Bellmore gets ready for full-day K
By Jennifer Lacey
The Bellmore School District is gearing up for the start of its first full-day kindergarten program this coming fall.
At last week's school-board meeting, Superintendent Sheldon Dumain released the district's implementation plan for the program, which will require reorganizing classes at all three of Bellmore's schools.
Under the plan, children who start pre-kindergarten at the district's Early Childhood Center will remain in the same building through second grade. Dumain said, "This provides the least amount of movement for the children."
Richard Daddio, assistant superintendent for business and technology, said keeping incoming kindergartners at the Early Childhood Center for three full years has received "very positive feedback" from parents and teachers who have reviewed the plan.
Daddio added that full-day kindergarten will not be "a repeat of a half-day class. It will involve a full curriculum that will begin to teach the children their years-long preparation for the state-mandated tests in the fourth and eighth grades."
The board of education reviewed and approved the implementation plan, which generated no objections from the audience of 25 residents who had gathered at the Early Childhood Center for the district meeting.
In other news, Leslie Edelman, assistant superintendent for instructional services, said Bellmore has been cited for its outstanding science program, which has been observed by educators from the Oyster Bay School District and the Temple Beth-El Nursery School in North Bellmore. Additionally, several Hofstra University education majors have come to see the program.
Daddio said Bellmore and Cablevision are setting up videoconferencing between classes in the district.
