My Wolrd Tuesday #8
Here we have Priest street school. Priest street school only has one grade level which is kindergarten. Not sure what other school systems are like in other countries, but here in Massachusetts your child may start school in kindergarten at the age of 5. After kindergarten the levels go from grade 1 through 12.
Traditionally kindergarten in Leominster consisted of a morning session as well as a afternoon session. Your child would go to either one of them but not both. Three or four years ago Leominster decided to try full day sessions. In order for your child to attend this full day session you needed to enroll your child. If there was room in the classroom your child would be accepted. My daughter was accepted to this program, but it came at a cost. We had to pay a monthly fee for her to attend.
Two years ago the town voted to make all kindergarten classes full day sessions. I couldn't believe the people that were upset over this. A lot of parents protested stating their children were not prepared for this amount of schooling. One of the benefits though was because all classes are to be full day sessions the state picked up the total cost and parents no longer needed to make up the difference. I guess the ironic thing about this is these parents that were complaining actually have the choice of not sending their children at all. Kindergarten attendance is not mandatory in Massachusetts. However, Massachusetts requires all public school districts to offer a kindergarten program for their residents.
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January 13th, 2009 - 12:49
Wow an entire school with just kindergarten. My hometown has campuses just for 6th grade.
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January 13th, 2009 - 14:11
Interesting post.
January 13th, 2009 - 21:27
I do think beurocracy has gone mad. It looks for all the world like this is a precursor to telling you that the state willuplift education by adding another year of shool. The only trouble is, they make it the cheapest year possible and call the 5 yr. old kindy year grade 1. I find it terrible to sentence a child to a full day on a hard chair. They need excersize for mind and body. The lower grades can be deadening for children with aptitude and imagination.
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January 13th, 2009 - 21:28
That is one big kindergarten. What a blessing to have such a place. My daughter was half day in the morning. With the snow we had that year, she might as well have skipped it. I can see the benefits of both full and half day. I was glad to have her back early.
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