Schools

Preschool Opportunity for Every Red Bank Child

The borough's school district is looking to expand its 3 and 4-year-old preschool program to accommodate every child.

If Laura Morana is successful in her goal, every single 3 and 4-year-old child living in Red Bank will have an opportunity to attend preschool in the district as soon as next school year.

At a roundtable discussion Thursday at the Primary School, Morana, Red Bank’s superintendent, highlighted the tremendous growth in the district’s preschool program over the past few years.

The preschool program has grown so much over the past three years that the district has been unable to accommodate every family, forcing Red Bank to resort to a lottery system to place students. It’s a good problem to have, especially if you’re in the position of trying to secure additional funding for the program and the number of students is the bottom line, but it’s a problem Morana is looking to fix.

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“Unfortunately,” Morana said. “We’re not meeting the needs of every family, but we to this coming year.”

Currently, the district’s total projected enrollment in the full-day preschool is 248 children, 90 who are 3 years old and 158 who are 4 years old. According to information presented by Morana, Red Bank, through partnerships with community child care providers, offers full-day preschool services for 81 percent of every 3 and 4-year-old student in Red Bank.

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If the district can secure another site, through a partnership with an outside agency or otherwise, Morana wants to see that number reach 100 percent. That appears to be the biggest issue, currently, as additional room at the primary and middle schools is non-existent. It also seems that the district has, for now, has developed all the partnerships it can.

In addition to Red Bank Primary School, which hosts six classes, the district also has partnerships with Monmouth Day Care Center, Community YMCA at Saint Thomas Church, Saint Anthony’s Parish Center, and Acelero Head Start who each host multiple preschool classes.

The district’s current preschool budget is $2.767 million.

The district believes its case for ever-expanding its preschool operation is an obvious one, easily seen in the results. Primary school Principal Richard Cohen described the tremendous difference on the first day of school – the first day of kindergarten that is – for children who have attended preschool programs and those who have not. There’s no crying, no worry, and none of the general chaos that surrounds a typical first few days of school.

“Everyone is happy to come to school,” he said. “You can see the maturity and the school-readiness.”

The district is operating with a waiting list. Right now, there are just six 4 year olds on the waiting list compared to the 87 3 year olds who lost out on being placed in a preschool program.

Morana said the district needs to identify additional classroom spaces by Oct. 30 of this year to be eligible for greater funding.


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