JAMESBURG Utilizing grant funds from the New Jersey Department of Education, the borough’s Public School District has launched full-day preschool.
“The district has a plethora of reasons to expand from a part-day to a full-day preschool program. Our goals include higher achievement for our students by offering a standards-based high quality full-day preschool program, including more stakeholders in the district, addressing non-English speaking students earlier in order to build their English language skills, upgrading our curricula, and strengthening the PreK to 3rd grade transition,” Superintendent Brian Betze said.
The school district was notified of the availability of the grant on Aug. 1 during a meeting with the New Jersey Department of Education. The grant was due two to three weeks later, according to Betze.
“We worked diligently and submitted the grant a few days before the deadline,” he said.
The school district was notified that the application was successful for approximately $936,000 for preschool expansion, according to Betze.
On Oct. 12, the school district started its newest full-day preschool program.
With the grant funds, “The district added four preschool teachers, four classroom paraprofessionals, a supervisor of early childhood, upgraded creative curriculum, computers, classroom resources for the four new classrooms, furniture and a preschool playground,” he said.
The school district went from 36 part-day preschool students with two teachers to 78 full-day preschool students with six teachers, according to Betze.
All six preschool classrooms are housed at John F. Kennedy Elementary School, according to Betze.
For more information, visit www.jamesburg.org/jps or call 732-521-0303.
Contact Vashti Harris at vharris@newspapermediagroup.com.
