Applications for the 2017-2018 school year are being accepted for the Owego Apalachin Central School District’s Universal Pre-Kindergarten (UPK) program for families who reside in the district. This program is to help provide 4-year-old children with a better foundation as they prepare to enter kindergarten.
To be eligible for the program, children must live in the district and turn four on or before Dec. 1 of the year in which they are enrolled in UPK or be eligible to enter kindergarten the following year. Children who are eligible for kindergarten are not eligible to attend UPK if the parents/guardians choose to hold them back for one year.
It is anticipated that the session times will be as follows: Owego Elementary School, located at 2 Sheldon Guile Blvd. in Owego, will go from 8:50 to 3:20 for the full-day program; half-day programs are either 8:50 to 11:20 or 12:50 to 3:20. The Apalachin Elementary School, located at 405 Pennsylvania Ave. in Apalachin, has only a full-day program that will run from 8:50 to 3:20.
Generally, the participants will attend the UPK program at the elementary building located where they will be attending kindergarten. The district will continue to have one UPK class in the morning and one in the afternoon with Franziska Racker Centers at Owego Elementary School, which will be integrated and contain additional staff.
The district will continue to collaborate with the Family Enrichment Network (FEN), which also coordinates the Head Start Program for preschool students in Tioga County. If you are interested in having your child also attend Head Start’s half-day program in the morning, please contact Kate Grippen at 723-8313, ext. 822. Transportation for children who will also attend the Head Start program at the Washington Gladden / Abide in the Vine building will be provided by FEN.
If you are interested in your child being considered for the OA Pre-K program, please complete an application and return it to Pupil Personnel Services, Owego Apalachin District Offices, 5 Sheldon Guile Blvd., Owego, N.Y. 13827; Owego Elementary School, 2 Sheldon Guile Blvd., Owego; or Apalachin Elementary School, 405 Pennsylvania Ave., Apalachin. The applications are posted on the district website, http://www.oacsd.org.
Because they have a limited number of openings, they anticipate the program will fill up quickly, so they are required to hold a lottery to choose which students will be able to attend the program. They will accept applications until 9 a.m. on Tuesday, April 4, 2017, at which time we will hold the lottery drawing at the OA District Offices at 5 Sheldon Guile Blvd., Owego.
The names drawn at the time will get their choice of location and session. If your desired location or session fills up, you will have the opportunity to choose from openings in the other school on a first-come-first-served basis. After all slots are filled, names will be put on a waiting list according to the date they receive the application with earliest dates being closest to the beginning of the waiting list.
If parents choose to send their child to the elementary school outside their regular attendance zone, the parents will be responsible for providing transportation to and from school unless the child is in a registered daycare. In addition, once the child turns four years old, for students attending half-day sessions, the district can provide transportation to school for the students who are attending the morning session, or home after school for students attending the afternoon session. Students who will attend the full day session and are four years old are eligible for transportation to and from school, if the parents choose.
In recent years they have had enough applicants that they had to create a waiting list, so please send the required paperwork back to them as soon as possible. Besides the application, they will need copies of the child’s birth certificate, immunization record, two proofs of address and the district health form signed by your child’s physician.
If you have any questions, please contact Thomas E. Comerford III at 687-6226.
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