GREENWICH -- Hamilton Avenue School's principal would like the proposed extended day program to be something all of her students can benefit from.

Superintendent Toni Jones originally pitched the program in her 2025-26 proposed operating budget as something that would only be offered to one class per grade, kindergarten through fifth.

But at the Board of Education's Dec. 12 business meeting, Principal Diane Chiappetta-Fox said this could create "an equity issue."

The program, which district officials allocated $200,000 to in the proposed 2025-26 operating budget, was pitched as a program that would extend the instructional time for one section per grade by between one and two hours a day.

Jones told the BOE at the business meeting that Hamilton Avenue teachers were thinking of extending the instructional time for reading and math. Currently, a school day is six and a half hours, so "adding those two hours is the equivalent of 55 extra school days."

"It's kind of hard to wrap your head around that," Jones said. "That's a lot of instructional time."

Chiappetta-Fox said that officials are "still in the examination phase of trying to figure out how we implement" the program including figuring out "which teachers stay and get the extra two hours and which ones don't."

Jones told the school board that the district is looking into different ways the extended day program could be put in place if fully funded. One plan would be to offer it to every student since Hamilton Avenue is a "two section school" -- each grade has two classes of students.

District officials will finalize the plan for the program later in the school year and summer, provided it doesn't get cut during the budget process. Jones said program operation will depend "on who ends up taking these positions and what roles," since teachers need to be compensated for working an extended day.

BOE member Michael-Joseph Mercanti-Anthony said the program "is a terrific idea" and he would like the board to get more information later in the school year if it survives budget cuts.

"I think it makes sense, because this is so different, (to have) an implementation check at the end of the year and see how we're ready to go and how the planning is going, things like that," he said.

The BOE approved the 2025-26 operating budget at its Dec. 12 business meeting, but with a $500,000 reduction with district officials determining where the $500,000 cuts will come from.

The BOE is scheduled to present its budget to the town Board of Estimate and Taxation on Jan. 28.