Wednesday, January 23, 2002
Issues of education and parental needs emerge in the forum discussion.
CANFIELD -- Parents attending a school-sponsored forum on all-day kindergarten were divided on the subject.
"I'd rather see a half-day kindergarten. I don't think the kids are quite ready for a full day" at that age, said Dorothy Schill, who has a daughter, Ashley, 6, attending kindergarten at Hilltop Elementary School, and a son, Alexander, 4, who is to start kindergarten this year.
"I don't know that they'd benefit a whole lot more from a full day vs. a half day. I think they learn quite a bit in just a half a day," she said Tuesday at C.H. Campbell Elementary School.
In favor: "I work so I'm in need of an all-day program," said Lisa Saade, a teacher whose daughter, Shannon, is a first-grader, and whose son, Jon, will start kindergarten this year. She said she doesn't want Jon to attend school for a half day and be bused to a day-care center.
"Children are expected to be more advanced once they are into the first grade. If you go half a day, those children are only there 21/2 to three hours," she observed.
"All day is the way for us because I feel like my child is ready for an all-day curriculum," said Lisa Velker, who has two daughters, Jaclyn, 9, and Sydney, 4. "She has had so much stimuli right now, and she's in a pre-school program and is doing very well. A half-day program will not give her the full curriculum that I think that she's ready to absorb," she said of her younger daughter.
"We need to move forward with helping our kids when they're young, so when they get older, we can continue on a good path," she added.