Long time away for full-day Kindergarten
Vancouver Island News Group - Oak Bay News
February 20, 2009

…. The B.C. government withdrew its intentions to introduce the voluntary program this September, citing the recession, the lack of appropriate space, and the time to recruit qualified educators.

The announcement illustrates poor planning, said education critic Norm Macdonald.

"These are things that should have been thought through before this was initially announced to parents in the 2008 throne speech," said Macdonald. "What's so unfair about this is that I think there were a lot of parents who were quite excited about the prospect."

…. "We intend to move forward with our plans to provide full-day kindergarten for every five-year-old in the province," said Bond earlier this month. "However, there is still more work to do at the district and ministry level before we are able to determine the best way to move forward."

The timelines always seemed unrealistic to Tronie Brown, who owns … Preschool on…. Training qualified staff for the additional programming would take a minimum three years, she explained.

"It didn't seem very well planned because if you're going to implement all- day kindergarten, you've also got to wonder where the money's going to come from for the kindergarten teachers."

In the meantime, the ministry is sitting on a report exploring the feasibility of expanding kindergarten. The Early Learning Childhood Agency submitted its conclusions by January.

It is scheduled for release to the public by the end of March.