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Post by lilly on Feb 9, 2012 12:05:37 GMT -5
kathyt, good to hear.
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Post by Chris_Wendt on Feb 9, 2012 16:33:08 GMT -5
Writing to make note of the fact that this thread about Full-day Kindergarten has surpassed 500-views.
I know this subject is not as salacious as the status of our coaches, but it has a following. Of course, the people following, reading or writing to this thread are not really THAT into Full-day K, otherwise they would have stormed the Board of Education meeting and asked all kinds of inconvenient questions and gotten the Board members all flummoxed and yammering among themselves, as some board members were during the recent browbeating they took about who will be coaching football.
500 Reads. Full-day K.
Here's the money! Let's roll!
Chris Wendt
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ryan
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Post by ryan on Feb 9, 2012 18:38:11 GMT -5
The Board president and administrators refused to answer any questions that were asked about the football coach. Some of those people that came out to the board of ed meeting were their for the very first time. I was embarrassed for the board, It is one thing to have your own questions addressed with a song and a dance but it is embarrassing to to watch them do it to people that do not have a clue about how things have been lately.Thank fully (She) stood up and answered the question to put it to rest for now. Some of these people asked What is the point of a board of Ed meeting? Did we not vote these people to represent us Everyone, With all the rumors circulating around town (football related) these people just wanted to make sure their was a football team next year,you know cuts are coming up. You cannot trust people who don't really seem to care. I cannot trust people who pretend to have no clue what you are talking about. These rumors surfaced weeks ago and I believe every board member was aware of them and if they weren't then that is a bigger problem. In my opinion, Most of the board members are disassociated with the wantagh community.. I have known that for some time and now 30 more people received the same treatment. If the question was answered may be their would have been time to brow beat them for full day kindergarten. While I'm so full of my opinion. As far as full day kindergarten goes Why wouldn't any one support it if their is money for it? I would question where the money next year would come from?
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Andy
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Post by Andy on Feb 9, 2012 22:05:51 GMT -5
It is pathetic and sad that Wantagh still does not offer our children a BASIC like full day kindergarten. I say it’s a 'basic' based on the amount of taxes we pay compared to other towns in Nassau that have been offering full day for years and some of them now offering pre-k. It is so basic it’s almost ridiculous that in the year 2012 that we are still talking about implementing it. I recently registered my child for Kindergarten and when I asked what the possibility of someday having a full day in Wantagh I was told… “It’s not mandated by the state so don’t hold your breath”. Is it wrong to expect and want more than what the state mandates for our children? We all work so hard to live here, we pay a ridiculous amount of taxes and we should be exceeding state requirements and mandates. Our children should have some of the best technology available to them. I can't believe that it's just the BOE, I put the blame on the people of the community that support them. I If the state is giving us money than we take it, we don't turn it down. We should not have to cut anything. A decrease in enrollment and decline in property values is not surprising. It is a RED flag to any new home buyer looking to buy in Wantagh.
Chris- You have my vote! We need to CONSOLIDATE and trim off some of the fat that is holding us down.
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Post by Chris_Wendt on Feb 10, 2012 7:52:52 GMT -5
Andy, my 'stake' in this issue is the fact that during my time on the Board of Education the District added several classrooms to each of our three elementary schools. This construction was partly justified by our stating that those classrooms would be used for Full-day Kindergarten after the looming student 'population bubble' had passed through our schools. Voters approved building those classrooms, and the millions of dollars for their construction, plus interest, was partly offset by other special state tax money we already received and partly paid for by everyone's local school taxes over the years.
92% of the approximately 700 school districts in NY State have Full-day Kindergarten. Even Seaford, which is on Austerity for the second time in a few years, has Full-day K...STILL has Full-day K.
In Wantagh, Full-day K is not even on The List.
In Wantagh, we don't even have The List...
...of stuff that should on the list of initiatives to be striven-for, funded, and done.
We got whatever any group with enough voices can yell at the school board about on any given night, until some school board member gets addled and rattled enough to give in to the pressure and blurt out some sentiment from the gut, rather from the heart or from the head.
Soon enough, Wantagh will have a HEAD. A full-time, permanent professional Superintendent of Schools. That new HEAD will be able to make a LIST, and keep that list in front of the Board of Education, so that they can think with their heads, and then listen with concern, consideration, and intent to discussions about the things on The List as well as about other things people would like added to The List.
The other tragedy about the current state of affairs is that the Board of Education doesn't really hold discussions of stuff. They wait for issues to blow-up around them, and then people come and browbeat them into capitulation.
The Board needs to start having real "Planning" "Sessions", in public, in compliance with the LAW, and in fulfillment of their individual OATH OF OFFICE to comply with the LAW. At those real "Planning" "Sessions", they can discuss Full-day K, Pre-K, Technology initiatives, facilities issues, new laws, and such, in front of and with the public.
Sure, we have the BAC where the public gets a nice power point presentation of all the initiatives that were never discussed with the public before they were initiated. But the BAC is not the place to the public to have any meaningful input into things like technology.
