The Roosevelt Island Day Nursery will offer full-day Pre-K programs for four-year-olds at greatly reduced tuition for the 2000-2001 school year.

The Day Nursery's expanded program will be carried out with subsidy funds provided by District 2 of the City Board of Education. The full-day programs will run 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. (PS 217 will continue to offer two-and-a-half-hour morning and afternoon classes for four-year-olds.) The Day Nursery's proposal for the Universal Pre-K program was supported by PS 217 Principal Sherry Gregory, RIRA President Patrick Stewart, RIOC President Robert Ryan, Assemblymember Pete Grannis, and City Councilmember Gifford Miller.

According to Sara Seiden, Director of the Day Nursery, there is a need for the full-day programs for the Island's working parents. The Day Nursery has a 25-year history of providing professionally-taught pre-school programs for Island children, working with the guidance of a Parent Board of Directors. It provides preschool programs for ages two through four, with a school-year program September to June and an eight-week summer session in July and August. For the 2000-2001 school year, the school will offer new part-time half-day classes two days or three days a week, as well as Monday-Friday half-day programs.

Children born in 1996 will be eligible for Pre-K in September, 2000. According to Seiden, priority for the full school-day places at the Day Nursery will be given to families in the greatest need of financial assistance. Places will be limited and parents are urged to call the Day Nursery at 593-0750 as soon as possible.

The Day Nursery's proposal emphasized that the Island's population has always been ethnically, culturally and racially diverse, that the school's population has reflected this diversity, and that the geographical isolation of the Island creates a need for local childcare.