All-Day K and Priorities

Someone asked me if I support all-day kindergarten (ADK) at last night’s School Committee meeting.  I didn’t respond because it is a long answer. 

My answer to the direct question is “I don’t know.”  My initial response to this matter was:  locking five-year-olds into a classroom all day doesn’t seem like a very good idea to me. However, after listening to the parents last night, I relented on that position a little. 

I still think that little kids need lots of play time, but one parent in particular hit a chord with me.  She told the story about her child who attends kindergarten in the afternoon.  After a full morning of play and exploration with his mom, he spends 2-1/2 hours straight in the classroom getting instruction (which I took to mean education per the Common Core curriculum).  He comes home exhausted and frustrated.  That doesn’t sound like a good way to go.  There must be a better way to introduce children to school and build enthusiasm for learning.

Equally compelling to me was the argument put forth by parents who do not want ADK, who make the point that Barrington has always produced high-achieving students and will continue to do so with half-day K.  The parents who are drawn to Barrington for education, by definition, value education and are usually highly educated themselves.  This produces children who
are almost always ready for school early, reading above grade level, and high performing.  The argument that ADK makes a much larger difference in lower economic districts makes sense to me.

But, I know the question wasn’t really about my opinion of ADK.  The question directed to me as a member of the Committee on Appropriations is whether I will support ADK in next year’s budget.  And, my answer to that question is “I don’t know.”  Like I said at last night’s meeting, I have to see next year’s budget proposal from the School and also the Town.  I will form my opinion taking into account the needs of all constituencies – the taxpayers, the Schools, and the Town – and seek to find a balance.

The budget process is usually compressed into about two months – March and April.  That doesn’t leave a lot of time for study, reflection, discussion, and negotiation.  But, that is what we have to work with.

The School Committee is in the hot seat right now because conflicting priorities are forcing hard decisions.  The easy way out would have been to raise taxes higher to incorporate all desired programs and put off making tough choices that will inevitably frustrate one constituency or another.  That didn’t happen at the Financial Town Meeting and I’m grateful for the outcome. 

We need to face the fact that we do not have unlimited resources and must make painful choices.  It is clear that ADK has drawn the short straw for many years now.  The only way that will change (and it seems from last night’s meeting that it will) is to demand that this program’s priority rise above something else.

Unfortunately, employee compensation is now contractually obligated to rise for the next three years.  It has now taken priority over all else. 
So, technology, all-day K, the arts, sports, advanced placement courses
and everything else must battle for the remaining resources.  The desires of the adults have been made a priority over the needs of the children. 
That is backwards, and that is a shame.