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By BERNIE WEISENFELD
Courier-Post Staff
Deptford, the county's third largest school district, is making plenty of room for its youngest students although they represent only a small sliver of the entire township population.
Like other New Jersey schools during the last four years, Deptford has made classroom space available for four- year-old students in pre-kindergarten. Soon, even more new facilities will accommodate these young ones in the growing 3,800 student district .
According to the 2000 federal Census, Deptford numbers 1, 668 children under age five among its 26,763 residents. That's slightly fewer than the 1,708 in the 1990 census.
The exact number of four-year-olds is not known, but more than 200 of them are now getting an education, said Assistant Superintendent Marie Louis.
Presently, pre-pre-kindergarten is offered on a half-day basis in each of the elementary schools except the at- capacity Good Intent School, said Louis. A pre-k classroom was established instead in the nearby high school.
"Every classroom has a teacher and an aide working with the little ones," said Louis.
"It's not just fun and games," said lead pre-k teacher Saundra Graves. "We do academics too. Lots of pre- kindergarten skills." For example, children every morning " sign in" their names, said Graves. "It's a way of getting them to learn how to write their names." Classes also focus daily on the calendar so they're seeing numbers every day, Graves added.
Parent Ellen Hance said her four-year-old daughter Gabrielle "is learning so much" in the pre-k class at the Oak Valley Elementary School "I'm very pleased with it," she said. "She knows all her letters in sign language. They know the days of the week in Spanish. Every time you turn around, you can't believe what she's saying or doing."
Deptford qualified for special state funding 4 years ago to start a pre-k program and expand to full-day kindergarten classes, said Louis. The money was offered to districts that had at least 20 percent of its students receiving free school lunches. The lunch program is based on a student's household income.
"We just make the 20 percent cutoff," she said. "The superintendent (Dr. David Moyer) felt at the time it was certainly worthwhile to offer the children an extra year of school."
Early childhood education became a legal issue in New Jersey when the City of Camden and 27 other poor districts sued the state over its school funding formula. A 1998 state Supreme Court ruling mandated the offering of classes for three and four year-olds.
In addition, a new state funding formula in 1997 made extra aid for early childhood education available to other districts based on their percentage of low-income families.
Educational research shows formal learning experiences under age five have long-range academic benefits to students in disadvantaged communities, said state Department of Education spokesman Rich Vespucci.
"Therefore it will help them lead more successful lives," said Vespucci.
An extra year of education likely helps all children, said Louis.
"We're making more and more demands on the children to read early and do math early. So now all children have that opportunity in the fourth year to get a head start."
Louis said Deptford had a model for its pre-kindergarten program at the Pine Acres elementary school. Two classes were started there in 1997 for "at-risk" children whose parents thought they needed extra help before kindergarten.
About 30 children worked with a pre-school teachers "and we saw such marvelous results," said Louis. "We knew we had hit upon the right program."
Saundra Graves, teacher for the "at-risk" classes, became lead teacher for the pre-k program.
Enrollment in the program is optional, Louis said. "The law is that you must come to school at six, so even though our kindergarten is a full-day program, that's still optional. And certainly the four-year-old is optional. But as they say, if you build it, they will come." In its first year, 206 four-year-olds are in class.
"And we have heard out on the street there were many who were not aware it was available. So I'm sure we're going to get even more of an enrollment this year (for 2002-3). By September 2002, early childhood programs are expected to add 450 new students to the district.
To prepare, Deptford will be building one new school on the site of the 1924 Central School that will be devoted entirely to early childhood education. The 30-classroom school, to be constructed after Central is demolished, will accommodate up to 582 students from pre-kindergarten through second grade."
In addition, the Pine Acres School will be converted to an early childhood center (pre-k to grade 2). Part of the Shady Lane School will be converted to an early childhood education center. The construction will be financed under an $18.2 million bond issued voters approved in December 2000. State aid will bring the entire Deptford school building program to $31.8 million.
"We are looking at everything going out to bid in the spring of this year," said Louis. The new school on the Central site is expected to be ready for the 2003 school year, she said.
| Deptford Under Age 5 1990: 1,708 2000: 1,668 Change: -2.34% Source: U.S. Census Bureau |
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