When: Tuesday, February 15th (snow date is Wed., Feb. 16th)
Where: Oyster River High School, Multipurpose Room
This is YOUR opportunity to meet, listen to, and ask questions of participating district moderator and school board candidates. Refreshments will be served.
Have questions for the candidates?
Submit questions by NOON, Friday, February 11, 2011 to Wendy DiFruscio
Call Wendy at 868-5100 x20 or e-mail her (wdifruscio@orcsd.org)
Hope to see you there!
Great!! I am looking forward to meeting the candidates and see whose clique they are a part of.
ReplyDeleteGreat...maybe you should try to bring an open mind as well.
ReplyDeleteLast night's forum was very informative. Well done MW PTO !! Those that missed it should watch the broadcast on the public channel.
ReplyDeleteMy only gripe is that I entirely disagreed with the general consensus regarding full day kindergarten. My own experience with my two oldest children [in another district] was positive and empowering. And definately NOT as a subsititue for daycare [I am a stay at home mom] nor were my girls denied playtime or rest. And I would also like to add that full day kindergarten that we experienced did not provide naptimes. It was well structured to embrace the highs & lows of both energy & attention for the age group. Also like to add that one of my children entered full day kindergarten at 4 yr 8 months old.
In my opinion, two of the newest faces to the process are Susan & Chandler. Both presented themselves gracefully but perhaps could invest a little more time for the research of educational philosophies as I did not gather their specific knowledge base for this subject.
Dear ChrisAnn,
ReplyDeleteI offered an opinion based on my observations over the past several years at an elementary school in an adjoining district. Your statement shows that children are very different and I'm sure that there are those who are developmentally ready for a full day of school. Perhaps the solution will be a combination of partial day kidergarten for some children and an extended program for others. Thank you for opening this discussion.
Jim,
ReplyDeleteThank you for responding to my post, it was not intentionally directed at you although it may seem to have been. The forum agreed that full time kindergarten seemed to be too much for the children. My experience was different. I would love to see a broader definition of kindergarten as my ORSD exposure to kindergarten is that it is rushed. My son is to start kindergarten in the fall, and his time spent in class is going to be less than his current 1/2 day preschool.
Kindergarten of my youth was learning to write your letters, know your shapes...most of the skills today's students are covering in preschool. Kindergarten and elementary have more expectations of the younger student such as reading sooner & understanding of computers. Comparative to international education, where preschool starts at 3 instead of 4...we seem to be falling behind globally.
I did like one suggestion from the forum [and you mention in your response] that suggested a lottery or option for the parent to enroll a prepared & ready child for the full day option.
Last night, your comments regarding attrition and adjusting staff levels as student enrollment lessens, were very insightful. Having a long range plan to reduce costs via redistribution of educators is preforable to the letting go of quality talent.
"preferable" to preforable. Clearly I went to 1/2 day kindergarten ;-)
ReplyDeleteI respectfully disagree with ChrisAnn. I am very happy that our district hasn't initiated a full day kindergarten. I think that 1/2 day is plenty of school for 5-6 year olds. The gains that have been demonstrated have not been shown to persist and personally, I appreciate having the time with my daughter and I think the 1/2 day is a great transition to full day school.
ReplyDeleteOh Laura, I understand...it seems once they start full time school, finding quality time is a challenge.
ReplyDeleteBut I have to disagree that there is no demonstrated advantage. European and Asian educational systems start nursery school at 3 yrs old [most are full day] and thus they graduate at what would be our equivilant of high school at 16 yrs instead of 18 years average age.
Most kindergarten comparative articles I have read stop only at looking at US students. We need to be thinking globally. At the very least, I would like to see our district provide more options for parents. I have seen my children repeat subject areas that they handled in 1st grade in second grade in NH as in NY it was introduced earlier due to the extra half a year of education that full day kindergarten provided.