It’s all or nothing, say some West Vancouver School District trustees
North Shore Outlook
By Rebecca Aldous
November 18, 2009

Having to prioritize its schools for the roll out of all-day kindergarten, the district doesn’t know how the province will implement the plan, superintendent Geoff Jopson said….

What West Van school district doesn’t know is if any of its schools will be included in the first round.

“How the funds will be allocated we don’t know,” Jopson said.

…The district already runs a kindergarten plus program, which, for a fee, allows parents to enroll their children in afternoon kindergarten following the free morning sessions. As such, the district has space and staffing required for the province’s $151-million program.

….While Jopson’s excited about the program, he’s concerned starting it at half its end product could cause problems….

The consensus around the board table was trustees would rather wait a year and have the province role out all-day kindergarten in all schools at once.

Next September urban areas could experience a migration of the kindergarten population to schools with all-day kindergarten leaving the ones without dry, education board trustee Barry Lindahl warned. Such an inflow or outflow could be disruptive to schools and districts.

“[West Van] is up the creek if [another district] gets it and we don’t,” Lindahl said.

The district doesn’t want to end up with a “have and have not” situation, the board’s vice-chair Cindy Dekker said….