Ohioans with Students entering K in the fall/Full day??

[aslyn]

My BFF has a dd starting K this fall and told me that the district told her that K is now mandatory full day across the state. Currently my district only offers part time. But I am wondering if that changed now for 2010? I did some googling and found some articles stating that they are passing the issue through with some districts being allowed to opt out this year and what not. So I am curious how many districts that previously were 1/2 day are switching to Full this coming school year. I know most if not all of the inner city districts have been Full day only for years (Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati)

My DS2 isn't eligible until fall 2011 for K but I am interested in how many districts are doing this and what type of options they are giving parents.

So did your district go to full day this coming year? are they offering you a choice of full or 1/2 day?

[Geofizz]

I think most districts have applied for a waiver or extension on the implementation. I know our district has a waiver for next year, and they are contemplating it for the fall of 2011. If they don't get it for 2011, their plan is boarding on hostile to families - full day at a school 8 miles from here. This is also where all the wrap around care was, implying that the district is contemplating eliminating wrap around care for kindy students. Because they can still let families "opt out" of full day for half day, they will retain half day at all neighborhood schools. So, that means that if you want to do the neighborhood school, then you cannot go to full day kindy. Our choice will be to hire a nanny or drive an additional 32 miles a day (since I currently commute without a car).

[mattemma04]

We are in Mahoning and it was full day K back in 2007. I believe it was still half day in 2006 as I saw the Kinder busing around noonish. There was never any options given for parents.Sign up your kids and follow the district rules was what was expected then and now.

[kittie313]

My oldest dd did full day K last school year in our ps district, while my second dd is doing half-day through our virtual academy. We're about an hour east of Columbus. I'm not sure what my 3rd will do when she is K age (all we know right now is that she's going to Head Start this fall at 4yo and her big sisters will be in 1st and 2nd at the local school we *think* but aren't sure yet) but we've got some experience with full day K here from my oldest. It wasn't even close to ideal by my wants for our family, and I dread having to go back with the public schools in our small city, but she enjoyed it to an extent (as much as she could considering she was the kid the others targeted for teasing because of her learning disabilities that the school refused to acknowledge until she's 2 grade levels behind)

[cincynana]

I'm in Cincinnati (Oak Hills district) and our kindergarten is still 1/2 day for the next school year. I don't believe there is an option for full day (I wanted 1/2 day so I didn't look into any other option within the district). Oak Hills was able to get a waiver for the next school year, but I'm not sure what will happen after the 2010-2011 school year. Cincinnati Public is full day and has been for some time.

[mags]

We're in OH and DS1 is in 1/2 day K (they offer full day K, but it's tuition based) in the public school. The 2010-2011 academic yr will be the LAST yr they will offer 1/2 day K in our district. The 2011-2012 academic yr, which is the yr that DS2 will enter K, will be the first yr where K is full day for all kids.

[mamadelbosque]

Its been full-day here for years apparently (my ds1 is starting preschool, but we weare talking about kindy/school in general at playgroup a couple weeks ago), though you've always been 'allowed' to pick them up after lunch... but apparently only one parent has ever done that and eventually stopped when their dc repeatedly balked.

[Geofizz]

Dispatch article

[aslyn]

I just hope that that 2011-2012 when DS2 starts K they have a normal schedule..2 1/2 days (tues and thurs and friday afternoon) is an aweful schedule to have and it does nothing to teach the kids a routine.

[Geofizz]

K isn't even every day where you are?!?

Wow, do they have the same end of kindy standards? Here they need to be reading at DRA 8.

[aslyn]

Originally Posted by Geofizz

K isn't even every day where you are?!?

Wow, do they have the same end of kindy standards? Here they need to be reading at DRA 8.

Nope, DS goes Tues and Thursday from 8-3:30 and Friday from 1pm-3:30. From what I was told was there are to many kids so they had to split them up by zones. Some kids go M/W and friday morning. Our district is made up of 2 cities, so I can imagine that there are a lot of kids! It is rather annoying though because I really don't see how it teaches the kids anything about schedules or routines and if you have 1 kid in elementary and 1 at the prek/K school its a pain in the butt with the completely different schedules.

We also live in a *higher income* area (only because we moved into a condo owned by a family member, we could not afford to live here otherwise) and though the district offers preschool, its very limited space wise so a lot of these kids never go to preschool unless the family has the money to pay for it privately. Those who don't either go through headstart (which the closest one from us is about a 40 min drive) or just don't send them until K. The district offered preschool was filled up for next year by December 09 and we did not even get the chance to apply for DS2 so he will not be going to school at all until 2011/2012 when he starts K.

As for the standards, well my DS can read on a 2nd grade level so its not an issue for him, He knew all the sight words they are required to know by the end of the year before he even started. I am not sure about the other kids in his class, they do a "munching through the alphabet" where the kids are learning letter sounds with snack foods that are parent provided and show n tell which is always the letter sound of the week.

Don't get me wrong, this is a great school district its been rated "excellent with distinction" for 9 yrs in a row, All the staff from the superintendent down to the janitors are friendly and will go out of their way to do whatever it takes to make sure the kids are taken care of. But the K schedule is the dumbest I have heard from anyone I have ever talked to.

[Geofizz]

So that's the same amount of time per week as 5 half days, but wow, what a crazy schedule.

Yeah, we're in one of the super-top schools as well, and they take that as no need to change kindy.

Our district-run preschool is one of the most expensive around! DS goes to a private one at the end of the street -- just as good, 1/5 the cost. Of course, we're in the C'bus metro area, so there are plenty of preschool options of all flavors and costs.

[aslyn]

Geofizz I think thats the issue with our district, they think there is no reason to change it since they are so high rated. There have not been any announcements about next yr's K schedule in the local paper or by the board of ed yet. I am guessing they applied for the waiver for at least next year but who knows. When I was growing up here, there was a total of 4 schools. The k-3, 4-6, the middle school and the high school. Now we have the ECC for prek/K, 3 elementary 1-4, middle school and the high school..times have changed for sure! Then again back then, there were only kids in our city not the other 1 going to school here so whenever that changed I am sure it was a huge influx of kids.

I think if we had a car or busses came out here, I would look into alternative prek for DS2. We live in the Cleveland area, so there are lots of options the closer you get to Cleveland but we are just far enough way to make it a pain and our public transportation has been cut down badly (its a 2 hour walk to the closest bus stop!) so I don't think it will kill him to be home another yr, though he REALLLLLY wants to go to school!

[Geofizz]

Wow, I can't imagine having so few preschool options. One of my DD's daycare centers (she's unfortunately taken a tour of a variety of options ) would serve as a morning preschool for a few kids nearby. It wouldn't be the preschool I'd choose for my kid (nor was it the daycare...), but a kid that really wants to go to school might find something good in situation like that?

(And as an ardent "active transportation" supporter, the no bus stop would be a non starter for me!)