SEEK POSITIVE SOLUTIONS ON KINDERGARTEN

An overabundance of kindergarten students at Clippard Elementary School is creating headaches and heartaches for parents and administrators alike.

For the second year in a row, the school will have at least 17 kindergarteners too many at Clippard. Last year, the students were bused to other elementary schools with lower enrollments.

This year, a lottery-type system was used to determine which students would stay and who would be bused. A number of parents at Clippard are upset at the arrangement.

Busing should be the last choice for any school district to smooth enrollment peaks and valleys. Often, administrators have little choice when it involves only a handful of students.

But 17 or more students is virtually an entire kindergarten class. The numbers should adjust the district's response. The board should approve a third class of kindergarteners at Clippard School.

Superintendent Dan Tallent wants to wait until all the numbers are in to make a decision. That's reasonable. But it's unlikely that the kindergarten numbers will go down at Clippard -- unless the parents of kindergarteners picked for busing opt for private school.

New-home construction is booming in the western area of town that Clippard serves. This large number of kindergarteners is not a blip. It's at least a two-year trend. And, if enrollment drops off in the future, the district can simply move the additional teacher elsewhere.

That's the beauty of neighborhood schools: Families move into certain neighborhoods because, among other reasons, they want their children to attend a particular school. Neighborhood schools are well-liked in all sections of town. They spark pride and close-knit communities.

Parents who thought they'd have more than one student at Clippard will now face tough choices: Should they join two PTAs? What if school activities fall on the same night? Many times, it's hard enough to get parents involved at one school. They'll also lose the assurance of an older sibling keeping watch over a kindergartener.

Bused students also lose some valuable school time. Typically, the students are transported to their neighborhood school, and then bused to their new school each day. That can eat away valuable minutes of the school day -- in the morning and afternoon.

Many of these same parents are the ones who enthusiastically supported the $14 million bond issue in April. Four or five years down the road, improvements to the elementary schools will alleviate overcrowding.

But that won't help 17 kindergarteners at Clippard and their parents. Adding a new kindergarten teacher at Clippard would demonstrate the district's responsiveness to patrons when a problem occurs. It's not just a matter of public relations: the numbers underscore the need.