I do not support the full day kindergarten proposal for the following reasons:
1) The ORCSD needs to enforce fiscal responsibility prior to spending additional funds, or even reallocating funds, for another program. I am not confident that the District is spending our tax dollars wisely as demonstrated by the bid process issue.
2) I believe the District should be spending any additional funds on improving the middle / high school curricula. There are gross deficits (e.g. lack of strong honors and AP course offerings) that should be addressed and considered a higher priority than all day kindergarten.
3) I have not seen any cost-benefit analysis or public debate on the academic priorities for the School District. Open, public debate should happen before it is decided that all day kindergarten warrants funding, especially in lieu of the aforementioned curriculum improvements at the middle / high school levels.
If there were unlimited educational funds, I would have no problem with the all-day proposal, but that is not the state of the ORCSD.
As parents and taxpayers, we need the biggest bang for our buck. In the long run, I simply do not believe a full day kindergarten program is the best option with the strongest, long-term benefits.
I can't support the full day program at this time. Our district has too many other priorities, as Ms. Turnbull says.
Most school districts in New Hampshire teach at least 3 world languages. Oyster River is at the bottom of the pack offering only Spanish and French. We also don't begin teaching world languages until 7th grade and then only for half the year. In many communities languages are taught at the elementary level (Rye, Greenland, New Castle do this around here).
I have no idea how much a kindergarten program will cost but I would think for this money we could add Latin and Chinese and begin teaching two languages (French? Spanish?) earlier. This would help our students on many fronts: cultural awareness, SATs, language development, listening skills, word origins, etc.
I have read and re-read the kindergarten study. One thing they state is that the increased hours will not mean increased academic demands. I believe this. I have one child who just finished kindergarten last year and she learned more at Growing Places in pre-school. I spent every afternoon teaching her to read, making "homework" for her (she wanted to do actual school work like her brother and was disappointed that all they did in "school" was count straws and pennies). If she didn't have that enriching time with me in the afternoon, along with the social time in the morning, she would not have learned as much as she did. What she was able to get was one-on-one attention. I understand that working parents cannot do this, but as a taxpayer I don't want to pay to have the schools do what the pre-schools do.
There are certainly some advantages to full-day or extended kindergarten, but there are also disadvantages. Last year my daughter was able to go to kindergarten, have playdates with friends, and also one-on-one time with me. If there was full day kindergarten she wouldn't have returned home until almost 4:00. We wouldn't have had time for anything!
If this district was rolling in cash, we should have full day as an OPTION, but we don't have loads of money, so let's put the money where it can do the most good to the most kids.
I do not support the full day kindergarten proposal for the following reasons:
ReplyDelete1) The ORCSD needs to enforce fiscal responsibility prior to spending additional funds, or even reallocating funds, for another program. I am not confident that the District is spending our tax dollars wisely as demonstrated by the bid process issue.
2) I believe the District should be spending any additional funds on improving the middle / high school curricula. There are gross deficits (e.g. lack of strong honors and AP course offerings) that should be addressed and considered a higher priority than all day kindergarten.
3) I have not seen any cost-benefit analysis or public debate on the academic priorities for the School District. Open, public debate should happen before it is decided that all day kindergarten warrants funding, especially in lieu of the aforementioned curriculum improvements at the middle / high school levels.
If there were unlimited educational funds, I would have no problem with the all-day proposal, but that is not the state of the ORCSD.
As parents and taxpayers, we need the biggest bang for our buck. In the long run, I simply do not believe a full day kindergarten program is the best option with the strongest, long-term benefits.
I can't support the full day program at this time. Our district has too many other priorities, as Ms. Turnbull says.
ReplyDeleteMost school districts in New Hampshire teach at least 3 world languages. Oyster River is at the bottom of the pack offering only Spanish and French. We also don't begin teaching world languages until 7th grade and then only for half the year. In many communities languages are taught at the elementary level (Rye, Greenland, New Castle do this around here).
I have no idea how much a kindergarten program will cost but I would think for this money we could add Latin and Chinese and begin teaching two languages (French? Spanish?) earlier. This would help our students on many fronts: cultural awareness, SATs, language development, listening skills, word origins, etc.
I have read and re-read the kindergarten study. One thing they state is that the increased hours will not mean increased academic demands. I believe this. I have one child who just finished kindergarten last year and she learned more at Growing Places in pre-school. I spent every afternoon teaching her to read, making "homework" for her (she wanted to do actual school work like her brother and was disappointed that all they did in "school" was count straws and pennies). If she didn't have that enriching time with me in the afternoon, along with the social time in the morning, she would not have learned as much as she did. What she was able to get was one-on-one attention. I understand that working parents cannot do this, but as a taxpayer I don't want to pay to have the schools do what the pre-schools do.
There are certainly some advantages to full-day or extended kindergarten, but there are also disadvantages. Last year my daughter was able to go to kindergarten, have playdates with friends, and also one-on-one time with me. If there was full day kindergarten she wouldn't have returned home until almost 4:00. We wouldn't have had time for anything!
If this district was rolling in cash, we should have full day as an OPTION, but we don't have loads of money, so let's put the money where it can do the most good to the most kids.