Kinnelon Board Approves Tuition-Based Preschool Program

will be offering a new tuition-based preschool program this fall that will combine special needs children with non-special needs preschoolers in one class at the

The Kinnelon Board of Education approved the new Kinnelon Inclusion Preschool (KIP) during a meeting Thursday. The preschool program will run Monday through Friday from 9:30 a.m. to noon beginning Sept. 6 and the tuition for non-special needs preschoolers will be $300 per month, or $3,000 per year, for the 10-month school year. Transportation will not be provided.

Speaking about the program after it was introduced last week, Superintendent James Opiekun said the program is designed to help mainstream the integration of the students.

"There are benefits for both," he said, speaking about the students coming together in one class.

Opiekun said that the district is required to have a preschool program for special education students, but decided to expand the program to include the non-special education preschoolers as well.

"I think it provides a preschool experience for other students in the community and it also helps us really assimilate our students into a mainstream setting," he said.

Opiekun said there will be about 10 to 12 spots for non-special needs children in the class. Kinnelon parents will be able to enter their three- or four-year-olds who are toilet-trained into a lottery for enrollment for the September school year. The first lottery drawing will be held on Aug. 1, with the parents of the children who were chosen being notified immediately.

To enter the lottery, parents are asked to send a letter of interest, including their child's name, address, telephone number and date of birth to dept.special.service@kinnelon.org or the Kinnelon Public Schools Department of Special Services, 109 Kiel Avenue, Kinnelon, NJ 07405.