All-day, 5-day, Pre-K on the way

Medford schools gives OK to launching 5-day program in fall 2023

Five-day, full-day, Pre-K will be coming to the Medford Area Public School District in the 2023-2024 school district.

At Monday’s Medford School Board meeting, board members approved a plan presented by elementary principal Dan Miller to provide district-sponsored 4K programs, five days a week in both Medford and Stetsonville elementary buildings. The plan also includes an option for parents who wish to keep the current two day a week schedule. The breakdown of how many students and sections will be needed will be finalized next summer after the district knows the number of students that will be enrolled in each option.

Last summer, the district had directed the staff to look at full week options for the pre-kindergarten (Pre-K) program. Since then Miller and the Pre-K staff have been looking at how such a program could work and could fit within the current footprint of the elementary school buildings.

Miller explained that when he started in Medford 16 years ago, the district offered a four-day a week Pre-K program which coordinated with the local HeadStart and private and parochial childcare programs and providers with students going from one to the other. However the need for budget cuts saw the consolidation into the current two day on, two day off full day model to eliminate the mid-day bus route.

Miller said the focus of looking at the 4K program change was to make a greater investment in early childhood education and provide additional childcare options for Taylor County families. Currently 97 students take part in the Pre-K program between Medford and Stetsonville. This is broken down with 8 sections between the two buildings with 13 students per section at Medford Area Elementary School (MAES) and 15 per section at Stetsonville Elementary School (SES).

According to Miller, based on enrollment projects for students entering kindergarten next fall, he anticipates that he will be asking for a reduction in the number of classroom sections of kindergarten next year. “We will be about to go to four kindergarten sections at MAES,” Miller said, this would free up a classroom space to be used for Pre-K. At SES , the current class size for kindergarten is two sections of 11 student each. He proposed reducing to a single track as that smaller class moves through SES.

He explained that this would get the district through the next four years and then the board could look at other options such as adding on or utilizing other space in the community for the Medford students.

According to Miller, the district would need to increase staff to implement the change. He said the district would need a minimum of six teachers total and six classrooms dedicated for Pre-K use. Currently the district has four full-time teaching staff and four fulltime paraprofessionals in four classrooms to run the program.

According to district administrator Pat Sullivan, the forecasted budget impact of expanding to offer full-day Pre-K, is between $240,000 and $250,000 per year.

“If you pass this tonight we will build a budget taking that into account,” Sullivan said. “We will find the $240,000,” he said, noting that if through next year’s budget process board members disagreed with where they would have to cut to add this, then he said they would look at other options.

Sullivan supported making the change. “We need to do it,” he said.

One of the factors pushing the district into this is due to the loss of state per pupil funding as parents choose to send their children to private childcare programs rather than taking part in the school’s Pre-K program.

Board members asked about what kind of curriculum would take place with the additional classroom time for the students. Teacher Amber Fettes who has been focusing on the curriculum portion of the planning process said part of it would be taking the current program and spreading it out more to give students more time for projects and learning activities. She also talked about using the additional time to get into the community more and work on developing social and emotional skills. Social and emotion skill development rated among the top areas needed among current Pre-K parents. Fettes said they would also look at implementing more play time to get the kids outside and active.

Board member Don Everhard had asked about the possibility of doing the half day with just wraparound care as a way to reduce the number of teachers needed, noting that it would not take a certified staff to provide the childcare. “If they have to spend all afternoon entertaining that is a long time,” Miller said, citing his own experience as a parent of three and noting that while the students are there they can provide educational programming.

At the same time as the district is looking at offering a five-day option, it was noted that 25% of the current Pre-K parents preferred the existing two-day option. Miller said they would want to continue offering that as an option for those parents.

Miller explained that the timing to make the commitment to offering a full week program for next school year was to give parents ample time to plan ahead. Board members voted unanimously to go ahead with making the changes as presented.

Storm shelter project

After getting rejected due to a technicality last year, the Medford school board is discussing options for reapplying for a federal grant to tap into funds to build a storm shelter building to the west of the technical education building at the the high school.

After a lengthy discussion, board members voted 7-2 with Brian Hallgren and Jodie Nuernberger opposed to ask for a design of a rectangular building with space for an additional small gym, offices for mental health counseling and addition classroom space for the technical education program.

The district is looking to apply to the Federal Emergency Management Agency for funding to construct a a 17,000 square foot storm-proof structure. The goal of the federal grant program is to have storm shelters available for communities.

“FEMA doesn’t care what you use it for on a daily basis as long as it is available as a storm shelter,” said consultant Jordan Buss who is working with the district on the grant. Previous cost estimates had put the building at about $6 million with the federal funds to cover about $4 million leaving the district responsible for the remaining $2 million. Sullivan said the district has gotten about $700,000 in pledges from the community to help with the costs and would need to find the remainder in its budget. It was noted that other communities such as Abbotsford went to referendum for their local portion.

The major issue for board members during discussion was how the space could be divided up.

When it was first proposed the district had looked at it as a way to allow for additional physical education and gym space. Board member John Zuleger said he was concerned that community members would not support using all the space in it for gym space and suggested dividing it up for classroom space.

By way of comparison, the proposed building would be slightly larger overall than the footprint of Raider Hall. When configured entirely as gym space, this would allow for two practice basketball courts in the structure.

Zuleger’s proposal would reduce it to one practice court with classroom and shop space in the remainder. In comparison, this would create a gym space that was about the same size as the small gym at the Medford Area Middle School. “It would double what we have now,” Zuleger said of the additional gym space.

Board member Brian Hallgren disagreed with using it for anything but additional gym space, noting that it would be a one-time opportunity to address the need for gym space. Hallgren said he did not think voters would support building a gym but would support expanding the technical education building.

Board member Steve Deml suggested that if they placed the proposed structure properly to the east of the existing technical education building the district could do an expansion of the technical education building and address student safety concerns and connect the structures to the main high school building.

While there were a number of ideas suggested as to how the space could be used it was noted that could be changed as the project moved forward and even after a grant it awarded.

“We are way too much in the weeds,” Hallgren said of the discussion.

For now, the district’s action was to move forward so that Buss can meet the January 23 application deadline. The application would have to go through review at the state level before it could even get reviewed at the national level.

In other business, board members: Received updates by finance director Audra Brooks on grants she applied for that would be used to serve locally produced and minimally processed food products to students in the district food service program. Items could include things like locally produced maple syrup. She said the state has allocated $3.4 million for the grant program statewide and she applied for $69,000 in grant funding. She also applied for $57,000 for supply chain assistance funds which, if approved, would flow through to A’viands to offset some of the losses the food service company is experiencing due increases in food costs. While the outcome of the grants is uncertain, Brooks said she was very optimistic about the district’s chances in qualifying for them.

Jodie Nuernberger

Finance director Audra Brooks reported on grants she has applied for in an effort to get additional locally produced agriculture products in the school lunch program.