All-Day Kindergarten, Calendar Policy on Education Agenda Tonight

Many parents of 5-year-olds, inconvenienced by Farmington’s half-day kindergarten, have wondered when will the town offer an all-day program.

Now, the district is considering the issue, not in the interest of convenience, but because many of Farmington’s neighbors have already done the same, mainly in preparation for the implementation of the Common Core State Standards.

The Farmington Board of Education listed an “initial discussion” about the possibility of all-day kindergarten on its agenda for tonight.

The attachment in the meeting agenda from Superintendent Kathleen Greider says:

High quality early childhood education is critical to a child’s social and cognitive development and to future success in school. In Farmington, the school district provides a highly effective half day kindergarten experience with an option to extend the day through the EXCL program. Participation in the EXCL program involves a fee and provides a full and/or extended day program.

There are an increasing number of districts across the state of Connecticut who have adopted a full day kindergarten model. The catalyst for the increase in school districts moving to a full day kindergarten program primarily stems from the implementation of the Common Core State Standards. In turn, the Farmington Board of Education and administration will have an initial discussion regarding Farmington’s current kindergarten program and the status of full day kindergarten options in Farmington’s District Reference Group (DRG).

While rumors have recently circulated that the decision has already been made, the board will consider, with the recommendations from staff, full-day kindergarten.

In addition, the board will consider the district’s calendar policy, which dictates when school begins and how the 180 school days are distributed throughout the year.

According to the agenda, the board will hold an initial discussion on the calendar policy tonight, followed by discussions on Oct. 15 and 29, before it can make a final decision.

The meeting will be held tonight at Irving A Robbins Middle School, beginning at 7 p.m. The public will be invited to address the board.