Societal benefits? It is not the business of the schools to take care of our society. We the people are supposed to do that. They should educate our kids as efficiently as possible. Kindergarten is not even required. The job of getting our kids ready for school is the parents. The wealthy parents of Summit should not burden future tax payers with more government schooling.

FDK would be tremendously expensive to all of the taxpayers of Summit so a very small minority would get a few months of free baby sitting. How much of the increased time in FDK would be taken up with nap time and play time? Only one of all the surrounding communities has FDK and they would like to eliminate it due to the expense. Currently there are many options available for parents who want FDK. I am sure that some even subsidize low income families.

There are solid studies showing that the benefits of this approach a limited to 1st grade. Performance then falls back to the original level in subsequent grades. Also, since this is to prepare kids for 1st grade, maybe we should also have the schools prepare our children for kindergarten. We can just keep working out way back to birth. That way, the parent has less and less to do for their kids.

As a former first grade teacher and now for many years, a volunteer in Kdg. first and second, I see how the kindergarten curriculum has changed. I see virtually no playtime. The teachers will say that pre school has taken the place of kindergarten but there are still kids who weren't ready for certain concepts in pre school and are not ready for the curriculum of today's kindergarten. My husband's district for years was the only full day kdg. in Suffolk County, New York. The parents loved it and the teachers did have playtime. It would be nice if Summit act like a leader and use full day kindergarten to ensure that playtime is observed. There is a reason for playing with blocks or using an easel. I hope that tonight the k teachers in your district will spell out their current curriculum and what a full day curriculum would look like. Let me know. My daughter lives in Summit but has no kids that are afftected by this. Teachers don't baby sit. They teach!

I am shocked at how many people couldn't care less how much an expensive proposal such as FDK costs. Get real, people! This is how our country has become insolvent. Spending, spending, spending on questionable programs, financed with debt or increasing taxation. It's time to CUT government spending, not increase it ... residents are moving away from Summit due to the ridiculously high property tax burden here, and the exodus will accelerate if FDK is implemented and taxes increase again. For my family, this will probably be the last straw and we will move and take our tax dollars with us. It is almost too absurd to even argue about the merits of FDK ... at such a young age, children SHOULD spend time playing and exploring, and this is something which can and should occur at home, under the supervision of parents, NOT at the expense of taxpayers. If parents want or need their children in school all day in kindergarten, that is fine, but they should pay for it at one of the many private options available.

In my husband's experience FDK got increased aid for full day kdg. I don't know how NJ does it. In my opinion the lack of a full day kdg. may make future buyers in Summit decide not to purchase property there. My beef about FDK is that many districts eliminate the play factor and make it all academic. You can do a lot more readiness with kids in full day. Imagine your child has no full day kdg. and moves to a district where as first graders they are lacking in many of the skills that their peers have had in FDK. Just make sure that if you do adopt FDK it will not be purely academic. Don't rely on these comments administrators and Board members. Go out and visit FDK in other districts. While I always liked the "old" concepts of a three or four hour kdg. that concept fit well with the first grade curriculum of the time. So, when you attend tonights meeting you will know what it all means. I wish I could be there and put in my "two cents." I have no children or grandchildren in FDK or part time kdg. But I am an educator and my volunteer job three times a week is to work with those K kidi who are not ready for the academic curriculum they are faced with.
The majority of the kids in my schools kdg. can handle the new k curriculum but it saddens me to see that the only playtime is recess.

FTK not FDK. Sorry!

As I said before, explore what aid N.J. gives towards FDK. My concern is the curriculium. Visit school districts nearby and see how they handle FDK. When my husband was supt. in his district that had the only FDK in Suffolk Co. NY it's true that while the K kids in his district were ahead of the K kids in three or four hour k, those kids tested the same by third grade. But that was years ago when FDK was a rarity. Today someone decided that FDK was an academic program so if you have a child from the Summit part time K move to a district when he/she is in first grade, they might be at a disadvantage. The children are our future, let's not equate them in dollars and cents. I pay taxes in two communities and I have no children in schools. I have no complaints tax wise just education wise. If that makes sense.

FYI - for all of you who are unaware of it, state law mandates only half a day of kindergarten, ergo parents would have the option of sending their kids only half a day if Summit offered FDK. Bacause of that law, all mandatory subjects must be taught in either the am or pm (at the discretion of the school) so that if a parent opts to only send thier child for half a day, he/she will not miss anything. Bottom line, the reamianing time is filled with "teacher's choice", a fancy name for restime and playtime. That can be done at home or in a private setting, not with taxpayers dollars.

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