The Luck of the Draw

Not to turn into an education blog suddenly, but a followup to yesterday's full-day kindergarten post:

The Sentinel went to the first parents' meeting regarding the issue yesterday, and the turnout appeared to mostly parents who want full-day kindergarten for their kids.

A point we forgot to make yesterday (and made today) is the fact that right now whether or not your child gets full-day or half-day kindergarten is merely by chance. Anyone who wants full-day enters a lottery, and there are way more entrants than slots for full-day kindergarten.

While it is the fairest option to decide who gets in and who doesn't, it's still very unfair (and one of the big reasons we don't like charter schools, but that's a whole other discussion that we don't want to get into right now). If the kid down the street gets in full-time, and your kid gets in half-time, suddenly the kid down the street is receiving twice the vital education of your kid, only because of sheer luck.

Perhaps the biggest task our community has is educating our children, and every child should get the opportunity to use the full resources available. To bounce some kids to half-time merely by bad luck is an affront to that principal, and it's an issue that should be eliminated.

Granted, some parents only want half-day kindergarten, and if that's their decision there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. But some parents want full-day, and to be denied by lottery is a lousy fate.

It appears as if the school system is taking a long-term, thoughtful and open view on this. Hopefully it works out and the days of kids being stuck with lesser educational opportunities will be gone in the future.