School Board Passes Longer Week for Kindergartners

The current two full-days and three half-days kindergarten week is getting a permanent vacation. Starting next year, Reddings kindergartners will have of school each week.

The motion to approve the new kindergarten planner was passed on Tuesday, April 5, at a Board of Education meeting attended by about 35 people in .

The new schedule is expected to remain budget neutral, as savings from the transportation budget will accommodate for the cost of the program, said board member Stephanie Ugol, one of the Kindergarten Committee’s leaders.

But before the vote, of which only James Barickman demurred from with an abstention, concerned parents vocalized much criticism, and some support, for the new schedule.

“You may have seen the article about me in the Redding Pilot,” said Tamara Bertschi, a Redding citizen. “I have 94 signatures [against the petition] as of today." She said that the signatures came from “Redding parents and grandparents.”

“I would like the board to look at those signatures” before they vote, she said.

“Ninety-four numbers is significant,” said Jess Gaspar, board chairman. “But for me personally, almost all the conversations I’ve had outside these meetings, they were in favor. While [94] is a large, important number, I don’t find it enough to convince me to go against the new program,” he said, stating that there were a few thousand parents in Redding.

“We have wonderful teachers who adapt,” said Janine Hermann of Redding.

“[These teachers] have met and succeeded” against state mandates, she said, referring to the board mentioning that a longer school day would help with the recent increase in mandated criteria.

“If you give us a year and a half, we can do it [obtain thousands more signatures],” said Hermann.

Gaspar said that if there were “significant problems with the program,” it would be revisited and corrected.

“A wise gentleman once told me we need the community to balance out the administration,” said Betsy Higgins of Great Pasture Road, who stated she has a daughter in kindergarten. “I don’t think there can be any reversal. . .there’s no going back, absolutely not."

“Westport voted this down four times, and they had 79 signatures in their petition,” said Higgins.

Higgins said if the board “really want[s] to know what the community has to say,” to add a “line item” to the town budget so all residents could review the new changes.

Citing the board’s lack of specific information in curriculum structures and cost, she said, “there’s a lot of uncertainty. It’s odd.”

“Why are we extending our day when the times at 1 and 2 o’clock are the worst behavioral times,” said Sarah Miles, another resident. Data presented earlier in the meeting, which related to a new school behavioral reinforcement system, had shown that office referrals in RES spiked at those hours.

“I feel like I have to defend my signatures,” said Bertschi, standing up again. “I started collecting since March 1. That’s three a day,” she said, stating that she obtained all of her signatures via word of mouth and did not use an online petition. Bertschi said if she had had more time, she would have had more signatures.

Her husband, Beat Bertschi, also lobbed some criticism at the board.

“Have you sat down with a child psychologist and looked at the impact of this change?" he asked.“There’s a difference between what we do and what countries like Switzerland, New Zealand and Sweden are doing."

“What are the cost-benefit analyses? You had a year to think about this; we in the public didn’t have that much time,” he said.

To close public comment, the schedule did receive some support.

“I think [the board, and the committee] did a great job. I am in favor of the program. I think [Superintendent of Schools Michael] Cicchetti did a great analysis of the program. Kids being able to read is fundamental for their progress,” said Dana Gray, a Redding resident.

There was also a good deal of deliberation among the board.

“The current programs in kindergarten have been eroded” from state pressures, said school board member Kathleen Joyce-Kirk.

“It allows for a more relaxed curriculum,” Cicchetti said.

Cicchetti assured that the new program was “not about pushing down a first grade curriculum into kindergarten.”

He also stated that literacy was a critical learning skill that must be obtained early on in life, and that this longer program will assist in increasing literacy rates.

“I wish we had the numbers tied down more and more specificity as to what it’ll look like,” said school board member Lewis Goldberg, who was overall in favor of the schedule.

The biggest critic on the board was Barickman, who wanted a more concrete plan, and was concerned that the program may not turn out to be budget neutral. He was also apprehensive about the new schedule’s public reception.

“We had one parent in favor of the new model [tonight] and that’s it,” said Barickman.

Barickman requested more research to be done, and for the program to be passed after its costs and procedures had been clearly delineated. When Barickman made a motion that encapsulated this idea, the motion failed with a vote.

“What I’ve heard from Stephanie, is that with the money available in transportation, we can make it happen,” Gaspar said, adding he wholly trusted Ugol and the Kindergarten Committee.

To stay budget neutral, the program would have to operate within approximately $40,000.

“The thing that tugs on me a bit” is for the parents, who “may miss time” with their children, said Barickman.

Goldberg expressed a similar concern.

“There’s a natural tendency to say more is better,” said Goldberg, who said that “the value from what a student that age gains from not being in school” should be equally considered.

“A year from now I think we’ll be celebrating,” said Ugol, when asked how successful she though the program would be a year from its implementation.