​Robert​: Concord School Board Should Implement Full-Day K

CONCORD, NH — I recently submitted this letter to the Concord School Board as it relates to the implementation of full day kindergarten. The text is below:

Dear Chairman Cogswell and members of the Board,

I would like to start by thanking you for your time and efforts not only towards researching the implementation of full day kindergarten, but for your leadership in making sure that Concord’s students have access to the highest quality education possible. And as a constituent and taxpayer, I am grateful for the opportunity to participate and feel heard in this process.

My husband and I chose to move to Concord 11 years ago – well before children were in the picture – because of the City’s reputation as a welcoming, inclusive community, and for the quality education. I am thrilled that my daughters (5, and 4) will share a classroom with students with diverse life experiences, and as a result, their own learning and development as citizens will be enriched.

With that priority in mind, I write this letter because I believe that the implementation of full day kindergarten is, at its core, an educational equity issue. We know that students of color, with different learning abilities, living in poverty, or learning English require additional resources to achieve the same educational goals as their mainstream peers. Research has shown over and over again how access to full-day kindergarten provides exponentially more benefits to these students.

In its vision statement, the District puts forth that all students will experience excellence in their lives. A strong, full-day kindergarten program is the very first step on these students’ path to excellence in their lives – especially for our students most educationally at-risk. Recognizing the financial implications of this decision, I urge the Board to consider this year’s implementation of full-day kindergarten as a long-term investment in a core function to achieving the District’s vision – NOT as a budgetary add-on to be tabled until the District has another year with no unexpected financial costs.

Looking around the room last night, and reflecting upon the participants during the November meetings, I feel a responsibility to write this letter to “pass the microphone” to those of our neighbors who did not (and will not) participate in these hearings. Many of the “young mothers out in force” throughout this process benefit from social mobility to participate in these kinds of event (myself included). But we cannot forget the other mothers, fathers, grandparents, and caregivers who do NOT have that same capacity to make their voices heard, and whose children will reap the most benefits most from a full-day kindergarten program.

I do hope the Board will reconsider its inclusion of full day kindergarten in the FY17-18 budget, and look forward to your decision.

Katie Robert lives in Ward 9.