Hello Belmont-Redwood Shores Community,
I'm writing to follow up on last month's email outlining a proposal to extend the kindergarten instructional day. In addition, you are invited to participate in a countywide survey to identify transportation infrastructure priorities.
Proposal to Extend the Kindergarten Day
Last month, I proposed to the Board of Trustees that we extend the kindergarten day from four hours to six hours, to align with the first grade day. Since then, I have received considerable input from parents and teachers, and our administrative team has considered a number of different options. In advance of next week's board meeting, I have modified my proposal to a 5.5-hour day that would begin at 8:30am and end at 2pm (Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fri) with a minimum day on Wednesday like the other grade levels at 12:30pm. This would extend the current instructional day by 90 minutes, half of which would be used for a lunch/recess break, and half for social activities, music, art, and/or exploration.
My memo to the Board is pasted into the bottom of this email. As before, if you reply to this email with any comments or feedback, I will copy the Board on my reply to you so that they are aware of your thoughts, opinions, and/or concerns. If you would like to attend the Board meeting, you are welcome to do so. All board meetings take place in public, and all provide opportunities for public comment. Next week's board meeting will take place beginning at 6:15pm, here at the District Office (2960 Hallmark Dr, Belmont), on Thursday, April 26. I expect the Board's discussion of the kindergarten instructional day to begin around 6:35pm.
County Transportation Survey
Get Us Moving San Mateo County is a community engagement effort by SamTrans and the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors to identify and prioritize transportation needs. They are asking for feedback on what should be included in a potential ballot measure that could help fund transit and transportation in San Mateo County. To provide input, please take the survey
here
.
Below is the text of my memo to the Board regarding the kindergarten instructional day.
Thanks for your interest, engagement, and support!
Michael Milliken
Superintendent
DATE: April 26, 2018
TO: Board of Trustees
SUBJECT: Extending the Kindergarten Instructional Day
DISCUSSION
Staff seeks Board guidance on the proposal to extend the kindergarten instructional day beginning with the 2018-19 school year. Staff recommends extending the instructional day to 2pm, including a 45-minute lunch/recess break. This would extend the instructional day by 90 minutes (from 4 hours to 5.5 hours on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday), with half of that additional time used for lunch/recess and half for informal educational activities. By stopping the kindergarten instructional day short of 2:30pm, kindergarten teachers can use after school time for assessment for the first several weeks of the year and for targeted instruction afterwards.
BACKGROUND
At the March 29 board meeting, I shared my thinking with the Board with regard to the benefits of extending the kindergarten instructional day. That memo is attached. Since that meeting, I have met with our kindergarten teachers, received and shared with you considerable parent input, consulted administrators in other school districts, consulted our two largest after school childcare providers, and discussed with our principals and senior administrators different possibilities for structuring the day to provide the greatest benefit for the largest number of students, with a goal of long term success in school and later life.
Options
In addition to a full day from 8:30am to 2:30pm, which is identical to the first grade day, we considered different structures for the kindergarten instructional day:
- Staggering the schedule different ways, allowing half of the class to be taught for part of the day;
- ending at 1:45pm;
- ending at 2pm; and
- starting with a 4-hour instructional day and phasing in a longer day later in the fall.
Ultimately, we settled on the recommendation of a 5.5-hour day ending at 2pm based upon the following considerations.
Considerations
- Do no harm. Some parents expressed concern that a longer academic day would negatively affect students’ feelings towards school, burn them out, or suppress their creativity and growth in important, non-academic areas. By providing a 45-minute lunch/recess break and encouraging teachers to have the other additional class time dedicated to informal learning, songs, and exploration, we do not believe that this extension will harm any student. Also, we are open to teachers providing some “quiet time” for students after lunch, as they deem appropriate, to allow for some or all students to rest after recess.
- Provide more play, exploration, music, art, and social time. Currently with a 4-hour instructional day and a host of new academic standards[1], kindergarten teachers are under some pressure to keep things productive and focused, which is to say more structured and formal. Five-year-olds benefit greatly from less structured activities, and we believe that an additional lunch/recess break plus 45 minutes of additional instructional time will give the teachers the time to offer more social activities as well as music, art, exploration, and dramatic play.
- Provide additional supports to students that need it. After the first month or two of school, once teachers have assessed their students and have an understanding of their needs, we will encourage them to use 30 to 45 minutes after school, two to three times a week, to provide targeted instruction for students working below grade level standards. In hearing from teachers, one of their concerns was that a full day with all students would not allow them to intervene effectively for those students who might be falling a little behind. Ending the kindergarten instructional day at 2pm will allow time for this important work.
- Provide a supportive work environment to our teachers so that they can be effective with our students. Working with 25 five-year-olds with a wide range of pre-school experiences is very challenging. As such, it may not be appropriate to model the kindergarten day after the first grade day. Allowing additional time for kindergarten assessment, lesson planning, materials preparation, and targeted intervention provides a work environment for our kindergarten teachers that supports them and sets them up for success with some of our youngest and most impressionable learners.
Our principals and Director of Educational Services will continue to work with teachers so that (1) they have clear objectives, sample activities, and resources for the additional instructional time after lunch, and (2) they have evidence-based approaches and methods for their after school targeted intervention beginning later in the fall.
As mentioned in the March 29 memo, I would expect to provide each school site with some scheduling discretion to accommodate traffic and other logistical needs.
Should the Board advise staff to implement an extended kindergarten instructional day next year as recommended, we would collect teacher and parent input, monitor its effectiveness, and bring those data and findings back to the Board in winter 2019 to assess the program change and discuss what, if anything, should be modified further.
Attached: March 29, 2018, memo to the Board regarding extending the kindergarten instructional day
[1] California adopted the “Common Core State Standards” in 2010, which are generally considered to be an improvement on the previous academic standards and more rigorous.
