From Emily Norton’s Great Newton Schools blog…
One year ago dozens of parents packed the first School Committee of the year to advocate for Full Day Kindergarten, a proven strategy to invest in our earliest learners and reduce SPED costs.
Is our school department making a mistake for not finding a way to make this happen?
Belmont has Full Day Kindergarten.
Belmont also has higher MCAS Test scores and it spends 36% less per student than Newton.
Belmont has totally different demographics from Newton and is not a a peer for comparison.
Quoting Belmont does not help advance any argument which illuminates how we could do FDK.
The case for FDK has been made in prior years, and from recent conversations with the Superintendent, it is clear he is open to moving in that direction. The principle concern is to preserve the small learning groups which are currently achieved by send 1/2 the class home.
There are solutions which would keep our youngest students in class for the 28 days they are currently missing and preserve the small learning groups. Takes some good planning and some more investment in early learning which we can do with the current $1.4M recurring budget surplus
This is an important debate for this election.
It may be important but I wonder how much debate we’ll have on this question — or any school related questions — with only one contested School Committee contest? I know FDK has been something Margaret Albright has been talking about for years. Anyone know where her Ward 2 opponent Andrea Steenstrup stands on this? Better yet, it would be great to hear from the candidates themselves, including Albright, Steenstrup, Ellen Gibson (Ward 1) and Ruth Goodman (Ward 6), who are both new and running unopposed.
Let the debate begin!
Full Day Kindergarten in Belmont costs $2,200 user fee. It’s Day Care. 94% of the families opt for it. It’s no mandatory.
Day Care People. Not school.
Kim, at least Belmont offers FDK. Explain what the problem is with a school district offering a program or service that isn’t mandatory for a fee that parents are willing to pay.
Geoff Epstein says Belmont is not a peer for comparison. Is that why Newton included Belmont as part of its benchmark school district communities in the annual budget reports (Page 162 of the 2014 Budget Report.
http://www3.newton.k12.ma.us/sites/default/files/users/44/superintendent%27s%20proposed%20fy14%20budget.pdf
I’m in favor of FDK being optional. Some kindergarten-aged kids are not ready for a full-day of school. It’s a good option to have but not one that any child should be forced into. A $2200 user fee (I’m assuming this is per year) seems reasonable, if there’s provision for it to be waived for families for whom it would be a hardship.
What communities beside Newton do not have FDK?
I know Waltham and Watertown have FDK and NO FEE.
But of course those are not the “W” communities we like to compare ourselves too.
My niece lives in Beverly where she sends her son to Kindergarten 2 1/2 hours a day. Full-day kindergarten is available but it costs $4,000 a year.
I can only imagine how that kind of program would fly in Newton.
Joshua, the city isn’t running a day care program. Fee or no fee, it’s not the responsibility of the city to offer day care at any price. If you need day care or a babysitter then get it on your own. We don’t need to pay teachers to babysit. Kindergarten teachers should be responsible for the curriculum as they are today. After that they are just highly paid babysitters.
@Greg, I’m still talking about full day kindergarten. You can see more at my website – http://www.margaretalbright.org 85% of Massachusetts school districts offer full day kindergarten.
In Massachusetts it is not mandatory to send you child to kindergarten (6 is the age for compulsory education) but it is mandatory for a school district to offer kindergarten. That is why some districts charge a tuition for their full day program. When a tuition is charged for full day the district must offer a half-day, tuition-free option.
And here is a great summary from the Early Education for All campaign which answers a lot of questions about why full day K is so important – http://www.strategiesforchildren.org/eea/6research_summaries/06_InvestFDK.pdf
It is time to offer FDK in Newton. The model that is currently in place does not give the students any real schedule. Mondays and Wednesdays are stay days. . . . . or Thursdays and Fridays. Right now the Kindy teachers do work full time, and it is time for the students to attend.
There is not enough time spent on science in the schools – real science. I don’t think a student should wait until fifth grade to have science daily.
@Newton Mom, the Common Core State standards which Massachusetts is transitioning to are more rigorous at all levels including K. The standards expect that K’s will be reading beginning text, at the very least, by the end of the kindergarten year. The math standards under Common Core are also more rigorous. Our teachers are going to need adequate time to meet these goals.
Adding in the two half days for K’s would result in the equivalent of approximately 28 days of school.
FDK is a must. My child was lucky enough to get into the after school program so at least he got some instruction, but in Newtonville (CABOT) the CASP program is way oversubscribed so many families don’t get in.
So I have two issues.
One, FDK should be a no-brianer for a school system like Newton. It is bad enough that we don’t have school on Tuesday afternoons, can someone explain the logic to that!
Two, it would be great if the after school programs were expanded so newer folks to the community would at least have some chance at getting in. As it stands right now, it is impossible to get into the program at Cabot since almost all of the younger spots are taken up by siblings of children currently enrolled. So if you don’t get in the first time around, you are effectively screwed. And the school doesn’t publish a wait list, making a lot of parents (myself included) wonder if the selection is done fairly. Many parents in the Cabot school are upset by this, but no one is willing to risk complaining and lessen the chance of getting selected the following year…
I’ve said it before, I won’t vote for any school committee member who doesn’t advocate for FDK.