By Annie Sarlin
The Malden School Committee passed a new policy that allows teachers and other school department personnel living outside the district to enroll their children in the Early Learning Center preschool program.
At their meeting on Oct. 18, the committee voted unanimously to create the policy, officially titled “JFE4 Preschool Early Learning Center Admission of Children of School Department Personnel.”
The motion took effect immediately.
According to committee member Keith Bernard, the new policy will help make scheduling easier for school employees.
“We’ve got teachers that are coming from another district… allow[ing] them to go and enroll their kids in our Early Learning Center so that, at the end of the day… [they] don’t have to jump out of school to go running back to their home and…pick up their kid,” said Bernard.
The Early Learning Center, a preschool program in Malden for students ages 3-5, offers full and half-day programs. Parents and caregivers can also select if they wish to send their children in two, three, or five days a week. When registering, spots are available on a “first come, first serve basis,” according to the center’s website.
Sharyn Rose-Zeiberg, a school committee member, said the policy was designed to get more kids into the program.
“It seemed straightforward, we have spots available and we have people who want them,” said Zeiberg.
Unlike the public schools for older students, the Early Learning Center requires tuition. School employees enrolling their children will still be required to pay for their children’s spots at the center.
The new enrollment policy also details the following provisions:
- Residents of Malden will be prioritized in enrollment. Non-resident students will only be able to enroll if there is space available.
- Non-resident students will be limited to enrolling in three full days or five half-days of class. Half-days may not be combined.
- Parents or guardians are responsible for all transportation.
- If the non-resident parent/guardian stops working for Malden Public Schools, their child will no longer be permitted to attend the center.
- Staff will need to re-enroll their children every year.
On behalf of the Policies and Procedures Subcommittee, Zeiberg brought the motion for approval at the October committee meeting.
The subcommittee, which included Bernard, Dawn Macklin, and Robert McCarthy, voted unanimously on the policy before producing it to the larger group.
Zeiberg spoke on behalf of the policy and shared the process of its development.
“It [the policy] has gone through various formats and a lot of feedback. We…started over the summer and have been working on it since then,” Zeiberg reported to the committee. “It’s been reviewed and gone through various channels.”
Zeiberg shared that the committee members will continue to check up on the center to see how the policy is working.
School department employees outside of the district must go through the superintendent’s office to enroll their children in the Early Learning Center. The number of slots available for school employees living outside the district could not be determined by press time.
Annie Sarlin is a journalism student at Emerson College. Her work appears as part of a collaborative partnership between the “Community News Reporting” class taught by Mark Micheli at Emerson College and the Neighborhood View editorial staff.
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