by David Hill
Editor
Monday, April 23, the Board of Education for School District 564, Thief River Falls approved an expansion of its pre-school program, approved the elimination of the current Latch Key deposit process, replacing it with a non-refundable registration fee, and approved a fee increase for summer transportation for Latch Key.
The District has been talking about all-day preschool for a couple of years.
The Board approved a motion to add  two full-day preschool sessions for 4-year-olds. The days would be Tuesdays and Thursdays. Currently, the program serves 115 students. Under this proposal, the number of students served would only increase by five students, and it would not result in any additional costs to the District.
With the current system of a refundable deposit, the Latch Key program usually ends up with a large outstanding balance at the end of the school year, said Meg Kolden, administrator.
Currently, there’s a $50 per student refundable registration fee for the school year, and a $100 per student refundable registration fee for the summer. Kolden has proposed a $25 non-refundable fee for the school year, and a $50 non-refundable fee for the summer.
Kolden’s proposal was approved by the Board.
The cost of summer Latch Key Transportation is increasing.
Kolden explained that they haven’t been able to cover the cost of transportation during the summer with its current $75 per student fee. She proposed a registration fee of $175. She did add that they would offer a weekly rate of $35 per student.
Kolden did visit with representatives of THE Bus. A bus pass for THE Bus costs $60 per student in the summer.
The rate increase was approved.