Full-Day Kindergarten

At Large

• Jay Bose
• Bob Ohneiser
  
  

  Regarding full day K, it is far too easy to merely shout from the rooftops that one is in favor of full day kindergarten as my opponent (Reed) has begun doing to obtain favor from parental voters without  doing anything to begin the process of allowing it. Yes - I am certainly for a full service school system including the full day kindergarten option. We've seen from our pre-school efforts in the special education area that early developmental support is very helpful for children period. Pre-school decisions whether full day of part day should remain the domain of the parent but our schools should supply the full range of services. Now, how do we get there from here? When I motioned for Little River Elementary to be expanded so walkers could continue to walk rather than get bused to Buffalo Trail also suggesting that if the added capacity were to ever not be needed for the current program it would provide an excellent footing for bringing full day kindergarten to South Riding; my opponent (Mr. Reed) fought this yet he claims to be for full day K. The same is true about expanding our smaller schools rather than create large regional elementary school centers assuring our smallest students have to be bused for long periods instead of going to their neighborhood school. Elementary schools are supposed to be neighborhood schools! How does he reconcile suggesting small schools get put higher on the Superintendent cut list with his new interest in full day K?

  
  

  It took me until me second term to get the rest of the school board including Mr. Reed to finally accept that we need to do our CIP planning for longer periods than what was then 5-6 years. Even now going out 10 years is less than full life cycle evaluation of what these facilities can do. These are long term community facilities not the private fiefdom of LCPS. Look at the relative burden they create for the community that finances them and then ask why pubic private partnerships or even shared use is not already in place at some of these sites. We need to take greater consideration of the strategic value of the sites where our schools already exist. The one story elementary schools should have been built with more consideration for their eventual expansion. Should a community build a one lane road with all the drainage ditches, sewers, telephone polls and curbs on the sides when it is clearly known it will need to be expanded to a four land road in a few years? Oh yeah - we do that don't we! The same is true for schools. The proffered school sites within large developments should have been built to handle the entrenched student populations within those developments or what was the point. Wasn't the proffer all about mitigating student generation and impact to community infrastructure?

  
  

  This is where our funding for properly sized schools falls apart. The school system insists on continuing to provide the county referral letters which absolutely underestimate the financial impact of new developments which have more bedrooms and more living space than the average home already in the county. If residential development proffers were honestly geared to truly mitigating the cost of student generation we could afford to build larger schools to include full day kindergarten as an option for parents which I am in favor of. Our schools should also have enough space reserved for the disabled so they don't have to get shifted around the school network when their home school gets overcrowded. I've also suggested to every potential charter school candidate that offering full day kindergarten would be an amazing enhancement overnight to LCPS and I would heartily support it (assuming of course that it was not a scam but really offered a high qualtiy program). Perhaps there are pre-school related partnerships with the private pre-school community that could be enhanced if embraced. When considering such enhancements ask the candidate especially if an incumbent what have they done or at least tried to do to improve the current situation. Rhetoric offered two months before an election does not get the job done.
  Regards
  Bob O__ Esq.
  Broad Run District School Board Member
  Candidate for At Large 

• Tom Reed 

Algonkian

• Eileen Tagg-Murdock
• Debbie Rose
  

  Hi Liz-
  I support full-day kindergarten in Loudoun. Parents want this. This is not an unsolvable problem. It just takes determination to identify the barriers and costs, get input from all the interested parties , develop a solution and implement it. As the only county in the DC area without full-day kindergarten, we can use the experiences of our neighbors as guidance for how best to implement it here in Loudoun.
  Let me know if you need any additional information.
  Regards,
  Debbie Rose

• John Stevens (updated to correct a typo, by John Stevens's request)
  

  Liz~
  
  Thanks for asking the question, I'm glad that your readers are interested in full-day kindergarten for Loudoun students. Full-day kindergarten has been a perennial issue in my time on the board, but it only affects individual families for a short time, so it is difficult to get sustained interest in the subject. As I stated at the September 13th school board meeting, every board member and administrator at LCPS thinks that full-day kindergarten is important. We all want to offer it to every child in Loudoun.
  
