The East Penn Board of School Directors voted 5 to 4 against the administration’s proposal to alter the educational program by eliminating its half-day kindergarten program and replacing it with full-day kindergarten for every district elementary school. The vote was held Oct. 23.

Voting “no” were Directors Carol Allen, Charles Ballard, Chris Donatelli, Rebecca Heid and Rev. Waldemar Vinovskis. Those who voted “aye” were board President Alan Earnshaw, Vice President Dr. Ken Bacher, Paul Champagne and Ziad Munson.

Assistant superintendent Kristen Campbell and her team had earlier estimated the price tag for the project at $1,056,592 based on a projected enrollment of 460 students and replacing 20 half-day sections with 10. They had hoped implementation of the program would have begun with the 2018-2019 school year.

Although disappointed, Campbell said, “I respect the vote of the board.”

Ballard said he is not against full-day kindergarten, but voted “no” because, “I do have some problems about the process,” including what he felt was a biased survey. He said adding $1 million in expenditures to a school budget that may increase millage rates is something, “suitable for going out for a referendum.”

Donatelli agreed with Ballard.

Vinovskis, an early supporter of full-day kindergarten, said he concluded children would be better served in preschool education and Head Start programs.

Allen said, with not knowing the 10-year projected costs for program, she voted “no.” Citing a government study of Head Start, Allen opined, “It really doesn’t make that much of a difference, the kids still manage to catch up when they are in third grade.”

Champagne, who voted in favor of the program, said, “I believe this is an investment that the district should make.

Bacher said he was convinced, “It will be valuable and benefit all of the students in the district.”

Advocating the proposal, Munson said East Penn should keep up with neighboring districts that have all-day kindergarten. “This works within the long-range capital plan we have,” he said.

Earnshaw asked Emmaus High School Student Government Association representative Alex Comfort his views on the issue. Comfort responded he had wished for all-day kindergarten when he was in that grade.

A request to address the board regarding possible full-day kindergarten was granted to Emmaus resident Lynn Donches prior to the vote. She asked the board to consider hiring 20 part-time kindergarten teachers instead of 10 full-time teachers to save the district money on benefits.

Barbara Tantaros, of Emmaus, requested the district not include sixth graders in the Pennsylvania Youth Survey. “Many of these questions are clearly age inappropriate,” she said.

In other business, Earnshaw and Superintendent Dr. Michael Schilder recognized 2018 National Hispanic Scholars Andrew Ashmar, Lily Day and James Haag. The three Emmaus juniors qualified for the College Board’s honor by scoring in the top 2.5 percent of Hispanic/Latino students on their PSATs.

Also recognized for their high PSAT scores were 2018 National Merit Scholarship Semi-Finalists Lily Day, Xinyi He, Bradley Klemick, Lucas Maake, Aman Malik, Sandhya Sriram and Miles Zakos.

SGA representatives Sophie Pickering and Comfort reported the Emmaus field hockey team had 21 wins and zero losses so far in the season. They announced Homecoming Week went well, including a home game win for Emmaus and a record-breaking 1,477 students attending the Homecoming dance. Comfort also boasted about the Emmaus academic team’s score of 370-170 against Notre Dame on PBS39’s “Scholastic Scrimmage.”

Schilder told the board further modifications to the bus routes in Ancient Oak West were made to keep the students safe from increased truck traffic on Route 100.

The superintendent informed board members he has received all of the E-rate funding letters with a commitment of $503,872 for technology infrastructure.

The National School Press Association has nominated Emmaus senior Andrea Klick as one of 10 finalists for the best news story in the country for her article on racial slurs for the “Stinger,” Schilder reported.

On personnel matters, a full-time substitute assignment for Mary Harwick as a biology teacher at EHS was approved by the board. Effective Nov. 3, Harwick replaces Justin McNicholas, who recently resigned.

Reporting on the Pennsylvania School Boards Association meeting he recently attended, Ballard reported learning about how some school boards provide new members with training on procedural basics. Ballard volunteered to give a session to “just talk about the mechanics of how we operate” to new members.

Allen, who also went to the PSBA meeting said the organization is pushing for school districts to have more control over student testing and graduation requirements.

“On less than stellar stuff,” Ballard said, the Pennsylvania senate is working on Senate Bill 2, a bill that would deduct basic education and special education subsidies away from underperforming schools and give it to parents as vouchers to send their child to another school.

There still was no progress in Harrisburg on funding the state budget, Ballard reported.

The school board held a third reading and adoption of school district operations policy series 900 – Community: Part 1 of 2, policies 901to 912.

An executive session was held 7 p.m. on personnel matters, labor relations and attorney matters prior to the public forum.

The East Penn Board of School Directors meet regularly 7:30 p.m. on the second and fourth Monday of each month. The next meeting is scheduled Nov. 13 in the board room of the administration building.