Educators Praise New Pre-K Program

Last year, New Jersey created a program to expand preschool to children living in mostly suburban districts. Twenty-seven districts applied for the voluntary program and received grants to either start new preschools or expand existing ones. This new program served about 1,000 young children around the state of New Jersey. Here is what some officials in these districts had to say about their ability to provide quality pre-K to their students.

“We see a huge variance in skills and background knowledge for our students entering pre-K. Without this pre-k program, many would enter kindergarten unprepared.”  --Jean Rishel, superintendent, Mannington Township School, Salem

“The children develop language and math skills, including letters and sound recognition, and basic math concepts. The children gain experience in socialization skills, mature play and other activities according to their own levels of development. Children’s attention spans are increased, as well as their enthusiasm and love of learning.”  --Sophia Domogala, director, South Plainfield School District

“The funding has allowed us to enroll almost twice the number of children we had served before. This includes twice the number of economically-disadvantaged students than were enrolled in our former program.” -- Nancy Ward, director of curriculum and instruction, Pittsgrove School District

“We currently have a waiting list to get into the program. We also have special education students who could move into the program if we had spots available. Without state funding, it is unlikely the district could pay for the program. This would be devastating to the students. Expanding the program is needed to provide more opportunities to the students of Lawrence Township.”  -- Dana Hice DePugh, ELLI Project Director, Lawrence Township School District

“Children who participated advanced more socially and academically than those who were new to the school setting. We also had a 50 percent success rate of classified students being placed in a regular kindergarten, while over 40 percent of the classified students were de-classified. This program was just notified this week that it is a ‘Best Practice’ winner.”  -- Frank Scarafile, superintendent, Little Ferry School District

“The children participating in our new preschool program will be better prepared to learn than previous pre-k students. The children have learned to work cooperatively with others, to share things and ideas and to take turns. They have learned to be more independent and make decisions about their learning. This new program has given our teachers the tools to enable our students to become successful learners in the future.” Elizabeth Keshish, assistant superintendent, Red Bank Borough School District

 “Our enrollment exceeded our expectations and we plan to expand further in the 2005-2006 school year.” --Adrienne Shulb, supervisor of curriculum and instruction, Egg Harbor City School District