  So, let's do a little math. In the current school year, LCPS expects 4,975 kindergarteners and we have classroom space for all of them. As parents across Loudoun County know though, there isn't room for many more. We offer half-day kindergarten, leaving us with roughly 2,500 kindergarten seats, each used twice each day. So to implement full-day kindergarten would require space for another 2,500 kindergarteners. We can round that number down a little to account for the children who already have full-day kindergarten for their special needs, so let's say we need another 2,200 kindergarten seats. A new LCPS elementary school is designed for 875 students, so we'd need to build another 2.5 schools to expand our capacity just to offer full-day kindergarten.
  
  As some of your readers will know, LCPS grows by about 3,000 students per year. This is the equivalent of one high school, one middle school, and one elementary school's capacity every year. We haven't been building schools that quickly though. We've opened just three schools during the current board's term due to financial restrictions. We project that in just a few years we will not have room for all of our students. We will in fact be several thousand students over capacity before my 5th graders graduate. This is why we haven't yet had full-day kindergarten. Using our current model we just don't have the budget for it.
  
  So how can full-day kindergarten be implemented in Loudoun? By taking the same steps we need to take to address our overall enrollment crisis. We can offer a fertile ground for charter schools that add to our enrollment capacity without increasing our capital costs. We can offer school on alternate schedules, including year-round school, to make greater use of our existing capacity. We can offer more online learning and find ways to cooperate with our community's private-schools and home-school educators. And we must continue to build more schools. No one of these options will completely solve the problem but we can, and must, put together a plan that gets us to full enrollment for all of our students, including a full-day education for every kindergarten student.
  ~John

Ashburn

• John Andrews
• Eric Hornberger
  

  Liz,
  
  With neighboring counties already implementing universal full-day kindergarten (FDK), I believe it is only a matter of when, not if, it will be implemented in Loudoun County. However, I wouldn’t hold my breath. My best guess is that it will be at least five to ten years before the County will be in a position to seriously consider adding FDK, unless we were to radically alter how we currently do business (e.g. year-round school, massive influx of charters, increase class-sizes dramatically, etc.).
  
  The timing associated with bringing FDK to the county is largely dependent on two factors. First, LCPS would need to roughly double the kindergarten classroom capacity within its schools across the county, while at the same time keeping pace with the facility needs for its expanding student population at all levels. Second, LCPS would need adequate operational funding to double the number of teachers and educational costs associated with FDK. Both are especially challenging for us as a county, particularly in this economic environment.
  
  Remember, Fairfax County is still only in the final stage of its multiyear effort to roll out FDK. While its annual K-12 enrollment growth is similar to ours, Fairfax County is in a better position to absorb that growth than Loudoun, given its much larger size and relative commercial tax base.
  
  I believe that Loudoun must first work to adequately provide for the students already in the system or anticipated to be here in the next decade, before we can even meaningfully think of extending those services we provide. As our county grows, our student enrollment growth slows and hopefully our relative commercial tax base develops over the next five to ten years (unless, of course, even more residential units are approved), we will likely be in a much better position to realistically entertain FDK.
  
  As a resident and School Board candidate of the overcrowded Ashburn District, I know firsthand that LCPS already struggles to provide adequate facilities for the kids already living here and enrolled in the system. This has been something that I have been actively working with others in our community for the past several years to fix in our area. It isn’t easy, but it can be done. Each step brings us closer to being in a position to offer FDK.
  
  Thanks for providing an opportunity to share my thoughts. Eric

• Debbie Piland
  

  ½ Day Kindergarten v. All Day Kindergarten
  
  The question that we have to ask ourselves is whether all day kindergarten (ADK) is going to become an extended babysitting service for parents or whether it is going to have a genuine impact on the child’s future. In other words, what is the benefit of an ADK going to be versus the cost of implementing such a program. And, can measureable and sustainable goals be met through the curriculum.
  
