The opening of tuition-free full day kindergarten at Glencoe District 35 has impacted organizations outside the school district, officials said at the Sept. 20 Glencoe Park District meeting.
Finance Director Carol Mensinger said the park district has experienced a $200,000 revenue loss due to the cancellation of some programming aimed at kindergarten age children, as full day sessions became available at South School at the beginning of the 2016-17 school year.
Until this school year, the park district offered some tuition-based half day programs, because the school district only offered half day kindergarten sessions.
“We knew it was coming, but we are continually looking for staff to find other programming revenues so that we might make up some of that difference,” Mensinger said.
Also feeling the impact is Glencoe Junior Kindergarten, an independent organization that runs out of the Park District’s Takiff Center headquarters.
GJK Director Debra Gaetano said there has been no financial impact to her organization, but it has discontinued a program for kindergarten age children that had been in place for three or four years.
“We made some adjustments to allow for programs for different ages, but by no longer having a kindergarten program, it allowed us to have an opportunity to add some programming to meet the needs of the community,” Gaetano said.
Gaetano reiterated her support for the school board decision, which she says allows GJK to focus on younger children ages 15 months to five years old.
“That is our area of expertise,” she said.
Meanwhile, commissioners unanimously agreed at the meeting on a recommendation from park district staff to get additional information for scheduling improvements, which could be done as early as next year, at a series of park district sites.
Staff will study how to move forward on improvements at Lakefront Park; and, in cooperation with District 35, the West School playground; the creation of a fitness area at the Takiff Center, with a corresponding increase in parking capacity; Astor Park; and a study of bluff erosion at the beach.
If eventually agreed to by the board, construction at those locations could begin as early as next year.
However, Commissioner Andre Lerman maintained that no final decisions have been made and the board’s action on Sept. 20 simply allows the staff to examine the options more closely.
“It is like launching ships,” Lerman said. “Each ship is going to go out and these projects are going to take on a life of their own, and there are going to be a lot of discussions along the way. So there is nothing predetermined other than bringing a focus on these things.”
Also, the board is allowing the staff to get initial designs for a proposed dog park at the Takiff Center, but board members say the search for a private donation to pay for the park is ongoing.
Daniel I. Dorfman is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press
