On November 2nd (just nine days ago), the Niskayuna school board began publicly discussing the possibility of transitioning from half day kindergarten to full day kindergarten for the upcoming school year. Behind the scenes, however, this plan has had a long history. A recently released 14-page
report tells the story of several committees that were established over a 17-year period to study the issue and make recommendations. The report makes the case for full day kindergarten based on several factors including the following:
- Many other area districts have already switched to full day
- Money is available from New York state to assist in covering the costs for the first 2-3 years
- An estimated 19 additional kindergarten students would be added to the district who would otherwise have gone to private schools
- There are new state testing requirements for grades 3-8
Many parents have expressed reservations or voiced strong opposition to the plan, and are particularly surprised that the transition is planned for the upcoming school year. The district will have a board meeting on November 16th at which concerned parents will be given an opportunity to voice their opinions. The board may make a decision as early as the following board meeting, which is scheduled for December 7th. If the board does continue forward with this plan, the transition would still be contingent on passage of the school budget in the election on May 17th of next year. Two board members face re-election this year, so the May 17th vote will also decide who will serve in those two school board seats for the next three years.
Comments are welcome. How do you feel about this new development?
Honestly, my reaction is this: When will it stop? Are they next going to take away my son when he's two, requiring him to go to pre-school, never allowing him to just be a kid? What happened to transitioning into school? What happened to being taught values, morals, love in the home with a caring parent? And why would I have to pay for daycare for other people's children????? And I think the supposed "educational advantage" is rubbish. I only went to half-day kindergarten and look how great I turned out:) I also think it unfair to spring such an announcement on such short notice. Sure, the board may have been talking about it for years, but not to the general public....
ReplyDeleteMy first comment is that if a child is having difficulty transitioning to first grade supposedly because the child is not in a full-day Kindergarten program, would it not only push the stress back to a 3 or 4 year old who would need to be ramping up in preparation for full-day Kindergarten before they are really ready emotionally for this transition? There will always be a transition.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, when my son was 6 months old, I was in a position to have to work. He attended a wonderful program which he thoroughly enjoyed from 6 mos. until about 20 months, when I lost my position at work. Even at that young age, he came up to me, threw his arms around me and said, "Mommy's home!...Mommy's home!"...Enough said....