Students ready for more time in class; Kindergarten classes move to full-day schedules
Harbour City Star
Nov 13 2009
By: Robert Barron

The students in Wendy deGroot's kindergarten class at Rutherford Elementary School say it would be a good thing if they got to spend more time in class.

They like their class, their teacher and learning new things but they won't be around to benefit from the provincial government's plan to introduce all-day kindergarten to a handful of schools this fall.

… In the Nanaimo-Ladysmith school district, approximately 900 kindergarten students are expected to enroll next year.

The ministry intends to pay for the program by increasing its per-pupil funding formula for kindergarten students from half-day to full-day but some officials believe it won't cover all the costs.

….The impact of full-day kindergarten on the province's daycare industry has also not been determined.

"We have to start somewhere and we have to move forward even though there are many who are cautious and want a slow approach," said Chris Southwick, an assistant superintendent in the Nanaimo-Ladysmith district…..

Degroot said she has a number of special needs children in her class and funding is currently in place to provide her with two educational assistants for 12.5 hours per week.

That funding should be doubled when full-day classes are implemented to ensure these students' needs are met.

She also has concerns that the government funding won't cover new equipment, textbooks and other required classroom material.

Southwick said she doesn't believe the program is moving ahead too quickly but declined to identify which schools in the district have been identified for the ministry as candidates to begin the program this fall….

"We have no idea at this stage which schools will be chosen by the ministry, so we see no sense in going public with the list that might mislead many people about which schools in this district will offer the full-day program first," Southwick said.

Southwick said many district schools that have just one kindergarten class would have no problem changing to a full-day format but schools with two or more kindergarten classes would require more classrooms and funding for capital projects for schools to implement the program will not be available until its second phase in 2011.

She said many kindergarten classrooms have their own bathrooms and sinks but it's not mandatory and more space is required for kindergarten classes than primary and intermediate grades because more play room and movement is necessary for the young students….

"When you add in government cuts to the annual funding for school facilities, it would appear the government intends to rob Peter to pay Paul to make full-day kindergarten a reality."