Evergreen Public Schools won’t switch kindergarten pupils back to a half-day routine this school year, but will consider restoring its traditional schedule by next September.
The school board on Tuesday heard Superintendent John Deeder recommend against any midyear change, despite survey results last month that showed a majority of parents in favor of a return to either morning or afternoon sessions, five days a week.
That support -— 57 percent favored an immediate switch — was not conclusive, nor was it evenly distributed, Deeder said. High support surfaced in only a few schools, and response to the mail survey was just 30 percent, from more than 1,700 kindergarten households.
Deeder placed far more weight in feedback from kindergarten teachers, who widely oppose any sudden reversal, mostly out of concern for further disrupting young students.
“I have to listen to them, because they’re working with those kids each day,” Deeder said, at a meeting that drew a thin crowd.
“I really believe the disruption to students would be more than (any change) would be helpful,” Deeder said after ticking off considerations and likely consequences. One factor: Current classrooms would be split apart, due to needed revisions in neighborhood bus routes and schedules.
As part of $1.5 million in school transportation cutbacks made this school year — part of $11 million in total district budget cuts — Evergreen dropped midday school bus runs that served half-day kindergarten sessions, to save about $600,000.
New, alternating schedules put youngsters in kindergarten all day on Mondays and Thursdays or Tuesdays and Fridays, with alternating Wednesdays mixed in.
But complaints quickly mounted from several parents and some teachers. They said pupils are confused or frustrated with on-off routines, including lengthy gaps, which they blame for behavior problems or lags in learning.
Deeder acknowledged shortcomings in the budget-driven change.
Central to the problem of skipped kindergarten sessions are parent-teacher conferences and early-release days (17 Wednesdays to allow more teacher training). No kindergarten is held on those days.
So far, that’s caused quite an imbalance between “A” and “B” pupil schedules, Deeder said. However, resetting the system now would complicate the present plan that achieves equal instruction time by this spring, he said.
Some accommodation has already been made for special-needs children, including some autistic pupils troubled by the new schedule.
Several parents did suggest all-day kindergarten for pupils whose families would pay tuition. But Deeder rejected the idea outright, saying it would create haves and have-nots: “That’s a real equity issue; I can’t recommend we do that.”
Meantime, all-day kindergarten, five days a week, remains an elusive Evergreen goal, “a goal of mine since I started here,” Deeder said. Problem is, Washington state funding isn’t available, and the district doesn’t have $4 million to provide 37 more teachers (and extra classrooms) to supply it.
Deeder said Evergreen must wait for results of the Feb. 9 operating levy tax measure and for state legislators to set a budget before it decides if it can again afford half-day kindergarten during the 2010-11 school year.
Howard Buck: 360-735-4515 or howard.buck @columbian.com.
