Groton program bridging gap after kindergarten age change

GROTON, Conn. (WTNH) — This fall, fewer children are going to be eligible for kindergarten because they’re just not old enough. That has some parents scrambling to try to figure out how they will pay for another year of day care.

The Town of Groton already has a solution.

It’s called transitional kindergarten, and Groton is the first school district to provide the program.

“They’re not preschoolers, but they’re also not kindergartners,” said Meg Walker, one of the original Transitional K teachers who helped develop the program seven years ago. “They’re ready for that next step academically and emotionally but they need time to do it.”

Groton started Transitional K because some 4 years old were eligible to enter kindergarten, but they were not always ready for it.

“They’re so young when they start and they’re not ready for gripping a pencil and doing all the hard work of kindergarten,” Walker said..

The program helped the children build up their skills and confidence through academics and play. This year, it is going to be expanded from one districtwide class at Thames River Magnet School to four throughout town.

That’s because the need has grown with the state’s new law which required children to be 5 years old by Sept.1 in order to enter kindergarten without a waiver.

“It looks like we’re filling up the program to 18 times 4,” Superintendent Susan Austin said.

Carrie Federico-Baker taught kindergarten for 20 years and will now be one of the new Transitional K teachers at Groton’s Northeast Academy.

“Being in kindergarten for so long, you kind of see where they need to go so you can slowly move them there,” Federico-Baker said. “Like, stairs, instead of fast.”

Chris Bleir’s son couldn’t go into kindergarten until the next year when they lived in Rhode Island, which has a similar law.

“I think if we did have a transitional something like that in Rhode Island he definitely would have… he would have done well with something like that too,” Bleir said.

Middletown and New London also plan to add a Transitional Kindergarten program this fall.

A big concern for parents is having to pay for another year of day care because of the delay in sending their kids to kindergarten.

This program helps with that, and the superintendent in Groton hopes the state will look at helping school districts statewide.

“I’ve already talked to the commissioner about universal pre-k so I’m hoping that there will be funding for all of us,” Austin said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WTNH.com.