District not ready for all-day kindergarten
Richmond News
Nelson Bennett
October 21, 2009

When the Richmond school district hands in a report next month on implementing all-day kindergarten, it may look like a test done by a student who hasn't studied: Full of blanks.

And if it's implemented next September, as expected, at least one trustee fears some parents will be upset with the way the province plans to cherry-pick who can and cannot get into a limited number of all-day-K classes….

Some trustees feel the Ministry of Education's request for an implementation report by November is unrealistic, given how many unanswered questions they still have.

"There's so many unknowns," says trustee Donna Sargent.

The school district still has no idea how many all-day-K classes it will be able to offer, where the extra teachers and assistants will come from, or how all-day kindergarten will fit in with split K-1 classes.

About the only thing they know now is how many classrooms are available. In an update given at Monday's school board meeting by assistant superintendent Nancy Brennan, trustees were surprised to learn how many classrooms are available for all-day kindergarten.

"We've been told, as trustees, we don't have the space," Sargent said.

In fact, the district does have the space for all-day kindergarten, which will only be offered to a limited number of students when it is first rolled out next year.

Of the elementary schools that were canvassed, 26 out of 38 said they have classrooms available without having to displace other users.

Six would have to displace users, like ESL classes, and four have no space available whatsoever and would therefore require portable classrooms.

Trustee Carol Day said she has talked to daycare providers and said they are worried that all-day kindergarten will mean they will get the boot from the empty classrooms that they use for before and after school programs.

"They're really concerned about daycares being displaced," she said. She added there is considerable confusion about who can get in to all-day kindergarten.

"Parents are getting mixed messages when they go to the schools," she said. "The Ministry of Education has done a horrendous job of informing us."

As for choosing which students will be able to attend all-day kindergarten in September and which won't, trustees were told that the Ministry of Education has directed that students with special needs and from low-income families get first dibs.

Using those kinds of social markers to determine who gets access to public education bothers Sargent.

"I'm very concerned with the equity," she said. "I think parents will be upset."

But she said her main concerns remains where the money will come from to pay for all-day kindergarten.