  There are studies showing that children who participate in ADK gain a “leg-up” academically, socially and behaviorally. ADK could lead to better assessment of student’s learning strengths and weakness due to more interaction with teachers, counselors and other specialists. Learning differences could be timely addressed so that the student is better prepared to successfully master the first grade.
  
  The cost of funding ADK must be weighed against the benefit. However, alternative funding sources might include corporate sponsorships, private foundations and economic efficiencies within the school system. I would also submit that many children, despite great wealth in Loudoun County, do not have the support system necessary to do well in school on a regular basis. A safe, nurturing environment for the youngest students in our county is what we must strive to provide so that they can enter the school
  system with a positive attitude toward their education.
  
  Therefore, I would be in favor, of ADK if it met the criteria set forth above.
  
  Submitted By:
  
  Debbie Piland

  
  Candidate for Ashburn District
• John Ryan
• Chris Souther

Blue Ridge

• Priscilla Godfrey
  
  

  I think all nine School Board members are in favor of all day kindergarten but because we have had our operating budget cut four years in a row we don't have the funds to make this happen. Each kindergarten classroom is currently educating 40 children so to turn each classroom to full day use would require an additional classroom for every kindergarten we currently have. Even if this is accomplished through the use of trailers like Fairfax, trailers cost $200,000 to purchase and equip with lights, computer power, etc. Some of our elementary school properties are very limited in size so one trailer may be possible but not five trailers where schools have five half day kindergarten classes. I have been looking at this issue for quite some time and I am aware that some counties build a kindergarten center to house all the kindergarteners in one area. Jennifer Bergel and I have also looked at the idea of adding additional classrooms for kindergarten to our current school model. Whatever solution we come up with, it will require the support of the Supervisors to get it on the bond and funded.
  Priscilla B. Godfrey
  Vice Chair and Blue Ridge Representative
  Loudoun County School Board

• Jill Turgeon

Broad Run

• Kevin Kuesters
  
  

  Should Loudoun institute Full-Day Kindergarten in all elementary schools and, if
  so, how can it be implemented?
  
  Full disclosure: I read the responses on your blog from Bob Ohneiser, Debbie Rose,
  John Stevens, Eric Hornberger, Debbie Piland, Priscilla Godfrey and Bill Fox before
  submitting my response to you.
  
  LCPS has 59 elementary schools right now and 12 of these schools already have full-
  day kindergarten (FDK). Therefore we would need to add FDK to 47 existing schools to implement it in all elementary schools.
  
  Mish-mashing the math (I’m a CPA, its what I do!) using figures from two of the
  aforementioned candidate responses, if we would need the capacity of approximately
  2.5 schools to go to FDK, and each elementary school (ES) is projected to cost
  $25,165,000 (per FY 2013 CIP estimates), then it will cost us approximately $62,912,500 to build enough rooms to implement FDK just for the current schools. This is a low-ball estimate of the one-time construction cost to put FDK into existing schools.
  
  Assuming most elementary schools only have 2 half-day kindergarten (HDK) classes,
  we would also be adding at least 1 more classroom to each school at a minimum cost of
  $200,000 (the cost of a trailer).
  
  We would also be adding the cost of a teacher and teacher’s aide for each kindergarten
  classroom with more than 15 students. Since the average class size is 22 kids, and
  assuming the teacher and teacher’s aide earn the second lowest salary on the pay
  scale ($43,815), we would add $87,630 for each new kindergarten classroom, before
  considering the cost of benefits for each teacher. Let’s just round it up to $100k in
  salaries and benefits for each new kindergarten class. (By the way, only 84.20 teachers
  out of the 4,000 or so employed by LCPS make that low salary.) Multiplying $100k in
  salary and benefits times 47 (ES that currently do not have FDK), gives us $4.7 million in additional salaries and benefits every year if we add FDK. This is a low-ball estimate of the annual increase in the operating budget
  
  So the estimated cost to implement FDK in LCPS would be around $63 million in
  one time construction costs, plus $4.7 million in increased annual costs for teacher
  salaries & benefits in existing schools, plus $200k additional construction costs for each new ES, plus $100k in increased annual personnel costs for each new ES.
  
  So what are the benefits?
  
