Fight Five Full-Day Kindergarten / Keep Kindergarten Options in Fairfield

Fight Five Full Day Kindergarten

Keep Kindergarten Options in Fairfield Public Schools

The Superintendent of Schools, in an effort to reduce the Board of Education budget by $150,000, has proposed the following:

-          Eliminate all extended-day kindergarten programs

-          Move all kindergarten students to a week-long, full-day schedule

We, the undersigned, do not support this proposal and believe it will negatively impact the education of kindergarten students in Fairfield.

Points to consider in supporting this petition:

-          Moving to mandatory, full-day kindergarten will force children, as young as four years old to spend up to 33 hours a week in school. Nearly the equivalent of full-time employment.

-          Elimination of the current extended-day program has not been shown, through adequate study, to represent any educational benefit to kindergarten children.

-          The current, extended-day option, allows for small group instruction twice per week. Mandatory, full-day kindergarten, would eliminate this opportunity.

-          At this time, parents who feel their children are not developmentally ready for full-day kindergarten have no other educational options for their children since preschool enrollment deadlines have passed.

-          Mandatory full-day kindergarten will increase the numbers of students in already overcrowded schools and only add additional stress to core facilities within schools (i.e. gymnasium, music classrooms, art room, library media center, traffic loop/parking lot, etc).

-          The increased cost of additional paraprofessional help and special education programs will likely offset some of the proposed budget savings.

Please show your support for the youngest students in Fairfield by adding your name to our petition.