Branford Schools Chief Delays On Pre‑K Money

Back on March 15, Branford First Selectman Unk DaRos and Schools Superintendent Hamlet Hernandez signed a letter of intent agreeing to apply for a competitive school readiness grant, a program that expands early learning for families unable to afford pre-school for their child. The letter was sent to the Connecticut State Department of Education. To get the grant process rolling the top town official and the top school official were required to agree. And they did.

But the grant-writing task fell to Hernandez, and the deadline, May 31st, came and went. Hernandez didn’t submit the grant application or even have it fully written because he said he learned the state did not have the school readiness funds for Branford. In addition, he told the Eagle, the school system has no official grant writers, though others could have done the job.

The issue, Hernandez said, was money.

“Yes, we did a letter of intent signed by the town’s chief elected official and the chief education official,” he said, a requirement and first step in seeking the school readiness grant. Then he explained that based ​“on conversations we have had with folks at the state level for these competitive grants, we would not be recipient of dollars.”

DaRos said in an interview he was fully anticipating that the grant would go forward and ​“that we would move ahead. I wasn’t part of the grant making. We save money when kids get into the school system more prepared to learn. And it gives teachers more opportunity to help kids move forward. That is the critical part.” He said after he signed the letter of intent ​“there was no discussion on this.”

In an interview Hernandez said he now plans to apply for the school readiness grant for the 2014 – 15 school year and will start early in the year to get it done. DaRos told the Eagle that is good news. 

“I want us to write a readiness grant not just to get our name on the radar screen because I know that the state knows we are already there, that Branford is starting to change,” Hernandez said. 

“They know I am interested. Let’s bring the school readiness council together, which would be different stakeholders in the community, and let’s write a comprehensive grant for next year, the school year of 2014 – 15.”

The state has funded many other towns in the current school year under the program.

Currently school districts in 48 towns across the state receive school readiness grants, usually in the amount of $107,000 a year to help prepare children for kindergarten, Among the towns already receiving the grants are nearby East Haven, Hamden, where Hernandez served as an assistant superintendent, Milford, Naugatuck, West Hartford and Greenwich.

The grant would have provided children in need with the opportunity for pre‑K classes across the town. Education statistics show where you live in Branford matters. 

According to state education statistics from 2011, the last available year for public data, about 17.5 percent of the children entering kindergarten at the Mary T. Murphy Elementary School had no prior pre-school, nursery or Head Start experience. At the John B. Sliney Elementary School, 16.2 percent of entering kindergarten students had no prior school experience. At the Mary T. Tisko Elementary school 3.8 percent of all entering kindergarten students had no prior school experience.

Of those without prior pre‑k schooling, literacy skills were a serious issue.

Had Hernandez applied for the school readiness grant and had funds been available, the district might have expected anywhere from a $75,000 to a $107,000 readiness grant, though a few school districts have grants in the $200,000 plus range. 

Hernandez is well aware, he said, of the town’s changing needs and ​“changing demographics,” primarily in the Murphy and Sliney schools. These schools are now recipients of federal Title 1 funds. His plan is to eventually have the school system provide ​“universal pre‑K” and do it through the Family Resource Center (FRC). ​“We have a family resource center where we can have pre‑K seats that are actually funded to school readiness,” he added.

The FRC preschool is licensed for 58 children. However, due to building classroom space, ​“we now only take 36 preschool children in our program. We have 2 classrooms,” Wendy Miller, the coordinator of the FRC told the Eagle. Hernandez wants to expand the pre‑K program that serves all three elementary schools. He is hoping to reach 75 pre‑K kids; there are separate slots for special ed children. 

He said a variety of pre-school groups in town will have a seat at his table as discussion gets under way on the pre-school expansion.

Early Childhood Office Bill Dies During Deal-Making

In another development concerning pre-school education in the state, The Hartford Courant reported this weekend that the fate of the Office of Early Childhood ​“had been tied up in the frenzy of last minute deal-making that, some say, paired its future with a bill permitting bow and arrow hunting on Sundays.” Republicans said that was a ridiculous accusation but some Democrats insisted this is what they had been told.

The death of the bill left many advocates and proponents on both sides of the aisle stunned and disillusioned with the legislative process, the Courant reported. The death of the bill came even though earlier in the week, the Assembly approved $360 million for the new office. Getting the office actually created was another issue, however, the Courant reported.

The new Office of Early Childhood was supposed to combine all the early childhood programs currently spread throughout four state agencies. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy proposed it as part of his budget and it was a measure that had bipartisan support.

The Governor’s office is studying what next to do, a spokesman reported afterward. One of the options is to call the legislature for a special session. Click here to read the Courant story.

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