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Evergreen shifts to all-day kindergarten

Costly move to affect budget; K-5 early release each Wednesday

By Howard Buck
Published: April 16, 2010, 12:00am

Evergreen Public Schools announced Friday it will switch to a full-day, everyday kindergarten schedule for the 2010-11 school year.

The reform also means all Evergreen elementary schools will have early release every Wednesday, in order to give teachers sufficient training time, the district said.

That will affect all students in grades K-through-5.

It’s a dramatic — and expensive — change from the current A/B schedule that puts pupils in class either two or three full days, on alternating weeks.

That plan drew fire from several parents and some teachers last autumn. They complained that pupils’ learning and behavior suffered under the on/off routine.

Evergreen adopted the A/B plan last summer to replace a traditional half-day, everyday schedule (either morning or afternoon sessions), as part of budget reductions forced by a drop in state education funding.

Elimination of midday school bus runs to serve half-day students sliced about $500,000 in costs. It was a key part of transportation changes designed to save up to $1.5 million total.

But, in a letter to be sent home with all elementary students today, Superintendent John Deeder explained that positives from all-day, everyday kindergarten outweighed other considerations.

Evidence of academic and social success was clear at Orchards Elementary School, where a state grant has funded full-day kindergarten the past two school years, he wrote. (The district also saw improvement at full-day pilot programs added at Sunset and Crestline elementary schools for a portion of pupils in the past two years.)

“(The) results these students have achieved has convinced us that we must re-prioritize our resources so that all students will enjoy this benefit in the future,” Deeder wrote.

Deeder warned the kindergarten change will cost significant dollars. State dollars only pay for half-day kindergarten; Evergreen must cover the rest.

District budget cuts elsewhere will be needed to make up the difference, Deeder wrote.

Already, the district must carve $4 million or more from its annual budget ($237 million this year), due to additional reductions in state spending voted this week by the Washington Legislature.

In doubling kindergarten attendance each day, Evergreen must hire another 42 kindergarten teachers and provide more classroom space, Deeder wrote.

The district will prepare a list of potential budget cuts and post them on its Web site. It plans to host a series of community forums in May to gather comment, as it did a year ago.

“Our board of directors is committed to this process because of the clear benefit to students,” Deeder wrote.

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