By Kathleen Acuff

Teacher-in-charge Laura Bence helps with preparations for the new extended-day kindergarten to open at Bullis next week.

Next Wednesday, 100 kindergartners and their parents will cross the quad at Bullis-Purissima Elementary School and head toward the flags marking their classrooms.

They will be the first extended-day kindergartners in the Los Altos School District and the first mainstream students to return to Bullis since it was closed in June 2003.

Teacher-in-charge Laura Bence said last week, “It’s going to be bright. You’re going to feel the excitement in the air. It will be kind of a pioneer feeling. I love that!”

The students will experience a new routine of learning and playing from 8:45 a.m. to 2:15 p.m., but they’ll be surrounded by familiar faces.

Amy Gaffney, extended-day kindergarten coordinator for Covington Elementary and unofficial parent coordinator for the Bullis kindergarten, said last week that parents organized five play groups to give their children opportunities to get to know each other before school starts.

Because the extended-day kindergarten program is embarking on a trial year, Bullis will not have a PTA, but Gaffney has established a network of parents whose children will be Bullis kindergartners and the standard processes handled by parents are in place. Parents will serve hot lunches, manage traffic flow in the parking lot and supervise children on the playground. Gaffney said parents will find many opportunities to volunteer when school starts.

“It’s really a mix of children from every school, a kind of mini United Schools, but we’re also going to celebrate the individual schools they’ll be going to,” Gaffney said.

“This model will create a sense of community within the kindergarten program and also a great opportunity for families to meet each other and for kids to know kids throughout the district,” she said. “What is important is that we enable families at Bullis to have connections to their home school and feel part of their home school right from the beginning.”

Gaffney’s youngest child will be a Bullis kindergartner.

“I think it’s going to be a great program, and I think it’s the right program for my child. My oldest went to extended-day kindergarten, and it was the right decision for her. My middle child did a half-day program and did great in that. It depends on the child. For my son, extended-day is the right choice.”

Leslie Crane, principal of Covington and supervisor of the Bullis program, sees the extended-day kindergarten as filling a need in the community.

“Last spring, the parent community really embraced this idea. The Bullis facility is where we will try to create a successful model that we can bring back to all our home elementary schools.”

Bence is a former Bullis afternoon kindergarten teacher. In her new role, she will supervise five teachers, teach the music program, help with testing, model the phonics program and aid the special education program by placing students outside the district when appropriate.