The BAC was the place where we were told that the decrepit Middle School bleachers were on THE LIST (for repair or replacement). But, the BAC is also the place where we learned the sad truth that there really is NO LIST!
If you don't have a LIST, you cannot be held accountable for accomplishing the stuff on THE LIST. You just accomplish whatever you want, don't accomplish whatever you don't want to accomplish, and everybody is happy because there is no inconvenient list to be attended to. Don't worry, because as soon as anything gets bad enough, it will either fall apart and become an emergency, or, people will crowd into a meeting to browbeat the Board about it!
"We don't need no stinking list!"
Chris Wendt
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ryan
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Post by ryan on Feb 10, 2012 10:10:05 GMT -5
chris.. You really don't have a clue as to why the group of people were at that meeting. You listened while it went on but don't know the background to it. People were not yelling or brow beating to get what they want, All they wanted was an honest answer a Yes or no. We did could not get it from the person who represents the entire board, He said he didn't know about it and it has to be discussed. Well he did know about it as it stated in the patch.When you get answers that are vague and don't make any sense,then you get frustrated. we deserved exactly what the one board member answered. How would you know if it came from the heart head or wherever, It was an honest answer. Maybe others should take some lessons from her.
I am not going to argue with you on a blog,The Elections are over and it really doesn't matter who voted for which candidate. If someone does not do the right thing I or any one has as much right to state our opinion on how we were treated. You don't have all the facts on this one.
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Post by Chris_Wendt on Feb 10, 2012 13:11:54 GMT -5
Well, there is a maxim about there being no such thing as "bad publicity" and this thread is certainly no exception, with readership going from 505 to 710 overnight! That is a lot of reader exposure to the topic of Full-day Kindergarten and the $640,000 NY State Grant in Aid for Wantagh to implement it. I am going to start a new thread about the FOOTBALL wantaghsd.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=sports&thread=551 deal, because as one writer stated, I didn't have all the facts, but mainly because THIS THREAD IS ABOUT FULL-DAY K and NOT about football. Kindergarten, here. Football, there. Please. Chris Wendt
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dan
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Post by dan on Feb 10, 2012 18:41:23 GMT -5
Wow Zach....you jumped right in with your confident yet blatantly uninformed post. What are you basing your statement about inclusion kids on? Are you an inclusion teacher in Wantagh? Have you been inside an inclusion class in Wantagh? The fact is that you are making simple generalizations which further isolate kids who through no fault of their own need some extra help focusing. In my case, my child performs WELL ABOVE grade level in all academic aspects, yet he will lose focus if he is not occasionally re-directed. The advantage of inclusion for typical children is that they too get an extra teacher in their class to assist them when they are having difficulty grasping a concept or they need to be re-directed...but I'm sure your perfect child would never need such assistance. Do us all a favor and look for a district that has full time kindergarten. I'm sure your generalizations and strong uninformed and biased opinions will contribute greatly to the town which will be lucky enough to get you as a new neighbor. Try Bigotville, I hear they have plenty of openings for people of your ilk.
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Andy
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Post by Andy on Mar 15, 2012 13:02:56 GMT -5
Sat through an hour of kindergarten orientation this morning with the wonderful Principal, staff and maybe close to 100 Wantagh parents. I was taken back by some of the comments that the Principal of the school made regarding their feelings about full day kindergarten. The Principal briefly address that Wantagh does not have full day kindergarten and the Wantagh is 1 in 17 districts that does not currently offer full day kindergarten to it's students, but its on the LIST and it is reviewed every year. They address that the 2 1/2 hours of education our children will receive would be sufficient enough prepare them for the first grade curriculum.... REALLY 2 1/2 HOURS with an average of 25 children in each class and 1 teacher??? so they broke down the 2 1/2 hours 25 children one teacher 10 minutes to hang up coats and get settled in the class etc.. 10-15 minutes of snack time Independent work time? where he children work on their own how much time is actually left for a REAL EDUCATION!!!! Sound more like a daycare than kindergarten. The Principal also remarked along the lines that districts that do offer full day kindergarten have difficult filling in what they do during the rest of the day? WHAT!!!!! and that full day kindergarten should not be looked at as extending daycare. Does a someone in this position really believe that a child would no really benefit from and extra 3 or so hours of education a day?? that the extra 2 1/2 hours of education will not benefit our children. Completely insulted by the whole experience I called Dr. Carl Bonuso office asking where I can obtain the LIST of items/ requests that have been that BOE is considering implementing or what things are being requested that our schools need or want. The response given me "well there is no actual list, its like a catch phrase, a lingo that people use when they talk about the budget or things that they would like to have , there is nothing written down or anything like that". Really don't know what else to say........... keeping my fingers crossed for those basketball hoops Go WANTAGH!!!
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Post by Chris_Wendt on Mar 15, 2012 15:25:29 GMT -5
I would like to bring to the attention of District leaders the fact that this thread has garnered over ONE THOUSAND views.
I would especially like to congratulate Dr. Bonuso for stepping up and admitting that THERE IS NO LIST!
Now, let's get going on making that list, shall we?
Sheesh!
