From Superintendent David Fleishman:

December 11, 2018

Dear Newton Community,

I am very excited to announce that all Newton elementary schools will offer full day kindergarten (FDK) in the ’19-‘20 school year. We believe this change has tremendous benefits for both students and families and will provide the opportunity to improve our already strong kindergarten program.

Beginning in September, all kindergarten students will follow the same schedule as other elementary students in grades 1 to 5. We expect this will make scheduling more manageable and predictable for all families in our district.

You can be assured that our elementary schools will continue to focus the kindergarten experience on supporting both the academic and social and emotional needs of students. The expanded time will provide greater opportunities for children to develop their social and emotional skills through a range of learning experiences. We will also maintain our commitment to small group instruction with a full-time teaching assistant in each kindergarten classroom to support both the teacher and students.

We will be communicating more specific information to incoming kindergarten families in the coming days as well as at the kindergarten orientation for families in February. You can visit our kindergarten registration website where more information will be posted as it becomes available.

Finally, I am grateful to Mayor Fuller for providing additional funding to our system in support of FDK and to the Newton Teachers Association for their commitment to making this change possible. Many people have been working on this initiative for several years and we are excited for its implementation in September.

Sincerely,

David Fleishman