There will be a full-day kindergarten class at Brookfield’s Congress Park School next year.

The class will be the only full-day kindergarten class in LaGrange-Brookfield District 102 held at location other than the Barnsdale Early Childhood Education Center.

The class will be held in space that is currently being used by the district’s Preschool for All program, which will be moving to Barnsdale next year.

“We’re adding a full-day section at Congress Park, and that really just has to do with space,” said District 102 Superintendent Warren Shillingburg. “Congress Park has the room we can use.”

The full-day kindergarten class will have about 22 students, Shillingburg said. It is also possible that there will be a half-day kindergarten class at Congress Park. Kids who don’t get into the Congress Park full-day class can attend full-day kindergarten at Barnsdale.

About 80 percent of the district’s kindergartners attend full-day classes, Shillingburg said.

Additional state aid means the cost to the district for the new Congress Park full-day kindergarten class will be no more than $25,000, Shillingburg said.

Next year, however, the district will have to pick up the approximately $90,000 cost for the Preschool for All program, because it is not expected to qualify for a new state grant for the program.

For that reason, board member Jennifer Comparoni voted against the continued funding of the preschool program at a recent District 102 school board meeting.

 

Head Start to stay at Congress Park

The Head Start program that has been at Congress Park School for more than 40 years is not going anywhere after all.

“We’re very happy that we will remain in District 102 in Congress Park School, and we’re thrilled that we will be able to provide services to the children and families within our community again,” said Susan Prudden, the Director of the LaGrange Area Head Start program.

Earlier this spring District 102 was hoping to find a new location for the LaGrange Area Head Start Program, but that search has been called off and the program will remain at Congress Park School.

“They’re staying at Congress Park; there’s not going to be any change,” Shillingburg said. “It caused controversy that we weren’t trying to cause, so we just left it alone.”