Brea Olinda USD outlines expanded TK/K extended-day program for 2024–25

Brea Olinda Unified School District officials on Tuesday presented plans to expand transitional kindergarten and kindergarten into an extended-day program for the 2024–25 school year, outlining schedules, classroom staffing and site-level operations.

"On behalf of Brendon Leon, our superintendent, I want to thank you for being here today for this exciting opportunity to hear about our expanded TK/K programming for the 2024–25 school year," said Phil Douglas, assistant superintendent of educational services, who opened the meeting and introduced the presenters. Lauren Tovar, director of educational services, and Penny Andrews, administrative director of child development services, provided the program details.

Tovar said the district's pilot and planning work led to a proposal that would place extended TK/K offerings at the district's six elementary sites and the Brea Online Academy. She described a split of schools into early-start (8:00 a.m. start) and late-start (8:45 a.m. start) schedules and summarized the school day's instructional components, including foundational English language arts and reading, mathematics, social studies, science, social-emotional learning and developmentally appropriate play.

"This year, we embarked on the adventure of exploring an extended day for transitional kindergarten and kindergarten," Tovar said, describing a model that integrates play-based learning centers, small-group instruction and a collaborative or co-teaching approach in classrooms so "we have more than one adult in the classroom" to support young learners.

Andrews described the after-school/extended program operations and named site coordinators at each location. She said the district's program centers open at 7:00 a.m. and close at 6:00 p.m., staff will accompany TK students to class at school start, and the program offers supervised childcare at no cost for families whose older siblings dismiss earlier during a 45-minute gap.

The presentation repeatedly described the extended offerings as fee-based. Andrews read monthly tuition figures during her remarks; the transcript records those amounts but multiple numeric values and time notations are garbled in the transcript. The district's presentation as captured in the transcript listed a monthly fee for TK and dual-immersion kindergarten at one site as "$5.25" and gave other monthly rates for grades and the teen center in forms that are not clearly readable. The district should be contacted to confirm the final fee schedule and any subsidies or waivers.

Douglas also listed school principals and site leaders for parents to contact for campus tours and enrollment questions.

The presentation closed with an invitation for questions from attendees; staff said a second informational meeting would be held the following evening at 6:00 p.m. and that materials would be posted on the district website.

What happens next: district staff opened a question-and-answer period and asked families to use a provided QR code to share contact information. Officials did not vote on or adopt a formal policy in the meeting; officials presented a program plan and operational details pending any final approvals or fee confirmations.