TRAVERSE CITY -- Rhonda Adams wanted so badly for her son to attend kindergarten all day, every day that she was prepared to send him to a school farther from home that offered the program.
Then she got a call informing her that kindergarten in her home school, Cherry Knoll Elementary, would be full-time this fall. She immediately switched plans.
Adams and other parents addressed Traverse City Area Public Schools board members this spring about their desire to see the all-day, everyday program in every school -- but especially at Cherry Knoll.
"I personally believe that's part of the reason" it was chosen, she said.
Administrators insist that's not the case.
Cherry Knoll will join Silver Lake Elementary this fall as the newest buildings to host the program. Blair, Traverse Heights, Interlochen and Courtade schools already have full-time classrooms.
The two schools were selected based on a series of factors, including the percentage of children eligible for free or reduced lunch and students' reading scores, said Jame McCall, executive director of elementary and special education.
District statistics from December show Cherry Knoll and Silver Lake had the highest free-or-reduced populations of the remaining elementary schools without the everyday program.
Most kindergartners in the district attend school for two full days and one half day. Full-time students are in class for 1,865 minutes every week and take an extra art and music class. Those on the part-time schedule attend school for 933 minutes each week.
At least two classrooms are planned at both Cherry Knoll and Silver Lake, Superintendent James Feil said. It costs about $75,000 per section.
Feil estimated it will cost $700,000 to open sections at the remaining elementary schools.
"My goal is to try to complete that in two or three years," he said. "This is a priority."
Administrators allocated money from the district's general fund to support Silver Lake, and it initially was to be the only school to add the program next year.
But the Traverse Bay Area Intermediate School District released about $473,000 in state discretionary dollars to TCAPS, which will fund Cherry Knoll's kindergarten.
The ISD gave a share of these funds to each of its member districts for the last five years, Superintendent Mike Hill said.
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