Pre-K moves upset parents
GREENWICH — Prekindergarten got off to a great start for Sara Savov’s 3-year-old son Scott. He moved off the wait list at Parkway School, and was attending the same school as his 6-year-old brother Stewart in the same building where they are zoned to go to elementary school.
The only hiccup was that Savov lost the deposit she put down at a private preschool. But the school was worth the wait for Savov, whose son attended prekindergarten there until Parkway closed in
March due to the coronavirus.
But Savov already knew that her son’s prekindergarten days at Parkway were numbered. She had been shocked by call from a school district official in February who told her the prekindergarten at Parkway would be closed and the students moved to North Street School this fall.
“Just a phone call. A 10-minute conversation,” Savov said. “It was like the rug was pulled from underneath you. We had no idea.”
Since then, she has organized a group of backcountry parents to advocate for the Greenwich Public Schools to reinstate preschool at Parkway School for reasons that include forming smaller classroom sizes post-coronavirus, making early education consistent for young children and keeping shorter commutes in the morning.
“It is imperative to keep the Parkway preschool program open as the recommendations for socialdistancing may require smaller class sizes in different locations,” Savov said. “There are also suggestions for staggering class sessions with smaller class sizes, for which you will need additional locations.”
The Board of Education had known about the possible change as far back as November, Superintendent Toni Jones said. It was notified twice in February that the district was evaluating the best school sites for preschool classrooms, given that Parkway had low enrollment, information that was also shared during the “Superintendent’s Update” at a public meeting, she said.
“The BOE had been aware since November that preschool sections were being evaluated with care, and that (the district) would be losing one section to better align with state guidance peer ratios,” Jones said.
But the Parkway parents feel they never had a chance to have their say.
“I’m not angry, but I am frustrated,” Savov said.
Savov’s son, who was not initially picked for the Parkway prekindergarten in the lottery, was lucky. Other children did not move off the wait list, and parents chose private preschools, which can cost $1,000 to $30,000 more per year than the preschool offered by the Greenwich Public Schools, which costs about $7,000.
Preschool classrooms, which offer a limited number
“It is imperative to keep the Parkway preschool program open, as the recommendations for social-distancing may require smaller class sizes in different locations. There are also suggestions for staggering class sessions with smaller class sizes, for which you will need additional locations.” Sara Savov, parent of a pre-K student at Parkway School, which will be closing its preschool and moving it to North Street School
of spots, are placed in schools that are centrally located to students with special-education needs, and where there are the most requests from parents of typically developing children. Parkway had two preschool sections this academic year, but the school was projected to fill only one classroom for 2020-21. Instead of leaving it there, the district decided to move the class to North Street.
Connecticut does not require preschool for all children, but federal law mandates that districts provide preschool to serve the needs of 3- to 5-yearolds who are eligible for special-education services.
This population has grown over the last decade as identification methods have improved, Jones said in an email.
That, in turn, has increased demand for preschool in Greenwich. The school district added three new sections for January through June 2019, which were not budgeted in the 2018-19 fiscal year.
Demand is increasing for two reasons, Jones said. First, the district is improving its ability to identify children who need services that preschools provide. Second, the district is communicating better to families and private schools its ability to assess children for services and preschool, she said.
“In essence, GPS has gotten better at reaching out to families and helping the community understand what is available by law,” when it comes to preschool, Jones said.
Savov’s case illustrates the prekindergarten demand for typical children: It is cheaper, close by, popular among parents and allows older and younger siblings to be in the same building.
To keep costs down in the 2020-21 operating budget, the school district changed the ratio of 10 typically developing children to 5 special-education children in each preschool class to a ratio of 9 to 6, reducing the number of preschool sections from 14 to 13 and saving the district $200,000 that would have gone toward the salaries of one teacher and almost three full-time professional assistants.
For the Parkway preschool parents, the projected low demand does not make sense after they spent months on the wait list.
“The reason they shut down Parkway was that there is no demand,” Savov said. “That is not the case at all.”
She also said it does not match the number of students receiving special education services in Parkway.
Jones said that 20 percent of the students in special education at Parkway do not live in neighborhoods zoned for the school because they stayed on after attending preschool there.
This makes it difficult when placing special education students for preschool who are bused from Cos Cob or Julian Curtiss, because preschool seats closer to their homes are already filled, Jones said.
“The class at North Street should help mitigate this bus challenge, as NSS is more centrally located,” she said.
Parents calculated that the children zoned for Parkway who may go to North Street next year would spend between 20 and 28 minutes traveling to North Street at 8 a.m. or 37 to 48 minutes at 8:30 a.m., when there is more traffic.
Going to and from Parkway School takes about nine to 13 minutes from these homes.
The experience for Savov’s son abruptly ended in March. When he returns, everything will be different.
“You’re not going back to school until the fall. You got half a year with a teacher who you were just falling in love with. And now, you no longer get to see this person,” Savov said. “And better yet, you’re going into another grade, and you do not have the same kids in your class.”
Eliminating the preschool program cuts deep for Parkway parents, who worry that the school — already the smallest in the district — could be closed eventually due to low enrollment.
During a Board of Estimate and Taxation workshop on the budget this spring, that idea of closing Parkway was mentioned but never taken up.
“It affects Parkway’s preschool and Parkway School itself,” Savov said.