Community Questions
Below are answers to the most common questions submitted on the following anonymous survey that are not answered on the main webpage for the project: Questions on Full Day Kindergarten and District Office Bond Project. If you have further questions that need to be answered please put them in the survey and we will update this webpage weekly with more answers.
Elementary Program Questions
1) How many classrooms do we need to implement Full Day Kindergarten?
This project only adds 8 total elementary classrooms at North School, South School, and Matthew Thornton. We only need to add this smaller amount to achieve Full Day Kindergarten because of the two smaller kindergarten classes that entered the school system in the fall of 2023 and fall of 2024. We project right now that we will have between 14 and 16 Full Day Kindergarten classrooms when we start in August 2026 across the three schools. We will watch enrollment year to year to match our staffing and program to the number of students.
2) Is this plan a permanent solution for Full Day Kindergarten and the elementary school buildings?
These high quality modular classrooms will last for at least the next 15 years. Since they are modular classrooms we have flexibility built into our long term plan for the schools. We can adapt to higher, lower, or stable enrollment with these modular classrooms for the longer term. In about 10 years we will need to come up with a longer term vision for elementary schools in terms of needed updates and fixes for the buildings.
3) What will the daily schedule be for a Full Day Kindergarten program?
When we were developing last year's project we shared this visual of how time would be used in a Full Day Kindergarten program. This explains the major chunks of time that would be in our Full Day Kindergarten program. If there is a positive vote this March, North School, South School and Matthew Thornton would then start to plan through how our Kindergarten students would integrate into the Master Schedule we have right now for the 2026-27 School Year at each school. We have not yet picked an exact time for lunch in the Full Day Kindergarten Master Schedule.
4) Will the Kindergarten students be able to access the after school programs offered at our Schools?
Yes, by the 2026-27 School Year the Kindergarten students that go to North School, South School, and Matthew Thornton could be part of the after-school programs run by the YMCA as well.
5) Can the three schools handle the growth in the number of students in their schools with now offering Full Day Kindergarten?
Yes. This plan is possible because we have seen two smaller classes enroll in our schools over the last two years (Kindergarten classes in 2023 and 2024) With this lower overall enrollment we have the space in our schools for Full Day Kindergarten now. We will be watching enrollment closely in the future so that we can adapt if it changes further. This link to a series of charts that show our declining enrollment from the last few years and how North School and South School are only returning to enrollment levels from the past. Matthew Thornton mostly like will grow above 600 students with this plan but the addition of the four modular classrooms will allow them to handle that number of students and an even larger total student population if needed.
6) Will we keep some of the traditions that Moose Hill currently does with their students?
If there is a positive vote this March, we will work with the Moose Hill staff to identify the traditions and activities we want to keep that can happen at all three schools in the future and/or like apple picking in the orchards - be an activity we keep to bring the Full Day Kindergarten classrooms back together during the school year.
7) How will the Kindergarten Staff collaborate across three schools with this plan?
Right now our 1st to 5th grade staff collaborate with the Assistant Superintendent, Curriculum Coordinator, and the Principals to ensure we have consistent grade level expectations to curriculum and instruction. There are also grade level leaders that check in multiple times a year to strengthen that approach across three schools. This will be a change for our Kindergarten staff from daily collaboration - but they will have the ability to collaborate daily with their school Kindergarten team.
8) What will the class sizes be for Full Day Kindergarten?
In general the class size for Full Day Kindergarten will vary more now that they are spread across three schools. We expect to see class size between 16 to 20 students typically in any school year moving forward for Kindergarten. That range could change with bigger changes in enrollment within the three community school zones we have now for South School, North School, and Matthew Thornton. In the past we have typically seen class sizes in that range. For the last two school years we have seen smaller class sizes in a half day Kindergarten model with lower overall enrollment.
9) What will these Full Day Kindergarten classrooms look like?
Our goal would be to build the same "play-based" Kindergarten model we now have at Moose Hill in all three schools. If you go to Moose Hill now you will see open spaces to gather as a whole class - small tables for group work - and many areas to explore in their learning. Our goal would be to have that same approach at North, South, and Matthew Thornton. Within the costs of the Bond we did budget to get similar furniture for the additional Kindergarten classrooms we are now building if the project is approved. You will not see Kindergarten students "sitting in rows" in any of our schools. We build classrooms around their developmental needs.
10) Can parents choose to access a half day program in the future if this project is approved?
Watching the rest of the state transition to full day Kindergarten in the recent past shows that if a community offers Full Day Kindergarten that is what the vast majority of families end up choosing for their students. We assume that the requests for still having a 1/2 day program would be small even if this project is approved by the voters. We would work with families that want that option in the future. Full Day Kindergarten is not a mandated requirement for students. Once a child is 6 they must attend school full time.
