All Day Kindergarten

The state of Ohio mandated that all schools move to all-day Kindergarten. The district that I live in requested an extra year before implementing this mandate. So it looks like this will take effect during the 2011-2012 school year. There are a lot of people that are not happy about this because it will cost the district a lot more money. Apparently the district will need to hire an additional 20 teachers/staff with a price tag of $1.5M (an average of $75K per teacher). As a taxpayer, I realize that this is going to be a financial hurdle that was not accounted for in the budget. As a parent, I think it's a great idea that I wish my children would have been able to benefit from.

All three of my children went to half-day Kindergarten for 2-1/2 hours a day. I'm in no way discounting the education that they received, I just personally believe that they would have received more instruction that is crucial to first-grade IF they would have been in school all day. All of my children attended preschool and (really) Kindergarten was just a "review" time for them. I honestly cannot think of anything "additional" that they learned in Kindergarten that they did not already know when the school year began. Their reading did improve, but I'm not sure that was because they were in Kindergarten or because they were home reading books with me every night.

Finally, having two children in school all day and ONE child in school half-day is really a huge scheduling inconvenience. I am seldom able to go on field trips with my two older children because I'm home with my youngest child all afternoon. If I volunteer in the classroom, it has to be in the morning. Everything that I plan has to basically take place in those 2-1/2 hours that my youngest child is in school. I'll be happy when they all have the same schedule so I can finally start planning out a full day of "to-do" items!!

District Seeking Waiver of Full-Day Kindergarten Requirement for 2010-11