  LCPS runs a school system for grades K-12 and therefore it makes sense to look at
  the end result – the finished student as he or she graduates from high school and goes
  to college or to work. There are no studies that evidence an appreciable difference
  between graduating high school seniors that went to HDK vice FDK. In fact most
  studies that look at the difference in academic achievement between half-day and full-
  
  day kindergarten students show that by 4th grade any advantage held by the full day
  kindergarten students has disappeared. Therefore, from an academic standpoint FDK is
  not needed. There is one exception to this rule though: at-risk kids. At-risk kids who
  attend FDK are shown to perform statistically better than at-risk kids who attend HDK
  through their entire K-12 careers.
  
  My position: Ultimately the quality of the kindergarten experience matters more than the
  length of the day. Full-day kindergarten provides measurable benefits to at-risk kids and
  I would support FDK for at-risk kids. Since LCPS already has implemented FDK for this population, I do not support any further expansion of FDK in LCPS at this time.

• Joy Maloney

  Yes, Loudoun should institute full-day kindergarten. As a two working-parent family, we put my daughter in full-day kindergarten at the superb AOL Child Development Center. We wished she could go to her neighborhood school, but we simply didn't think it was fair to her to be bussed around from school to school when she already loved her childcare center so much. Still, she told me the other day that she wished she had gone to kindergarten at Mill Run, because all of her friends had that one extra year to get to know each other. Full-day kindergarten gives students the transition they need into their elementary school while also giving teachers time to really teach.
  
  The hard part, of course, is implementing it. We are in a tough economic situation right now, and we are going to have a difficult challenge just maintaining the excellent education our schools provide, let alone improving on it. We can start by having a concrete long-term plan. We need to begin building new schools with the assumption that there will be full-day kindergarten in those schools. We need to add schools each year that offer full-day kindergarten to at least disadvantaged children. We can offer it at schools, but not make it required to begin with, possibly keeping enrollment lower to start.
  
  Fairfax County began implementing full-day kindergarten over 10 years ago. They finally came up with a plan to rapidly expand full-day kindergarten in 2006. It took them two years longer than their plan to actually get it accomplished. We need a plan, and maybe it will take longer than we expect, too. But if we don't start, we won't finish.

Catoctin

• Jennifer Bergel.

  Yes. Loudoun needs to move to Full-Day Kindergarten. A plan should be made to allow it to roll out as space is provided. I brought this up before, and I have made it a part of my campaign this time. As space is created, make room for the program in those new schools. Then, if possible, add Full-Day K to wherever else in the area the program can fit. For example, I am hoping that we can do this adjustment in Leesburg with the opening of the new elementary school. With other elementary schools coming online in the near future, perhaps it can be done in those areas too. Unfortunately it means this program will take time to be in place everywhere, which is why additions might need to be in the CIP for the additional classrooms that will be needed. There are some schools that have space now - so we should be able to start at those schools as soon as this next budget year. Either more funding will be needed in order to achieve this goal - or, cuts to existing parts of the budget might have to be made.
  
  Thanks again for emailing me!
  Jennifer

• Pablo "Paul" Arias

Dulles

• Anjan Chimaladinne
• Margaret Michaud
• Jeff Morse

Leesburg

• Bill Fox
  

  I fully support moving to a full-day kindergarten schedule. Obviously, doing so would create several logistical challenges, the most obvious being the increased classroom space we will need to accommodate having twice as many kindergartners in the building at a time. Perhaps the best solution to this problem is to move to a year-round, track-type schedule for our elementary schools (and possibly our middle schools). Such systems have been implemented in other areas to successfully deal with overcrowding, and more effectively utilize existing space. I believe we should also look at the possibility of an optional full-day schedule for kindergartners. Since there are some parents who feel that their children might not benefit from a full-day schedule, providing a full-day option may be a good solution. Of course, such a program would have its own logistical challenges, and we would need to survey the community to see if there was sufficient demand for such a program to justify moving in that direction.
  
  
  Bill Fox

• Tom Marshal
• Mark Nuzzac

Sterling

• Brenda Sheridan