Guest Editorial - THE RIDGEWOOD BLOG.

I am completely in support of Ridgewood finally moving to All-Day Kindergarten. It is an embarrassment that we do not have it yet. Are we the only town left with half-day K? If you look online, the internet explodes with studies supporting the extended day. Let’s face it, if a child gets to kindergarten at 8:30, then coats are hung up and everyone settles in for morning circle time on the rug….by the time they get down to any actual learning it might be 9:00. Add to that art, recess, snack, all wholly worthwhile activities but time-consuming nonetheless, and all of a sudden it is time for pick-up from school. Meanwhile in every town surrounding us, in fact probably most towns in the entire country, the 5 and 6 year olds are getting three more hours a day. This means that they get the socialization, the art, music, snack, recess and so on…..but they also get significant time to learn some basics of reading, writing, and “rithmetic.”

Parents who want their children home for the afternoon (or morning) instead of having them at school for 3 extra hours protest that the time with family (mom?, nanny? younger siblings?) is of more value than the time in school. Really? I am going out on a limb here, but not much of a limb, in wagering that many of those kids are spending some of that time on an ipad, or watching mommy (or nanny) texting to God-knows-who. Or maybe they are being rushed right from kindergarten to karate or ballet. Staying at school would not be a bad alternative; far from it, staying at school would be infinitely preferable.

Non-parents who argue that those in favor just want free day care are living in another universe. For parents who work, full-day K does not include sufficient hours to occupy their children while they are on the job. Not even close.

Those who protest that children need more unscheduled time are using a half-baked argument. I am a big fan of down-time, but most kids of that age are up and awake for 13 or 14 hours a day. Surely adding a half-day more of school for the 180 days a year that they go to school would not preclude plenty of down-time.

The cost? Well, I for one would rather have my tax money going to the children, the future, than having it go to some of the ridiculous projects that have come up in recent years in Ridgewood. This would be money well spent.

Come on Ridgewood, let’s vote YES for all-day-K, and catch up with the rest of the country. Do it for the kids!