Full-day Kindergarten good idea
Trail Daily Times
22 May 2009
Opinion By: Sarah Joyce

I have a daughter enrolled at ...Elementary. The school board is considering full-day Kindergarten, alternating between two and three-day weeks.

I think that this is a wonderful idea for several reasons. Firstly, I understand that it would provide some relief in the budget.

Secondly, with the many early learning programs already offered at schools like ... most kids, I believe, are eager and ready for a longer day. My daughter is disappointed ... and that her day will be the same length as the preschool she has been attending for the previous two years.

As well, many parents I have spoken with enrol their children at ... School specifically for the full-day Kindergarten program, as it is easier to do that than to try and find day care for the remainder of the day while they are at work.

If any of you have tried to find day care in this city, it is not an easy task. If these parents were to instead enrol their children in the public school system, the Schools would find themselves with more money, as each enrolled student brings in thousands of dollars.

The point has been brought up that there is not adequate time to inform parents of such a change, but could parents not have taken a poll to voice our opinion when we registered in February, or by mail last week when we received other questionnaires that need to be filled out and returned to the school.

I understand that we all want what is in the best interest of the students, and what I am left wondering is couldn't this be a solution for both the budget, the parents and the students, and why hasn't there been a forum set up in which parents and educators could dialogue about this important issue.