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Permalink Reply by Jwayne on March 17, 2012 at 2:56am

Tennessee is ranked like 48th in the nation in education. I don't think it is because Tennessee kids are inferior, I think our school system is the problem.

Just adding more school time to a child's day isn't going to fix a failing program. You could practice reading all day but if the book is upside down, it does little good. I think Knox County needs to reevaluate its strategy/curriculum and design it to be more effective instead of just throwing more time at. 

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Permalink Reply by AnneM on March 17, 2012 at 5:19am

Wow!  This is the first I have heard of this and I work for the school system!  Kinda makes me glad I am moving out of the area and my daughter won't be in a full day program.  That is NUTS!  I would email the superintendent (well, his secretary - superintendent@knoxschools.org) and ask if there are any proposals or information that you can read up on.  There has to be some reading material that explains the thoughts and plans.  I can see how it may benefit some students, but it is not for everyone.  I HOPE my child is still napping/resting when she starts kindergarten, because she will be exhausted and it is easier to continue something that to start over again.  How can you justify 1 1/2 hours extra if at least 45 minutes would have to be for rest time, preferably more?

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Permalink Reply by Kristen on March 17, 2012 at 8:52am

I don't think its fair to place that 48th ranking just on the school system.  You have to have achieving schools, yes, but you also have to have parents who place an importance on education and will do everything necessary to see that their children's time in school is effective...this includes adequate nights sleep, completed homework, not coming to school hungry, supporting teachers' decisions for a plan for their education, etc.  Many parents expect the schools to be the sole participant in their children's education and this mentality has to change.  If you don't like little Johnny's test grade, then make sure he does his homework and STUDIES.  Teachers can only do so much...

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Permalink Reply by Carrie on March 17, 2012 at 9:46am

My kids stopped napping WAAAAY before kindergarten so I don't really think that would have been an issue. I suppose my question would be what they were planning on doing for that extra hour and 45 minutes. I suppose I just want to see the game plan before I form an opinion either way.

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Permalink Reply by MamaLucas on March 17, 2012 at 11:28am

My daughter is currently in Kindergarten.  I would fully support going to a full day schedule, and based on the children in the class, I would feel they would all benefit from it.  I have spoken with a couple of the K teachers at our school and they are in full support.  As it stands, they only really have 2 hours of instruction time in the classroom once you take out the time for encore (PE, art, etc), potty breaks, hand washing, lunch, recess, etc. 

My support, however, is under one condition.  They must have some sort of snack time built in for the afternoon.  At our school, Kindergarten eats lunch at 10:05 (we joke that they eat brunch), and when my daughter gets home, she is starving.  I know that the 5th graders get to have a snack time in the morning because they dont' eat until around 12:15, so I don't think adding this in to the extra 1.5 hour day would be too difficult. 

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Permalink Reply by Beth on March 17, 2012 at 3:56pm

I agree completely and am concerned that we are expecting our Kindergarteners to shoulder the burden of "fixing" this issue. I am not opposed to full-day program but I am opposed to not taking the time to properly address concerns with the issues which arise from this change. I do not want my child to be a guinea pig for a program which was given little time and true consideration. At minimum this should have been discussed last fall. I feel like the way this is being fast tracked is just setting it up for failure.

When I questioned the school my daughter will attend next year about the information we will receive at kindergarten round-up they said that as of now they will give us daily schedules etc passed on how kindergarten is run currently with a 1:00 dismissal. This is totally unacceptable (and I do not blame our schools principal for this). These are decisions which should already have been decided if they are to be put in place for the school year 2012-2013. The fact that this is so secretive and so last minute really concerns me.

I was only aware of the April 2nd meeting of the School Board in which the community is allowed to speak. Please spread the word about this meeting and call the School Board office in advance if you would like to be added as a speaker. I think you would be a great advocate and this post was well written and you bring up great points. I hope you consider attending and speaking.
What is the march 29th meeting and where do I find more information about it?

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Permalink Reply by MamaMeOh on March 17, 2012 at 5:01pm

My daughter has been in full-day Kindergarten this year, and we've had no problems with it....daughter loves it, we love it, and we haven't heard a single complaint from other parents about tired or exhausted kids....

