Schools

It's Still Half-Day Kindergarten for Some Reston Schools

Budget cuts mean a halt to implementing full-day programs in nearly one-third of county public schools.

In 99 of Fairfax County's 139 public elementary schools, kindergartners attend a full school day.

The remainder - including two schools in Reston, Armstrong and Sunrise Valley Elementary schools - are on a half-day schedule. That is a schedule that is sometimes frustrating for parents, particularly working parents who have to scramble to make sometimes costly arrangements for the year.

For many of the children who have been in full-time day care and preschool programs for years, half-day kindergarten is actually a return to less class time. At Armstrong Elementary School, for instance, kindergartners are in school from 8:40 a.m. to noon Tuesday to Friday. On Mondays, when the entire school goes a shortened day for teacher planning time, the day is from 8:40 a.m. to 10:45 a.m.

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Armstrong and Sunrise Valley are not likely to get the expanded day any time soon. The county schools that got full-day programs first were the schools with higher number of low-income students.The county implemented the full-day program where the students needed it most, says school board member Stu Gibson, who represents the Hunter Mill District.

"Adding full-day kindergarten was a stated school board goal," Gibson said of the plan that was put in place almost a decade ago. "We made a presentation to the County Board of Supervisors to commit the funding over a four- or five-year period."

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The problem was, the money ran out, Gibson said. The economic downturn meant an increase in class size, elimination of some programs, adding a student athletic fee and no teacher raises the last two years. Therefore, the plan for all-day kindergarten for all schools has been halted.

Gibson, whose district includes Reston, says the schools with the highest poverty indicators and the lowest test scores were the highest priority to get full-day kindergarten. It has had an impact, and more kindergartners at those schools are meeting benchmarks of No Child Left Behind.

"I think we should finish the job," said Gibson.

"It has made a huge difference in test scores," says Gibson. "A lot of kids come into kindergarten ready to learn - but a lot don't. These are the kids whose parents are working two jobs and they did not go to preschool. Full-day kindergarten has done a lot to get them up to where a lot of kids already are."

Elizabeth English, principal at Sunrise Valley, says she wishes the county still had the money to add full-day programs.

"We're not going to get it in this current budget situation," she said. "It presents an unforntunate dilemma for for parents, not having equal access to kindergarten if they want it."

English says a large portion of parents in the Sunrise Valley district send their children to private school through kindergarten in order to get the full school day.

"Every year there are about 25 students new to SVES in first grade," says English. "They come from private school. We are at a disadvantage when they start somewhere else."

Sunrise Valley parent Alicia Leonard has had two children in the half-day program in recent years. She did the kindergarten juggle just last year with her younger son.

"I wish they had all-day kindergarten," says Leonard. "But I know they are not going to get it."

Leonard is a working parent, so she paid for her sons to go to after-kindergarten school-age child care (SACC) at the school.

"I am lucky, my job is flexible," she said. "But I think it depends on the kid, whether they are ready to be in school all day. Not all kids are ready to be there all day."

 

* Correction - an earlier version of this story said Buzz Aldrin Elementary School had half-day kindergarten. It now has full-day kindergarten.


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