Don't rush to full-day kindergarten

Does Indian Prairie Unit District 204 need all-day kindergarten for all children? And if so, what is the urgency to implement this in 2008?

It seems that the community should be given the chance to find out how this will affect programs in their elementary buildings and how it may impact their own families, whether or not they have a future kindergartner. I can't imagine that all-day kindergarten is so necessary that we can't take the time to step back and examine the facts and the possible effects on the district as a whole, kindergarten students, students in grades one through five and their parents.

Do 5-year-olds really need to be pushed to excel academically?

Do we really have 61 classrooms that can be made available throughout the district without compromising other programs?

While full-day kindergarten for all could very well be the right thing to do, I am hoping that the public will get more information and more opportunity to give their input before this is put into place.

Anyone who wants to have their say should e-mail the District 204 school board at board-members@ipsd.org or arrive before 7 p.m. to sign up to speak at the Nov. 26 board meeting.

Sherry Tatar

Aurora