By James Lomuscio
Westport Schools Superintendent Elliott Landon tonight will ask the Board of Education to approve a five-day, full-day kindergarten for next year – a controversial issue Westport Boards of Education have wrestled with repeatedly over the years. 
Elliott Landon: “Unable to find reasons to argue against.” Dave Matlow/WN file photo
In his fourth attempt in his 11-year tenure to begin the program, Landon said he has unanimous support from school administrators, principals, and kindergarten teachers—while acknowledging some parental opposition.
“Taking all of those expressions of interest into account, I continue to be unable to find any reasons to argue against the expansion of our current full-day kindergarten program from an educational point of view,” Landon said in a letter to the school board.
Under the proposal, kindergarten would run Monday through Friday from 8:45 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. Currently, it operates during those hours Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, with Monday and Friday classes held from 8:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m.
“It is my belief that a five-day, full-day program will provide us with an additional four hours per week in which our teachers will be better able to identify and assess the responses of students to our core instruction and devise better strategies to address them,” Landon said.
“We will be able to offer our kindergarten students additional time in the critical areas of reading, writing, handwriting, math and the discrete areas of social studies and science, more time in music, more time for choice, and more time for the development of social skills,” he added.
Landon said that at a March 3 meeting several parents opposed the five-day program, and “to remove this issue as a distraction from the important work of the Board of Education,” he is offering a compromise.
Parents who prefer to, he said, may keep their children enrolled full-day only three days a week, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, which is the current schedule.
“Effective with the start of the 2011-2012 school year, however, and in all subsequent years, all students attending kindergarten will be required to attend five full days for the entire school year,” he said.
Landon noted that the area towns of Easton, Darien and New Canaan each have five-day, full-day kindergartens, and that Ridgefield’s school board unanimously approved it for implementation this fall.
Still, some Westport parents are uncomfortable with the change, arguing that it is too long a day for young children.
“I’m not in favor of that proposal,” said Lynn Enquist, whose daughter will be entering kindergarten in the fall. “They need to make it better, not lengthen it.
“The longer days have been filled with two snacks, nap time, more choice and loads of classroom parties,” she added, noting that she will speak at the meeting. “I hope they can enhance the program that’s existing, and I don’t think more time is the solution.”
Landon, however, cited educational reports stating that all-day kindergarten reduced “disruption and transitions children experience in a typical day.”
This is the fourth time since 1999 when he was hired that Landon has sought approval from the Westport Board of Education for all-day kindergarten program. (See WestportNow Jan. 7, 2007)
Has the agenda been posted for this meeting anywhere?
Absolutely ridiculous! Don’t cry to me in the future complaining how we have to cut programs and classes due to budget cuts only to add full day kindergarten which the VAST majority of this community are against.
I have a child in kindergarten now, and as much as he loves school and his teacher, he hates going Tuesday – Thursday (the long days). And we kept him back a year since his birthday is at the end of November and still the long days are hard on him.
You know they rioted in France when the tried to raise the work week for adults to 35 hours a week and you want our children to attend school even longer when you take into account the bus ride.
Hey here’s a novel idea, why don’t you lessen the curriculum and let the kids have a life and other activities outside of school which most do already. You must take this into consideration, if your goal is to reduce the hurriedness in the children’s day – you fail. Because they’ll still do sports, take piano lessons, dance class, etc. now their day is more rushed, thank you very much.
You had me when you said we need this budget, we need to keep our class size small, however, pass this and you loose me on all future budget increases!
Our children have graduated from kindergarten many years. (Truth be told, they gradulated from Staples many years ago.)
My wife (who is an elementary and pre-school educator) and I could never understand the opposition in Westport to full day kindergarten; which obviously continues.
Mr. Landon: It’s about time!
Mr. Perlah aren’t you a teacher?
If you want to understand those opposed why don’t you attend tonights meeting and learn why they’re concerned.
I like how Landon somehow is certain the extra 4 hours will be used on reading, writing, and math skills, and not on extended nap time. Is there going to be an oversight commitee to assure us this is the case? Last time I checked Westport elementary schools were doing acedemically better than Darien and New Canaan so if anything those towns should cut their hours down to ours if the childs interest were truly the guiding light. We should be LEADERS not followers. He freely admits there is parental opposition, apparently that takes a back seat to 4 extra hours of unvarifiable academics and/or sleepy time and twinky consumption.
The VAST majority of Westport parents, that I speak with, support a full-day kindergarten program. If I remember correctly, the full-day is less expensive because of the need for fewer afternoon bus runs. That is a win-win for the town.
Maybe these kids would prefer the extra hours of kindergarten over the hectic pace they have outside of school (i.e. dance, sports, tutoring, music). 😉
I suppose we all speak to different people and get different views. The views I hear are either against it or neutral. But I do think there are a lot of misunderstandings. For example, under the CT definition of “full day” kindergarten, we are already well above the threshold minimum number of hours required—even with just three days of “full day”. The bus savings are actually minimal —I would guess no more than $40-50K. Given that you now have to redeploy kindergarten teachers away from productive support roles, you either need to find replacements for them (which ain’t gonna happen in the current environment) or withdraw the services they provide. To do it right, you also need additional paraprofessional time, classroom infrastructure, and probably additional specialty teachers (e.g., art, music). So at the end of the day, it either means no savings or doing a lousy job implementing it. There are a host of other reasons to be against it. My own view is that most parents can figure out and make the right choice for how much their kids can handle after school rather than subject them to a long day. Our kids are already too stressed out and sleep deprived and the long term mental and physiological impact of it all is pretty frightening if you dig into. It’s a big price to pay, even if you believe there is a short term impact.
Mr. Franklin, Maybe you the parents for a longer kindergarten day would prefer higher taxes to pay for it all.
How much is it worth to you now? After all it’s for the children, so don’t get cheap on me now.
Dr Landon:
We fully support this effort. With two kids already in elementary school and a future kindergarten student waiting in the wings, we saw our children thrive and grow in full-time pre-school situations. As far as we are concerned, the various kindergarten schedules over the years in Westport represented a step backward for them.
Indeed, we noted that various learning blocks in kindergarten WERE rushed. We welcome a pace that will allow children to more fully explore areas that capture their attention- hardly “sleepy time and twinkies” referenced by a prior post.
Thank you for advocating for this change, we support it fully.
John R., I can only judge the costs from the numbers which were used a couple of years ago when we last revisited the full-day issue. Back then, there were supposed to be bus savings.
I stated that IF we could save money by going to a full-day, then we have a win-win. If this is going to cost us more, then I reconsider.
If it is budget neutral, I would support the full-day program because I do believe that it would be more beneficial for the children. We are going to hear a lot of scientific and anecdotal evidence from both sides on this issue, but I suspect that it will not be much different than what we have heard in the past.
So far in this round, we do not know the savings or costs. I am most interested in the budget implications.