just given more choices.”

Business Administrator Robert Saul and Superintendent Dr. Michael Schilder presented the budget outlook update and plan to adopt the proposed budget and authorize application Feb. 13.

Schilder presented the added district needs of $2,002,000, with $1,045,000 going to the technology plan phase one.

Total prioritized needs are reported to be $1,266,000 with $485,000 allocated for technology infrastructure and $165,000 of that is also allocated for new Chromebooks for every ninth grade student.

To help balance the budget, Saul and Schilder propose the total budget reductions include a $250,000 decrease in technology yearly funding, a reduction of $99,000 from special education, $78,000 from the building budget, $20,000 from the athletic budget and $42,000 from the facilities budget for a combined cut of $489,000 overall.

Schilder said “We do not feel that any of these reductions will be detrimental to our students.”

This brings the budget to $777,000 over present income and would reach the limit of Act 1 exceptions.

Ballard reminded the board this “could be last year for such exceptions, legislative work is pending and that will likely change.”

Ballard presented the legislative report, informing the board the House, Congress and Senate are coming into session and are trying to fast track property tax reform, the implications of which are “equality of spending” which locks in at value you have currently and due to the bill, businesses that do not owe money would not pay property tax, thus Walmart would not pay taxes, but the shopper would for example.

Ballard said Governor Tom Wolf is putting his budget on display before legislature Feb. 7. The budget presently has a $1.7 billion deficit.

There was an executive session prior to the regular meeting, with the next board meeting scheduled 7:30 p.m. Feb. 13.