Loose ends from a four-month-long Normal Park zoning battle finally are tied up after the school board voted 5-4 to reverse a previous decision and grant 12 rising pre-kindergartners automatic enrollment into the school’s kindergarten.
The families of the 12 children live outside Normal Park Museum Magnet School’s zone and were told last month that, even though they had paid part of the $5,000 for their children to attend pre-k at Normal Park, they would no longer be guaranteed a spot in kindergarten — the main reason many parents chose to pay for pre-k at the popular magnet school.
“When they paid their money, that was the commitment that was made to those families,” said Hamilton County school board member Janice Boydston.
The 12 children now will be the only exception, as the board stuck by its decision from last month to discontinue the paid pre-k program at Normal Park after next year.
In-zone students and those whose siblings already attend the school or whose parents teach there are the only ones who will be able to attend pre-k.
The board voted down another motion by school board member Everett Fairchild to limit Normal Park’s pre-k classrooms from two to one and eliminate the paid pre-program immediately.
“We need to do away with the pre-k program because sooner or later it’s going to get us sued,” he said. “Any parents that don’t want to accept this, we can give them their money back.”
Based on the long waiting list at Normal Park — administrators stopped taking names after 100 — principal Jill Levine said the school district would have no problem filling paid pre-k programs at several elementary schools. The programs would not guarantee spots in the school after pre-k.
At a time when the board is considering cutting teachers and programs to balance the budget, board member Rhonda Thurman said she was frustrated over the amount of time the board had spent discussing the Normal Park issue.
“We’ve spent the better part of five meetings talking about 11 families with children we don’t even have to educate,” she said.
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