Published in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, by George Guido

October 9, 2014

A handful of families with 3- and 4-year-olds in the South Butler School District soon will have a pre-kindergarten program available.

Primary school Principal Dave Keibler said Wednesday that the district will be getting a $247,000 state grant for each of the next four years.

It will come from Gov. Tom Corbett's $10 million early education initiative that was approved in this year's state budget.

Keibler will have 20 seats available starting in January.

The school district will partner with the Butler-based Lifesteps to operate the free program.

Families eligible for the income-based program can make up to 300 percent of the federal poverty level.

That means that a family of four with an income of $74,000 could be eligible.

The students will stay in the classroom all day, instead of circulating through the school for different classes. The pre-school children will be dismissed about 10 minutes before the other primary students.

Parents will have to provide transportation. There will be no cost to parents. The state grant will cover the cost of $7,300 per pupil.

A teacher and an aide will have to be hired. Keibler will be recruiting 20 students from within the school district to get the program off the ground.

“I believe it is a rigorous and quality program,” Superintendent Michael Leitera said.

Officials said this new initiative is not to be confused with South Butler's Kindergarten Literacy Intervention Program, known as KLIP. There are 38 students enrolled in that program.

The school district also said it received a $5,000 from the Highmark Foundation for anti-bullying programs serving kindergarten through fifth grade.

In other business, the school board hired Cassandra Sandorf as an English teacher at Knoch High School, effective immediately at a prorated salary of $43,700 per year.

Sandora replaces Alison McBee, who resigned.

(George Guido, "Pre-K program initiated in South Butler School District," Pittsburgh Tribune-Reveiw, 10/9/14)