For the third time during his eight-year tenure, Westport Schools Superintendent Elliott Landon has proposed changing the kindergarten program so students are attending a full day of school.
Elliott Landon: “urgent need” for full-day kindergarten. WN file photo
Landon has proposed kindergartners attend three full days of school and two extended days of school per week based on the results of a survey of former kindergarten parents. The plan would go into effect for the 2007-08 school year.
The Board of Education will discuss the survey results during its meeting at 8 p.m. on Monday at Staples High School.
Landon, who marks his eighth anniversary with the Westport school system this week, could not be reached for comment.
“This recommendation for lengthening the kindergarten program day is based upon the professional support of our administrators and kindergarten teachers for this proposal, my continued belief in the urgent need to implement a full-day kindergarten program in our schools and the desire to be responsive to the expressed preferences of the parents of future kindergartners,” Landon wrote in a letter to the school board dated Jan. 8.
“We, the members of your administrative and teaching staffs, seek a longer program not to add to the curriculum but to be able to offer the existing comprehensive program within a more relaxed time frame. A less hurried schedule will provide our youngest students with greater opportunities for choice and for the joyous exuberance of free play that is necessary for children of this very special age group.”
Currently kindergarten students attend school 8:30 a.m. to 1:15 p.m.—except for Saugatuck Elementary students who attend 8 a.m. to 12:45 p.m.—for a total of nearly 24 hours of school per week.
The survey was sent to the parents of 749 preschool children and the parents of 439 first-grade students.
It asked parents if they preferred the current extended day program or a full-day program that was either five days or had three full days of school.
About two-thirds of both groups chose one of the longer day options.
Landon first proposed a full-day kindergarten program in late 1999, which was several months after he first became superintendent in Westport.
The school board rejected the proposal citing more study needed to be completed.
A similar program as Landon’s current proposal was sent to the school board in 2002 and it was rejected in a 4-3 vote.
Board Chairwoman Mary Parmelee is the only current board member who was on the board in 2002, and she voted in favor of the proposal.
During the 2002 discussion, many parents were vocal in their opposition to the full-day program. Landon wrote in his letter to the school board that the survey was completed the gauge the feelings of the community on the matter.
“It is my hope that the board will give great weight to the survey results and consider that these findings represent the sentiment of the community,” Landon wrote in his letter.