11) Why did you not pursue a tuition program for families that want Full Day Kindergarten?
The feedback we have received from families for years is that they want a Full Day Kindergarten option in town that is part of their public school system. Two other local school districts that have the model of paying for 1/2 the day to achieve full day Kindergarten are also bringing warrant articles to their voters this March to end that practice and move with the rest of the state to a Full Day Kindergarten model that does not require private tuition for half of the day.
12) Can Full Day Kindergarten fit into the Schools now without this project?
No. We do not have enough space at the three elementary schools to absorb classrooms for Full Day Kindergarten and our District Wide Special Education classroom programs we currently have at Moose Hill. The 8 modular classrooms allow us to make this change to Full Day Kindergarten and ensure we have enough space for the near future if enrollment holds between 1500 to 1700 students in grades K to 5.
13) Would Kindergarten students have 5 days of specials in their program?
Yes. The goal would be to fit into the master schedule specials every day of the week for Kindergarten students as we do from grades 1 to 5. The specials would be (1) Library (2) Art (3) Physical Education (4) Music and (5) Enrichment.
Personnel Questions
1) What happens to the Kindergarten Staff at Moose Hill with this plan?
The Kindergarten staff at Moose Hill will shift to all of the three elementary schools as they implement Full Day Kindergarten by August of 2026. If there is a positive vote for the project on March 11 2025 - we will begin the planning process with staff this Spring. We intend to have the same approach to staffing we have now at Moose Hill in terms of a teacher and an instructional aide in each Full Day Kindergarten classroom. We would still be able to have parent volunteers and room parents in this plan as well.
2) Do we have enough staff in this plan to achieve Full Day Kindergarten and not overload the three schools with needs?
Yes. When we shift the existing Kindergarten staff to three buildings we intend to meet all the staffing needs in each school and match it to student enrollment and needs. We have the staff right now to nearly implement full day Kindergarten and we are only projecting the need to add two professional staff by the 2026-27 budget at an estimated cost of $183K which includes an estimate of salary and benefit costs. (This is how we typically budget year to year with open positions from staff we have not hired yet)
If this project is not approved by the voters we do project a number of layoffs in our current teaching and support staff to match our staffing to overall lower enrollment. The current budget is planning for a positive vote for this project and we would rather keep the staff we have right now to implement Full Day Kindergarten in 2026-27 than reduce our staff now and hire new, inexperienced staff a year from now for our Full Day Kindergarten needs if approved.
3) How will related services - Speech - Occupational Therapy & other Interventionist services work after this change has been made to move Kindergarten into three separate schools?
If there is a positive vote for this process, we will use March of 2025 to October of 2025 to work with all Kindergarten staff to come up with a clear plan to redistribute their positions over three schools. We will try to match enrollment and need with staffing in all three schools. This plan also capitalizes on those services already existing in the three elementary schools as well. With our overall decreased enrollment we will be able to handle these changes and movement of staff without sacrificing the quality of services. We don't know yet if staff that provide related and interventionist services would be mobile between schools or assigned to just one. We already have some staff right now that provide related services in the school district that do work in multiple schools.
Facility Questions
1) Will the playgrounds at the other three elementary schools be updated to accommodate for kindergarten students?
This project does not set aside funds to add to the three elementary school playgrounds at this time. We will need to study the issue and come up with a longer term plan if we need to make a larger investment in the playgrounds at North School, South School, and Matthew Thornton. The playground equipment will remain at Moose Hill for the LEEP pre-school program. We need to better study our play grounds and play areas to figure out what will work fine for 5 year old students - there will be equipment that certainly does work for them. They will be able to have recess time at North School, South School, and Matthew Thornton.
2) Why does this project put adults in classrooms and students in modulars?
After studying many options over the summer of 2024, the School Board ultimately decided that this option was the best plan to fix two space issues we have as a community. Putting the district office staff at Moose Hill saves about 74% of the cost than building a new building. The modular classrooms are in excellent condition and will provide a great learning environment for our students at about 80% less in costs than the plan brought to the public last year.
3) Will the District Office Space be separate and safe for LEEP students and staff?
Yes. The District Office will have a separate entrance for the public and the public will not be able to enter the LEEP pre-school portion of the building. The District Office staff have all completed background checks like all our employees and volunteers. The District Office Staff will be separate from the LEEP staff and students during the school day.
4) Which grade level of students will be in the modulars at North School, South School, and Matthew Thornton?
