The Commonwealth argues, on the basis of the age of the children, three to five and one-half years, that the jury could infer that the school included a kindergarten, and that a school which contains a kindergarten is properly considered an elementary school for purposes of the statute. There was, however, no evidence that the school contained a kindergarten. The officer's estimate as to the ages of the children is insufficient to create the inference the Commonwealth seeks.
Moreover, even if the inference were warranted, a kindergarten, together with a preschool, is not an elementary school. See State v. Roland, 577 So. 2d 680, 681 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1991). In that case the court construed a similar statute (Fla. Stat. s. 893.13[e] [1991]) which provided enhanced penalties for drug violations occurring "within 1,000 feet of the real property comprising a public or private elementary, middle, or secondary school." The court held that a school offering a "kindergarten/ preschool program that . . . enrolls students from the ages of two to six" was not the type of school enumerated in the Florida statute. State v. Roland, supra at 681. The construction by the Florida court accords with the normal dictionary definition of "elementary school" which is a school for the first six or eight grades. See the definition in Webster's Third New Intl.
Dictionary (1971 ed.), [Note 3] cited in Alford v. Southern Berkshire Regional Sch. Dist., 2 Mass. App. Ct. 98 , 100 n.1 (1974), and the definition in The American Heritage Dictionary 595 (3d ed. 1992). [Note 4]