Post by slt on Nov 19, 2007 16:39:57 GMT -6
To be published in the Beacon News Friday.
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Does District 204 need all day kindergarten for all children? And if so, what is the urgency to implement this in 2008?
The public was pretty much blindsided by this proposal at the Monday, November 12 Board of Education meeting. It appeared on the agenda that was published on the district’s website Friday afternoon, just a few days prior to the meeting.
Most surprising to me is that this was presented by the administration to the School Board at the meeting with an expectation that after discussion the Board would approve this endeavor at the very same meeting. Thankfully, due to the absence of three of seven board members, the vote was pushed to the next meeting on Monday, November 26. It is appalling to me that such a change would be made without any chance whatsoever for community input. It seems that the administration is so enamored with this idea that they have set aside any potential negatives as inconsequential. All of the elementary school principals showed up in full support. Only one of the four board members present had questions about the possible negative impact of implementing this.
I think it is only fair that the public be allowed to find out how this will affect programs in their elementary buildings and how it may affect their own families, whether or not they have a future kindergartener. I can’t imagine that this program is so necessary that we can’t take the time to step back and examine the facts and the possible effects on the district as a whole, kindergarten students, students in grades 1-5, and their parents.
Can we find out whether or not there is a positive benefit to this for children who are not behind their peers at age 5, that outweighs the potential benefit of having one more year as a little kid, time with family members, friends, time for naps, snacks, playing, outings?
There is too much push, in my opinion, for kids to begin excelling academically at a very young age and many children aren’t ready for it yet at that age nor do they need it. Many students I know have attended half day kindergarten and have gone on to excel beginning in the early grades. If there is too much curriculum being taught in kindergarten to fit into the ½ day allotted, then maybe we should scale back our expectations for that year. Historically kindergarten year is a good transition for many to attending school every weekday, going with the bigger kids, getting a taste of the specials, and learning some of the very basics that will be needed in the years to come.
We have just begun a pilot program for at-risk children in four of our buildings this year and it would seem prudent to wait for some results from that, and perhaps expand the pilot program to include at-risk children in some of our other buildings. There are children who arrive in the district ill-prepared for the learning that takes place in kindergarten and these students deserve to have extra resources focused on them so that they will enter first grade on a more even playing field with their peers. But why extend this all children?
I find it hard to believe that there are sixty-one classrooms that can be used for this within our twenty-one elementary buildings without compromising somewhere. Some obvious possibilities seem to be art, music, and computers on a cart, where there is no classroom available for these programs. Our district has an excellent fine arts program and we should not do anything that will negatively affect this. Our Grammy award winning high school music program could not exist without the foundation the children are given in elementary school.
Another obvious change would be that buildings which are already overcrowded would most likely need to increase class sizes in grades 1-5 in order to find space for the additional sections of kindergarten. Would the negative effects of this increase in class size potentially undo any good that was done by the academic cramming in kindergarten? As the district continues to grow, would we require an additional elementary school building solely due to implementing all day kindergarten, and if so, would the taxpayers be willing to support this?
Using 61 additional classrooms to provide all day kindergarten for all reduces our ability to deal react to enrollment fluctuations including those due to growth or boundary changes.
Many parents will be in favor of this because it will provide taxpayer funded school-day care for their kindergarten children. Many who now attend private kindergarten for this very reason will now attend kindergarten in the public school. While some might prefer the half day option, it is not planned to be offered in every elementary building and we also face the concerns some parents will have that their child will be “behind” if they don’t take advantage of this educational opportunity. It is hard to believe that most kindergarteners are not already learning plenty both at home and school.
One of the selling points is that we stand to receive more in state funds for this program than what it will actually cost us, with the expectation that we will be $2 million ahead per year. If this is true and remains true, then great! It’s hard not to be a bit skeptical.
In my house, where both parents work and all six of us attended half day kindergarten (2 of us when that half day included nap time!), we all prefer half day kindergarten and feel that there is enough pressure on kids to perform academically at an early age without adding this. We also have years of experience with art and music on a cart versus having rooms set aside specifically for them and we think there’s no question that the teachers and students are all much better off when they have designated space for these programs. Many others I’ve discussed this with agree.
While full day kindergarten for all could very well be the right thing to do, I am hoping that the public will get more information and more opportunity to give their input before this is put into place. Anyone who wants to have their say should e-mail the board at board-members@ipsd.org or arrive before 7pm to sign up to speak at the November 26 board meeting.
While times have changed, let’s not forget that little children are still little children.
