By Rod Hansen
Staff Writer

With school construction on schedule and the teaching staff hired, the Glen Lake School is on track to open in the fall, the building’s principal has said.

Recent heavy rains caused no construction delays and the school will easily meet its target opening date of Oct. 2, said Glen Lake Principal Leslie Doster.

“The project is moving along as planned,” she said. “The good news is, even with all the rain we got, the building sustained that without any problems.”

Workers are now putting bricks up on the building and putting on the roof, Doster said.

The construction manager on the building is Pro Con, Inc., of Manchester and the architect on the $2.8 million project is Marinace Architects of New Hampton. The 16,000-square-foot school will have 10 classrooms.

Staff hired for the new school includes four kindergarten teachers, who will be responsible for four separate classes in the morning and three in the afternoon.

The kindergarten will run half-day programs in two sessions, with morning classes from 8:40 to 11:10 a.m. and afternoon classes from 12:30 to 3 p.m.

The school will also be home to an integrated preschool program, Doster said. That program will be split evenly between special needs students and role model students in classes for 3- and 4-year-old students.

Two teachers have been hired for the integrated preschool.

“We’re very excited about the quality of professionals we were able to tap into,” Doster said.

Also hired are one paraprofessional per kindergarten classroom, a school nurse, a secretary and a custodian, as well as speech pathologist and an occupational therapist.

Just as important as the school personnel is the school curriculum, she said. Students in the kindergarten will use the same reading, math and handwriting programs as are used in the elementary schools to enhance continuity of education.

“A few years back, we saw (students) were coming from 39 different preschool and kindergarten settings into the first grade, all with different philosophies of education,” Doster said.

“As an administrator in an elementary school building, I can see the problems first-graders have coming from so many different kindergartens and preschools,” said Doster, who has been assistant principal at Maple Avenue for seven years. She has also taught preschool, kindergarten, first through fifth grades and has worked as an early childhood educator in SAU 19.

Students will not be required to enroll in kindergarten before entering the first grade, because kindergarten is not mandatory in New Hampshire, Doster said.

Conversations with private kindergarten administrators show the new school will not pose a threat to private institutions, she said.

“As time goes by, people are putting their children in preschool earlier and earlier,” Doster said. “From my discussion with private preschool and kindergarten providers, (Glen Lake School) is not a threat.”

For transportation, parents can take advantage of their neighborhood bus programs, according to information provided on the school district’s Web site.

The morning students can use the buses to get a ride to school and afternoon students can get a ride home on the buses, but no midday transportation will be provided.

More information about the kindergarten is available at http://www.goffstown.k12.nh.us/Kindergarten/index.