Troy Schools to Implement All-Day Kindergarten in 2012

The Board of Education is moving forward with plans to implement full-day kindergarten in 2012, Board of Education President Nancy Philippart said.

The board heard a presentation Tuesday evening from Joan Firestone of Oakland Intermediate School District regarding the district's plan. Philippart said the plans will be finalized when the budget is approved in June.

"This is really the first time we formally did a presentation at a televised board meeting, but we've been discussing all-day kindergarten for a while," Board of Education President Nancy Philippart said. "The thing that prompted us to really start to look at it seriously was the change in the Legislature."

The Common Core Standards, which Michigan adopted in June 2010, "are pretty rigorous," Philippart said, "and there are academic requirements for kindergarten now that, frankly, when you talk to kindergarten teachers, it's going to be very hard to do in half a day."

Philippart said the decision to move from half- to full-day kindergarten was made not only because of the academic benefits, but also for financial reasons.

"We had some interest in all-day kindergarten, but we knew all-day kindergarten was going to cost more money, and so it didn't seem fiscally responsible to do it when we were cutting other programs," she said.

Currently, Philippart said, the state pays the same amount of money to the district for half-day students as it does for full-day students.

"In the future, they're talking about if you only do half-day, you only get half the money," she said. "That caused us and many districts to really think."

In her presentation, Firestone outlined advantages to full-day kindergarten, which include better academic performance, better attendance and decreased financial hardship on families who would otherwise have to pay for daycare.

"The data is, in my opinion, pretty compelling," Philippart said.

Philippart said the board will not vote on the issue, and that it will be implemented after the next school year's budget is approved in June 2012.

"I don't expect there's going to be any dissent," she added. "I think it's pretty educationally compelling."

Trustee Paula Fleming mostly agreed, saying, “I’m very excited about this, but you know there will be parents who don’t want it.”

"There are going to be parents who feel their children aren’t ready," Trustee Todd Miletti added.

Firestone suggested the school district offer a few sections of half-day kindergarten for the parents who prefer it to full-day kindergarten for the first couple years after the change.

"It’s a good strategy to offer it to parents at the beginning," she said.

Several other board members expressed hope that implementing all-day kindergarten will be beneficial to students and their families.

"Full-day kindergarten is really going to make a difference for our students," Firestone said. "I’m convinced Troy is going to do this the right way.”

"I gotta believe it will work," Trustee Gary Hauff said.

Board Vice President Ida Edmunds agreed, saying “I’m just convinced that it’s so academically sound, it’s just the best thing that can be done for children of this age.”