SherryTatar@ameritech.net
______
Does District 204 need all day kindergarten for all children? And if so, what is the urgency to implement this in 2008?
The public was pretty much blindsided by this proposal at the Monday, November 12 Board of Education meeting. It appeared on the agenda that was published on the district’s website Friday afternoon, just a few days prior to the meeting.
Most surprising to me is that this was presented by the administration to the School Board at the meeting with an expectation that after discussion the Board would approve this endeavor at the very same meeting. Thankfully, due to the absence of three of seven board members, the vote was pushed to the next meeting on Monday, November 26. It is appalling to me that such a change would be made without any chance whatsoever for community input. It seems that the administration is so enamored with this idea that they have set aside any potential negatives as inconsequential. All of the elementary school principals showed up in full support. Only one of the four board members present had questions about the possible negative impact of implementing this.
I think it is only fair that the public be allowed to find out how this will affect programs in their elementary buildings and how it may affect their own families, whether or not they have a future kindergartener. I can’t imagine that this program is so necessary that we can’t take the time to step back and examine the facts and the possible effects on the district as a whole, kindergarten students, students in grades 1-5, and their parents.
Can we find out whether or not there is a positive benefit to this for children who are not behind their peers at age 5, that outweighs the potential benefit of having one more year as a little kid, time with family members, friends, time for naps, snacks, playing, outings?
There is too much push, in my opinion, for kids to begin excelling academically at a very young age and many children aren’t ready for it yet at that age nor do they need it. Many students I know have attended half day kindergarten and have gone on to excel beginning in the early grades. If there is too much curriculum being taught in kindergarten to fit into the ½ day allotted, then maybe we should scale back our expectations for that year. Historically kindergarten year is a good transition for many to attending school every weekday, going with the bigger kids, getting a taste of the specials, and learning some of the very basics that will be needed in the years to come.
We have just begun a pilot program for at-risk children in four of our buildings this year and it would seem prudent to wait for some results from that, and perhaps expand the pilot program to include at-risk children in some of our other buildings. There are children who arrive in the district ill-prepared for the learning that takes place in kindergarten and these students deserve to have extra resources focused on them so that they will enter first grade on a more even playing field with their peers. But why extend this all children?
I find it hard to believe that there are sixty-one classrooms that can be used for this within our twenty-one elementary buildings without compromising somewhere. Some obvious possibilities seem to be art, music, and computers on a cart, where there is no classroom available for these programs. Our district has an excellent fine arts program and we should not do anything that will negatively affect this. Our Grammy award winning high school music program could not exist without the foundation the children are given in elementary school.
Another obvious change would be that buildings which are already overcrowded would most likely need to increase class sizes in grades 1-5 in order to find space for the additional sections of kindergarten. Would the negative effects of this increase in class size potentially undo any good that was done by the academic cramming in kindergarten? As the district continues to grow, would we require an additional elementary school building solely due to implementing all day kindergarten, and if so, would the taxpayers be willing to support this?
Using 61 additional classrooms to provide all day kindergarten for all reduces our ability to deal react to enrollment fluctuations including those due to growth or boundary changes.
Many parents will be in favor of this because it will provide taxpayer funded school-day care for their kindergarten children. Many who now attend private kindergarten for this very reason will now attend kindergarten in the public school. While some might prefer the half day option, it is not planned to be offered in every elementary building and we also face the concerns some parents will have that their child will be “behind” if they don’t take advantage of this educational opportunity. It is hard to believe that most kindergarteners are not already learning plenty both at home and school.
One of the selling points is that we stand to receive more in state funds for this program than what it will actually cost us, with the expectation that we will be $2 million ahead per year. If this is true and remains true, then great! It’s hard not to be a bit skeptical.
In my house, where both parents work and all six of us attended half day kindergarten (2 of us when that half day included nap time!), we all prefer half day kindergarten and feel that there is enough pressure on kids to perform academically at an early age without adding this. We also have years of experience with art and music on a cart versus having rooms set aside specifically for them and we think there’s no question that the teachers and students are all much better off when they have designated space for these programs. Many others I’ve discussed this with agree.
While full day kindergarten for all could very well be the right thing to do, I am hoping that the public will get more information and more opportunity to give their input before this is put into place. Anyone who wants to have their say should e-mail the board at board-members@ipsd.org or arrive before 7pm to sign up to speak at the November 26 board meeting.
While times have changed, let’s not forget that little children are still little children.
SherryTatar@ameritech.net
.
