A proposal for an extended kindergarten day in Western Springs School District 101 is moving forward instead of a full-day program.
The proposed change would have kindergartners in school from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., a two-hour extension from their current day. A fee-based program that would provide the option to have kids in school from 1:30-3:30 p.m. for non-curricular programs, such as going to the library and working on computers, is also being considered.
The extra time in the school day would break down as an hour more of instruction time and 50 minutes for lunch and recess.
“It is a start,” said Annie Nowak, a Western Springs parent who is part of a group seeking full-day kindergarten in the district.”We are willing to work with the board to expand on that going forward.”
District 101 officials said there would be no curriculum added in the youths’ longer school day. The move would simply slow down the pace of existing instruction, covering the same material but in a longer time period.
“It comes down to if it is a better option to have kids at school until 11:30 or whether a longer day is a better option,” said Superintendent Brian Barnhart. “That is all this vote is about.”
The extended day kindergarten and noncurricular program would cost the district between $270,000 and $300,000 for the next school year. Barnhart noted the noncurricular program would be designed to be cost neutral, with parents paying the cost of students’ extra time in school buildings.
Board members are expected to vote on the extended day kindergarten program at their Oct. 26 meeting
A presentation to be given during the superintendent’s report at 7:15 p.m. Monday in the library at McClure Junior High will examine an extended kindergarten day compared to the existing kindergarten program and a full-day kindergarten program.
Comments will be accept in the public comment portion of the meeting at 7 p.m. No public comments will be accepted during or after the presentation.
Members of the district’s Education Committee spent more than 3 1/2 hours Wednesday fine-tuning the slides that will be presented, giving the pros and cons of an extended kindergarten program.
One concern raised is that extended kindergarten would put even more of a strain on the already space-strapped district. If extended day kindergarten were approved, Laidlaw School would have to free up classroom space somewhere for the 2015-16 school year. Other district schools would not have any space issue for 2015-16 if kindergarten is extended by two hours.
Advanced math, music and art would be the likely space victims if extended kindergarten and the noncurricular program needed additional space. Those math, music and art programs would remain, they would just not have their own dedicated classrooms,
In the future, “there could be displacement of art, music and advanced math,” Barnhart said. “They may not get a whole classroom. They could go back to common space, like the library.”
Board President Karen Owen Gibbs said any space decision would be worked out between the board and administration.
“At the end of the day, where advanced math goes would be a board decision,” Gibbs said.
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Parents favoring full-day kindergarten presented survey results at the Education Committee meeting that showed of 186 people who took the group’s survey on Facebook and at Oberweis and Starbucks, 81 percent were in favor of full-day kindergarten.
Meaghan Krohe, a parent in favor of full-day kindergarten and a coordinator of the survey, said many parents would like their children to stay in school rather than spend their afternoons at a separate facility for day care.
“With day-care costs, parents are willing to pay” for extended time at their local school, Krohe said.
Kristin Stuck told Education Committee members that River Forest, Hinsdale and Wilmette have all examined going to full-day kindergarten and opted not to implement it because of costs and little benefit to students.
“The bump is not significant,” Stuck said.
Kevin Beese is a freelance writer for Pioneer Press.