I have two young kids who will be affected by this. Please get your friends and neighbors out to vote NO!
I moved to Ridgewood, in part, because it has half-day kindergarten. I have a child who was in kindergarten last year–it was non-stop busywork and worksheets. No toys or play. No time for socialization. No recess. Teachers who wanted 5 year-olds to sit still. It was completely age-inappropriate and the curriculum (coupled with the stressed-out teacher) was the perfect recipe for making children hate school. I thanked God it was only half a day and did not make my daughter miserable! My wife and I both work (she-part time), but half day kindergarten enabled us to make sure our child had time to run around and play in the afternoon (and my wife got those precious afternoons with her on the days she was not working! You never get those back.)
We DO NOT want full-day kindergarten. And there are many other parents like us here whose voices are being drowned out (or who did not even know this issue was on the docket).
The parents I know who do want full-day have the ability to be with their child in the afternoon AND/OR have the financial ability to hire child care or send their kids to the afternoon program of their choice. They are annoyed they have to be bothered to do so, especially because mid-day pick-up/drop-off interrupts their day so!!! (And, yes, many, many of these parents complainig so bitterly are affluent mothers who are at the gym, playing tennis, having lunch, etc.)
Let these parents PAY to have their kids in school all day, if that is what they need so desperately. Their desire to play tennis or not hire childcare should NOT be more important than our desire to spend time with our child and let a 5 year-old do what ALL the research says is crucial at this age: have unstructured play and time for socialization.
Please vote NO! Help the poor kids who do not have a voice here. I am sure that if they were polled, THEY would all vote this terrible idea down! Give them one last gasp before the rat race, with its tutors and sports trainers engulfs them! They will be better-off, academically, socially, and psychologically, in the long run! Thank you!
I did not move to Ridgewood because of kindergarten. I did not have children. I liked the town and loved the old houses. My children went to kindergarten and I have no regrets about spending afternoons with them at the Y, dance, karate, kinderkicks and playing with friends. I never looked back and thought ” I wish they had full day K when my kids were young.”
Full day kindergarten is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. There are dozens of enrichment options is you feel that your 5 year old needs more academic pursuits. The services are there is you want them.
Your child will not score 50 points more on the SAT if he/she goes to full day kindergarten. Let children be children while they can. The competition of academics, sports and college will arrive soon enough.
You are free to homeschool your child for kindergarten if that is what you desire. Fact is that neighboring towns have full day kindergarten as a service while charging less in taxes. We want our money’s worth.
The tone of the comment – especially of the part berating ‘parents who can afford it’ – is very disturbing. Let me remind this commentator that those parents are also likely paying more in taxes and subsidizing kids of parents who are not paying full freight. Do the math – it is easy. $17k/child compared to 70% times what you pay in taxes.
Agree 100% with headline VOTE NO!
Where are the details on what will be voted for? Where are the numbers provided by the board of ed?
Please explain.
“et me remind this commentator that those parents are also likely paying more in taxes and subsidizing kids of parents who are not paying full freight. Do the math – it is easy. $17k/child compared to 70% times what you pay in taxes.”
Who is not paying full freight?
Not sure how I feel about full day but you are wrong @10:44. There is no certainty that those with children pay more in taxes! Taxes are tied to assessed value of your home regardless of who lives there. Second, this is not a bang for your buck scenario! This is handing over more money.
@12:18 – The commenter made references to the ‘bitterly affluent’ and those with ‘financial resource’ pushing for this, a not-so-subtle way of accusing the ‘rich’ which don’t care about kids of pushing this, while the ‘poor’ (such as him) left to deal with ir.
Setting aside the ridiculousness of someone living in an affluent town like Ridgewood pursuing such class warfare, I was just pointing out that someone with the $700k house paying $17k in taxes is not even paying one kid’s worth. So let us keep that in perspective.
@12:39 – I am not claiming that those with more kids pay more in taxes. Just pointing out to the OP that the ‘bitterly affluent’ most definitely pay more than those who claim to not be so.
And if we are going to go down the path of pick and pay for services as OP is suggesting (go pay for after school enrichment!) then I suggest we do the same for EVERYTHING. Why should others pay for sports and other activities that only a few participate in? It is not like we are creating any Olympians here. Why pay extra for AP classed when only few are eligible? Let those who take those classes pay for those!
At the very extreme, why not let every parent pay $17k for each child sent to school and cut everyone’s property taxes by 70%?
I have 0 kids in the system and pay much more than many of those who I subsidize and who are fighting against this. My point is simple – most school districts in the state already provide for full-day K, including many of our neighboring towns who pay less in taxes. Providing something that has become a norm rather than the exception is something that we owe to our neighbors with kids that age.
The administrators are tactfully setting up fights between different groups. I think the people opposing this are falling into this trap.
Once again – the question should be WHY CAN RIDGEWOOD NOT DO WHAT WYCKOFF/GLEN ROCK CAN DO FOR LESS?
https://www.childrensdefense.org/library/data/the-facts-about-full-day.pdf
The survey was online. I do not think that a lot of residents completed it.
The link was shared among parents with young kids. The BOE is moving ahead based on a flawed survey of residents.
I looked on the website but could not find a link to the survey results. I would like to see the # of responses and the tabilated answers. Does anyone know where this is?
Cheryl Best, the MAJOR proponent behind this initiative, has just “retired” after 3 years of service. Way to “see it through”.
1:55 – You are certainly not suggesting that RHS get rid of AP (I’m not sure where you are getting that “we” are paying extra for them?) classes, are you? You are certainly not suggesting that RHS make students pay for extra curricular activities, are you? Over 80% (not the FEW that you claim) of RHS students participate in them! This would make the numbers go down significantly which would cause kids to be less involved in their school and community. Please, get you facts straight before you type them.
you got that right 4:31
8:33 – This is in response to the NIMBY-ism demonstrated by OP, suggesting that those wanted full day should just go pay for it themselves.
I am just taking that NIMBY argument forward. Why should should anyone pay for anything they are not part of? If my kid plays lacrosse, why should I pay for football or track?
NOTE: I am NOT advocating that we do so. I am showing the absurdity of OP’s NIMBY argument. If he does not want to pay for some other’s kids pre-K (not that he even it!) why should that kid’s parents pay for his kids’ activities that their kids may not be involved in?
10:22 – when you present an argument you should present accurate facts, which you did not. You obviously have NO IDEA what goes on at RHS.
3:34 – I will present all the number and ‘facts’ as soon as OP post the same for the following statement:
“(And, yes, many, many of these parents complainig so bitterly are affluent mothers who are at the gym, playing tennis, having lunch, etc.)”