PORT ANGELES — School Board President Steve Baxter and Superintendent Gary Cohn both say the board never intended to remove free half-day kindergarten as an option.
On June 8, the School Board voted 4-1, with board member Lonnie Linn opposed, to provide full-day kindergarten at all elementary schools — and charge tuition.
On June 9, Baxter, questioned about the action taken regarding half-day kindergarten, said:
“We took a fairly strong stand and that is why I brought the amendment to the motion to remove the possibility of a half-day.”
On Friday, Baxter said: “My amendment to the motion was not to have separate half-day from paid full-day. Our intention was no separate half-day free classes.”
He said his concern was to avoid creating separate classes for free and paying students. Instead, the half-day or extended day classes would be “embedded” into the full day, with both attending the same class, but with half-day students leaving earlier.
He also said that the state requires public school districts to provide free half-day kindergarten.
Cohn, who is in his final days as Port Angeles superintendent, said Friday: “What the board said was we couldn’t offer a separate half-day only program. They wanted the half-day delivered within a full-day structure.”
On June 15, Cohn said that the wording of the motion was important.
“There is a legal difference between what was said during discussion and what was actually voted on and specifically stated in the motion,” Cohn said.
“The motion doesn’t prohibit people from doing that [taking their children out at half day for a free option.]”
The unapproved minutes of the June 8 meeting say:
“Mr. Linn moved, seconded by Mr. Baxter, to amend the motion to prohibit the district from offering any half-day only section for students. After discussion the amendment passed.”
The minutes are expected to be approved today.
No recording of the meeting is available because Michele Pace, executive assistant to the superintendent — who takes the minutes for the School Board meetings — said the tape recorder malfunctioned, and nothing can be heard during the discussion but static.
