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Welcome to kindergarten More than 300 students enrolled in historic year

By Margo Sullivan
Staff writer
Published: August 13, 2008

DERRY — Grinnell Elementary School Principal Mary Hill admits getting butterflies before every first day of school, so she's really excited about this year's opening day.

On Sept. 2, for the first time in town history, Derry's five elementary schools will open with 22 public kindergarten classes, enrolling approximately 330 children.

About 60 children will attend Grinnell either for a morning or an afternoon session. Some will be as young as 4. When the town's first kindergartners walk through the front door, they will start with everything new — from the carpets on the floor to the books in their hands.

Derry's four other elementary schools also will offer kindergarten this year, with the newest classes learning in converted classrooms. Only Grinnell's kindergarten classrooms will be brand new. Workers recently finished building a two-room addition to the school.

The new classrooms sat empty yesterday and are not quite ready for the students. Sinks, running water and bathrooms have been installed. The tiny toilet has been the "talk of the town" because it's so small there's almost no danger of anyone falling in, Hill said.

Otherwise, nothing's in place yet, but everything's on schedule, she said. Hill is still waiting for some of the furnishings, including a cubby and hook system for coats and winter boots to be delivered. The room's round tables, blue chairs and puppet theaters have arrived and sit stacked in the music room, along with books and toys.

The rooms also feature a play market with shopping carts, used to teach social skills, and big blue mailboxes, which the students will use to mail each other letters they've written.

"I feel we've been given such a great gift," Hill said. "The earlier we get these babies, the earlier we can start them on a consistent curriculum."

Although Derry, like other communities, has private kindergartens, the curriculum is not the same as in public school, she said.

Superintendent Mary Ellen Hannon said public kindergarten will allow the staff to intervene early in cases where children are struggling. Teachers can assess whether the problem is developmental or a learning disability. A consistent program will allow teachers to measure first-grade achievement effectively and smooth the transition for the children.

"They're not starting over again," she said. "They'll be going to the same school."

Hannon said kindergarten classes will average 15 students.

Once the next school year begins, only 10 New Hampshire communities will be without public kindergarten, according to Helen Schotanus, consultant for primary education/reading with the state Department of Education. Pelham, Salem and Windham are among the towns that still have to meet the state's deadline of starting public kindergarten by fall 2009. School officials in those communities said they are studying the options.

Schotanus said the benefits of public kindergarten are gains in student achievement in first grade. In communities like Goffstown and Hampstead, which have started public kindergarten, first-grade teachers report they are "stunned with the improvement in student achievement," she said.

Salem Superintendent Michael Delahanty said school officials are studying a temporary solution to allow the kindergarten program to begin by the 2009 deadline.

"We are exploring the option of having relocatable or temporary classrooms at each of the elementary schools," he said.

The state will pay for temporary classrooms, furniture and equipment, if the community pays for site preparation and utilities. But Delahanty said that would only be an interim solution and the permanent solution would "mean something like a new building or renovations or additions at existing buildings."

Pelham and Windham are still studying options, but plan to meet the state deadline, according to Kathleen Sargent, Pelham's business manager.