Each school is a little different but in general these modular classrooms give us the space to implement Full Day Kindergarten on a much quicker timeline. At North School, the first grade classrooms right now have attached bathrooms. For that reason, we are not building modular classrooms with bathrooms for North School. Most likely the modulars at North School will be used by 2nd and 3rd grade classrooms when implemented. At Matthew Thornton, we are adding 1200 square foot modular classrooms with bathrooms that can be used by a Full Day Kindergarten program. At South School, we are also adding 1200 sq. ft. modular classrooms with bathrooms to allow them to be used by Kindergarten classrooms when needed. When these modulars are first implemented at South School, they will most likely by used by 4th and 5th grade classrooms.
5) Will the Kindergartens students have bathrooms in their classrooms with this project?
At North School they will because Kindergarten classes will be in the old 1st grade classrooms moving forward. At Matthew Thornton 4 of the modular classrooms will have bathrooms for the Kindergarten students. Some Kindergarten classrooms could end up in current 1st grade classrooms which are all near a number of of bathrooms. At South School, for the initial implementation, Kindergarten classrooms will be in the same part of the school as first grade to have easy access to bathrooms as well. The two modular classrooms being added do have bathrooms attached as well just in case South School changes their grade level configuration in the building and needs them for Kindergarten in the future.
6) Why are Full Day Kindergarten and the District Office Lease a bigger priority than other parts of the School system like the 100 wing of LHS?
Since public funds are limited, and the State has limited the amount of School Building Aid every community has tough choices to make to fix their building issues over time. Since we need 60% support for these larger needs we will always need to space these asks out over time to limit the tax impact and hopefully gain enough voter support. If you look at the tentative Master Plan on the prior page, we will need to come up with a serious solution for the 100 wing of LHS by the end of this decade.
7) How much space does the District Office take up now?
Right now we lease an office space of about 10,000 square feet that is office space, and storage for financial, school board, and personnel records. The current designs for Moose Hill will create about 8,000 square feet for office and storage space for the District Office Staff.
8) Can the District Office Staff work remotely?
No. The District Office team is comprised of 6 Departments - the Office of the Superintendent, Student Services, Human Resources, the Business Office, the Building and Grounds Department, and the IT Department. These six departments need to collaborate with all the schools and each other daily and in person to ensure we have an efficient and focused school system. Remote work may be possible for some lines of work but in education, to be successful we need to collaborate together in person.
9) Why won't the modular classrooms be ready by August of 2025?
With any building project there is a design and engineering phase that can take about 6 months if all things work out well - but typically goes longer. We do not have the funds to start that process without a positive vote on March 11th 2025. So if we start work on March 12th 2025 - in the best case scenario that design and engineering process would be done by August 2025. Then we would need to do the site work, purchase the modular classrooms, build the hallway connections to our buildings, and make all the electrical and plumbing connections as well. All those steps will be time consuming especially with the work happening on three separate sites. Most likely that entire process would not be completed until the early winter of 2026.
10) Why didn't we put the modular classrooms at the Moose Hill School to have full day Kindergarten?
With smaller overall enrollment, we had open classrooms to use for Full Day Kindergarten now at Matthew Thornton, North School, and South School. That is why we only need to make an investment of 8 modular classrooms. If we built modular classrooms only at Moose Hill we would need to build more of them overall and we would also need to build a large modular space that could serve as both a cafeteria and a space for physical education. All those costs would be higher overall at Moose Hill. We also would need to invest funds to pave a new section of a new parking lot because the modular classrooms would go on some of the existing spaces now. All those costs were millions of dollars more than the project the School Board ultimately chose and supports now.
Kindergarten Bussing Questions
1) Will Kindergarten students be riding the same busses as 1st through 5th graders?
Yes. Most of this state and country has an elementary school model that runs from Kindergarten to 5th grade and those students all ride the bus together. We can plan to have our youngest students have assigned seats near the bus driver that is far away from the older students on each school bus. If there is a positive vote this March, we will start planning with the bus company to update our routes by 2026-27 to accommodate Full Day Kindergarten at three schools.
2) Will this change the length of the elementary school bus routes?
If you look at the enrollment charts again - for North and South School we will have the same number of students in the school with Full Day Kindergarten that we had 4 and 5 years ago. We do not expect to see a major change in the length of bus routes. For Matthew Thornton, we will have about 60 more students than we did in the 2023-24 school year. We expect that we will need to have more bus routes at Matthew Thornton to accommodate this growth and not lengthen the bus routes.
Warrant Article Questions
1) Why are two projects on the same warrant article? Why are they not split up like last year?
The School Board chose to bring two problems together on this project to hopefully unite the community in solving both these space issues collectively.