Shelter Island Pre-K school substitute suggested
A committee searching for a way to restore an afternoon program as a one-year substitute for loss of the Shelter Island’s Pre-K3 program agreed to “think outside the box.”
Town Supervisor Amber Brach-Williams did just that and has a possibility in mind, she told her Town Board colleagues at Tuesday’s work session.
When the school district had to cut its half-day afternoon program to get its budget passed on a second vote, it left working parents at a loss. What has been working for them is a morning program offered by the Early Childhood Learning Center with the morning teachers walking students across the street from the Presbyterian Church to what has been referred to as “the big school.” That has allowed parents six straight hours of work time without having to worry about their children.
Ms. Brach-Williams is wondering if there is a way for the Town Recreation Department to offer a program of activities for the young children at the Community Center. If it could work, it would not be a pre-K program, but could occupy the young children with activities.
No wheels are turning to try to make that happen yet, but it would fill a gap if that could happen with the hope that when the administration and Board of Education look at the 2026-27 budget, it would be expected to try to restore its afternoon program.
To date, those who operate the program at the church let it be known that their program can’t be expanded beyond two hours and 59 minutes and their fate hangs in the balance if an afternoon program failes to be restored after the next school year.
The private school has enough money to make it through the next school year. But after that, it could fold without some means of creating an afternoon program to dovetail with its operation.