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Permalink Reply by ChangeofPace on March 18, 2012 at 8:52am

Well said, Kristen. 

It is unfair to blame KCS for secretive, last minute decision making. KCS is simply keeping up with the swift, last minute changes that are happening at the state level. Extending the K school day is not in an effort to 'fix' something. It is a small part of the details surrounding the Superintendent's Strategic Plan, Race to the Top, and the (very) recent No Child Left Behind waiver. 

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Permalink Reply by Jwayne on March 18, 2012 at 3:38pm

If it isn't Knox County School's Fault then how is it that Maryville and Alcoa school systems consistently have some of the highest ACT and SAT scores of any school district in Tennessee (besides Franklin,TN)? Are the kids and parents in Maryville and Alcoa really inherently better than our Knox County kids? Is there some kind of intelligence anomaly taking place 30 miles from Knox County? Perhaps the Maryville and Alcoa parents feed their kids all organic food and are in bed by 7 Pm every night.

I would be willing to bet that it is their strategy and curriculum that is creating their success.

We used to live in Brentwood, TN and I went to Lipscomb Elementary and Middle School. This is a school system with a great deal of resources, yet when we moved to Tulsa Oklahoma, I was completely behind. They were nearly a year and a half ahead the Tennessee system.

A few years later we moved back to Tennessee while I was in the middle of High School, this time to Knoxville (Karns), and I was a year or two ahead curriculum wise. It wasn't until my Senior year of High School that Karns caught up to what we were doing in Tulsa Oklahoma.

Is this because the kids suddenly got dumber over the course of several hundred miles and Knox County schools just couldn't move very fast? No? Well, if it's not the kids, then let's blame the lazy apethetic parents, that must be the problem...well...what about the areas of Knox County that have fairly wealthy parents who work very hard and probably care deeply about their child's education yet their students are still behind the poor lower class students of other states. Its strange that Tennessee spends more on roads than on education. We have some of the finest roads in the nation, yet we are ranked 48th in education. 

Could it be that Knox County School district is in fact one the largest school districts in the entire nation? Perhaps it is too bloated and cumbersome to be effective? Maybe they need to, dare I say, increase taxes just a smidgen and use the money to help this underfunded district. Maybe even give our teachers a raise?

There must be something done. All day kindergarten may be a step in the right direction, but it will not cure a subpar strategy and curriculum, however, a new Superintendent might. 

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Permalink Reply by Carrie on March 20, 2012 at 1:58pm

The curriculum is behind. I moved here when I was in the 7th grade. They were doing work I had started end of 5th, beginning of 6th grade.

That said, I came from a state that offers Preschool. Kids WENT to preschool. It wasn't a MDO thing, it was half days, Monday-Friday.

Our system needs a preschool curriculum available to everyone. It seems like we have one, but Knoxville calls it Kindergarten.

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Permalink Reply by stinkysmom on March 26, 2012 at 12:48am

I agree that all-day K might be the answer. But it's hard to tell when the actual details haven't been laid out yet. That's my big concern. It's a change that can be handled very, very well or very, very badly.

Jwayne said:

There must be something done. All day kindergarten may be a step in the right direction, but it will not cure a subpar strategy and curriculum, however, a new Superintendent might. 

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Permalink Reply by tessmom on April 3, 2012 at 10:20am

I am really disappointed in this decision to go to full days for K.  I didn't put my daughter in preschool this year because I thought it would be a fine transition to half day K without preschool.  I teach college so I'm not worried about my child 'being left behind.'  I understand why K teachers want the change but I don't want the change.  My daughter is growing up so fast that by 3:00 pm every day (or later by the time we pick her up and get home) there won't be much time for us to spend together, she is going to just be exhausted, etc.  I am going to miss the time we would be together from 1:30 to 3:00 pm every day honestly.  

The thing is that I know my parental involvement will be enough to support my child's academic progress in school.  Most of my friends that support this either work full time (so better for them in terms of childcare choices) or already have older kids in school so it just makes pick-up easier for them which I totally get believe me!  They don't really support it because they actually think the extra time is important to their child academically.  I don't know.  I am just in the minority on this and very sad about it honestly.

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