KIPP kindergarten gets an early start

LYNN – The school year began last week for almost 1,000 KIPP Academy students, including 120 kindergartners who are the first elementary-school students to attend the charter school.KIPP in May signed a lease for the JB Blood building?s fourth floor and part of the third floor with plans for the space to include five classrooms, offices and a “cafegymnasium.”?We?re lucky to get them at such a young age,” said KIPP kindergarten lead teacher Elsy Estevez-Hicks. “It?s an ideal time to start building the academic and social skills they will need to succeed in school and in life.”A nationwide charter school program, KIPP began educating Lynn children in 2004 and currently has 850 students in grades 5-12 in a $22 million school opened in the Highlands in 2011.It received state Board of Education approval earlier this year to add a 736-student elementary school, beginning with a kindergarten, and adding first through fourth grades over the next four years. KIPP students returned to school on Aug. 17, but charter officials said students participated in learning sessions during July. KIPP stresses “academic and character development,” according to a statement released by the school.Although it is initially leasing kindergarten space, KIPP Executive Director Caleb Dolan last spring said the charter school has long-term plans to acquire elementary-school space.Dolan said KIPP opened its first Massachusetts kindergarten program in Boston this year. He said the 20 Wheeler St. kindergarten?s classes include music- and science-oriented programs.Dolan said the extended school day for kindergartners has paid dividends in Boston KIPP with 93 percent of kindergartners “testing above the national average in reading.”Launching a charter school kindergarten is also part of KIPP?s plan to boost its students? eventual college achievement success. The school statement said a “K-12 KIPP education will improve college graduation rates by 20 percent.”