Chris Wendt
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jmk
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Post by jmk on Mar 15, 2012 22:27:03 GMT -5
Andy,
You are absolutely correct about your concerns and questions about the quality of the half-day program. Half-day in no way prepares children for the demands of first grade and when compared to my friends’ kids, I’ve realized that our kindergarten students’ are nowhere nearly as prepared for first grade as those kids who attend full-day districts. There is simply no way to accomplish in 2.5 hours what other districts have 5-6 hours of instructional time to do-you don’t need to have a degree in education to figure that out!!!! Unfortunately in Wantagh, as you will soon learn, smartboards and athletic complexes and fields etc. are more important than building a strong educational foundation in our youngest students. Nothing against sports or technology but a solid educational program in ALL grades should come BEFORE technology enhancements and sports. Don’t expect much from kindergarten in Wantagh. The teachers are good but can only do so much in the time allotted. Until parents of infants, toddlers and preschoolers in Wantagh start demanding full-day, it will never happen. Let’s face it-once your children get to first grade-you will not care anymore so you won’t be fighting for it-in fact you might argue against it since it will no longer benefit your children. My third will be going to private kindergarten-the price tag hurts but I’ve decided it’s worth it.
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Andy
New Member
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Post by Andy on Mar 16, 2012 13:44:50 GMT -5
JMK,
As a parent that had a child attend full day kindergarten I can tell you personally that the Wantagh kindergarten students are nowhere nearly as prepared for first grade as students in other districts. I just never expected to hear the Principal of an elementary school say that it’s not worth it. That districts that do offer it are just wasting time and money and kindergarten teachers that do teach full day find it hard to fill in the extra hours of the day. He did not feel that the extra of instructional time would benefit our children. I am sure he is a swell guy, but someone with that mentality should not be running a school!
Most of the children today have been in a classroom setting since at least the age of three. They have been in pre-schools that offer more than the kindergarten curriculum at Wantagh. It almost makes more sense to skip kindergarten all together and have the students enter right into 1st grade.
Great you will be spending a lot of money to send your child to a private school that offers full day kindergarten. Is it worth it? Then what? Your child enters into first grade at Wantagh and you realize you just spent all that money for a private full day kindergarten program only for your child to repeat it again in the first grade. Your child won’t move ahead they will be stuck, bored and waiting for their classmates to catch up. Wantagh’s first grade is another’s full day kindergarten and it goes on from there.
It’s not just about the full day kindergarten program it just starts there. It’s not about the money it’s about the mentality towards education.
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Post by Chris_Wendt on Mar 16, 2012 15:58:51 GMT -5
Wantagh's children as well as our kindergarten teachers are really missing out on a golden opportunity by not having Full-day K.
Among the things we are not doing, or not taking advantage of, is the opportunity to run full-day K in split sessions, for example.
Imagine keeping the basic half-day K teaching blocks, AM and PM. But the AM and PM programming is different, and maybe not just an A and B program, but A, B, C, D, and E programs, with each one focused differently, and paced differently. So depending upon a child's prior experience, abilities, and interests and needs, there would be menu of programs during each month, and one group of children's days potentially being scheduled like this: ...............AM Block.........PM Block Program......A.....................C Program......A.....................D Program......A.....................E Program......B.....................C Program......B.....................D Program......B.....................E
...and the AM & PM programs flipped for another group of children:
...............AM Block.........PM Block Program......C.....................A Program......D.....................A Program......E.....................A Program......C.....................B Program......D.....................B Program......E.....................B
Each program block would have different content or level of achievement, and objectives, and a different teacher, as well as some different classmates. Keep the days and weeks interesting, nurturing, or challenging as appropriate.
There is so much we could do with full-day K, and especially if we created a Full-day K, UPK center...somewhere in the district, where we have a lot of empty classrooms.
But you know that we can't do any of that...
...because we have spent all or our money on other stuff.
Heck, we can't even afford a marble notebook and a #2 pencil with which to write a list, you know, that list we don't have, with all the things, like Full-day K, or an Advanced Scientific Research Program on it.
There is really no humor inherent or intended in my writing about this topic.
Chris Wendt
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Post by tiredoftaxes on Mar 16, 2012 18:48:31 GMT -5
The system is broken & Wantagh needs a TAXPAC to take control....Why not dump top end admin and lousy teachers...Lets get innovative and try embracing the Kahn Academy method along with the really good Wantagh teachers do their stuff wih larger classes....Bet we could get by with fewer teachers and the kids would still get a quality education........
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Post by Chris_Wendt on Mar 17, 2012 8:33:20 GMT -5
Please see the new thread, Someone Mentioned TAXPAC & the Khan Academy (hyperlink) in the Academics Area of this board. I would like to keep this thread on-topic, about Full-day Kindergarten. On the Full-day Kindergarten topic, I am designing a marketing survey. I am open to suggestions about getting the best "reach" for that on-line survey. You may post suggestions here, or email me at chriswendt117@gmail.com. Once I have the survey designed, I initially plan to offer it to the school district to participate in its launch and to directly share the raw data and analyses. Best regards, Chris Wendt
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