The Wawasee Community School Corporation administration is working on a plan to implement full day kindergarten for some children during the 2008-09 school year. Two classes are being considered at both Syracuse and North Webster schools, with one class at Milford School.
A total of approximately 100 students would be involved in the full day program. (For anyone wondering, Milford has fewer elementary students, being a K-8 school, and has some space issues, too.)
The children would be selected based upon educational need, with the additional time spent at school getting them ready for first grade. Details about selection of students, curriculum of the full day classes, possible cost to parents, and other issues are still being worked out.
To add a new program means that we will be doing less of something else. Some Reading Recovery time may be reduced to free up professional time for teaching the additional one-half day of kindergarten. Some assistance from state funding is also expected.
We expect to have a recommendation prepared for the May 13 school board meeting.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
13 comments:
I don't quite understand the statement, "Some Reading Recovery time may be reduced to free up professional time for teaching the additional one-half day of kindergarten." Could you please elaborate? Thanks.
If we institute full-day kindergarten for about 100 children, we may reduce the amount of children in Reading Recovery by 8 students in the school district. Those numbers have yet to be determined, though.
Why not just hire new teachers in for FDK, instead of taking time away from RR kids?? There are plenty of teacher candidates who would LOVE a chance at teaching FDK...You took from Title 1 to fill Reading Recovery. Now you want to take from Reading Recovery to fill FDK spots. Why dont you just bite the bullet and pay out the salary that benefits our children that you claim to be so concerned about???
About 14 years ago North Webster had one class of Full day kind. and I was in that class and I loved it. I got to experience school for a full day. Even though some days it was really hard for me to go to school, I was able to mature and was able to be away from my parents for a full day alot faster than anyone else. I think that it will help children become more mature and grown up. So please do it. It will really help out the ones who really need it.
This is awsome it is about time. We were thinking about sending our daughter to a private school so she could attend full day. I feel this will be a great benifit. It is sad not all children will be able to take advantage of this. I hope our daughter gets in!~
I must say I am sad with the school as far as keeping us parents updated. I have called the school corp's office several times and asked about this and have gotten told. I don't know. You have working parents and single parent homes and we need to be able to make daycare plans ect. We don't have time to wait until the fall @ regerstration time to see if we will get full day or not. I am not impressed with the latchkey program @ syracuse and will not send my daughter to it. So I need to know what is going on so I can get quality care for my child! The children should be the one and only priority in this and it seems to me the school is just doing this on the seat of their pants!IMO
I apologize for this being off topic but I am bothered by the parent teacher conferences held yesterday at WMS. Two of my student's teachers were unavailable for conference as they were working at the track meet being held at the same time. Just another example of Wawasee allowing athletics to have priority over academics. I work 8 to 5 in a town different than the school making it extemely difficult to schedule separate appointments with these teachers.
I am sorry that there were teachers unavailable. We did have a track meet that we tried to reschedule. We were unable to do so. We have corrected the scheduling for next year and this will not happen again. This was not a situation of having athletics take priority over academics, simply a contractual obligation to two other schools that were expecting to run at WMS. It is important for student athletes to be supported also. If you contact me and let me know who you would like to hear from, I would be sure to forward your name to them and have them call you. Again, I apologize that the scheduling caused a conflict.
Tony Cassel, Principal WMS
Dear Wawascene Bloggers,
I just wanted to make sure that you were invited to our education "Blogger Summit". We hope you can make it and feel free to share this invitation with any other bloggers in the area that might be interested. The invitation is attached below.
Alex
ED In '08 Blogger Summit
--------------------------------
Strong American Schools is excited to announce the ED in '08 Blogger Summit. Conference details are as follows:
May 14th - 15th
Palomar Hotel, Washington DC
Registration is Free!
An opening reception is scheduled on the evening of Wednesday, May 14th. Cocktails and hors d'oeuvres will be served before the screening of a new documentary film on education, Two Million Minutes. A Q&A session with the filmmakers is set to follow.
Then join us for an all-day conference on May 15th. Nowhere else will you have an opportunity to meet and network with fellow education bloggers, participate in panels, attend workshops, and help tackle some tough questions on the state of education in America.
Space is limited, so be sure to RSVP today!
Register at http://edin08.com/bloggersummit/
I have concerns about how all day kindergarten at Syracuse Elementary will impact all of the other students. As it is, the kids have about 10 minutes to eat their lunch before the next grade comes in, and the previous grade is kicked out. My child comes home each day extremely hungry because the have to make way for the next group of students. Adding more children can only make this situation worse. Has this been taken into account? Is there even enough room at Syracuse to handle two more full day classes?
full day K is great my child was part of it in a different school! He learned a ton and had extra time for field trips to places he would of never been able to attend if for not being in all day.
Not to bad we can't do something about the kids once they make it through K. or once in the Academy. There they can attend 1/4 of the time they should and not even probation is called. Those kids seem to be forgot about. Are they not worth the same funding or something? I just don't get it. I know for a fact there will be a 20 year old attending for the third year who still needs at least 10 credits..... This will be her third year there. Mrs. Sigler does her best but can't do it all if these children are not held acountable by ANYONE.
I attended the May 13 board meeting and was happy to hear we are moving forward with full day kindergarten. I will be student teaching this fall and substitute teach currently. I have seen firsthand how this will benefit our students. There is discussion about how the students will be placed, and this is where my concern lies. As a future teacher, I understand that we need to get those children into the classroom who have had little or no experience in that type of setting so that when first grade comes around, all the students are on a more even playing field. This is logical, it will benefit Wawasee and those students twofold. Starting them off right can only be beneficial. From a parent's point of view, however, things are not seen in quite this way. Parents feel shafted, feel like they are being discriminated against for being able to give their child preschool, are not sure how this can be fair, etc. Many parents should have been at that board meeting who were not. I applaud Mr. Wilson and Mrs. Linnemeier for staying after the meeting and talking to myself and another couple about our fears and concerns. It was somewhat reassuring, and I hope that we can move forward with the idea brought up among us that testing has to take place prior to August 7th registration so that we who do not 'qualify' for full day can make appropriate arrangements with the preschool of our choice. Another patron had commented about this situation as well. It is true that preschools enroll May-July. In August, preschools are full. I, fortunately, have a spot, but if by some 1 in 10 chance ny son is able to get into kindergarten, I won't need that spot and it is not fair to those preschools to be held up for that long. I also want to comment directly to a third person (did not catch her name)who is not a board member, but who was involved in our after-meeting discussion for a few minutes. I know you write the grants, and things are viewed from a business perspective from you... but when a parent is concerned about their child's welfare at the business you keep, you must show compassion and set a bit of that business mentality aside.
I want to publicly thank Joy Goshert for a recent phone call, prompted by something I said on this blog. She is the "third person (did not catch her name)" I spoke of in the last entry. She explained some things to me, I apologized to her for posting my feelings before contacting her directly, and do want to say that I support the work that the Wawasee Board and administrative staff (including Mrs. Goshert) have put into this effort in such a short time. I still feel (and know) there are many parents who do not understand what is going on and why things happen the way they do, and we all need to reach out to them. I will do that, now that I am better informed. Joy, I appreciate your further explanation. Thank you for the indirect reminder to keep my feelings and my professionalism separate and in check.
Humbly,
Dawn Shrader
Post a Comment