LEHI, Utah — The Alpine School District is making the switch to optional full-day kindergarten ahead of the upcoming school year, with the move coming after the state legislature authorized its funding.
"...we took advantage of that this year and decided to roll it out to all 61 of our elementary schools.” said Rich Stowell, Director of Communications for the district.
Fox Hollow Elementary had previously been the district's only school offering a pilot program for full-day kindergarten, but the new funding will double the amount of instruction time.
Stowell believes the change will provide teachers with more flexibility and engage the minds of young students.
“Evidence has been mounting that more time in the classrooms with teachers who are expert at delivering that type of instruction is really, really good for kids,” he said. “It sets students up for lifelong learning. It gets them better prepared for first grade and beyond out.”
The decision to extend kindergarten hours, which is still fully optional, was met with a mix of excitement and concern from parents, according to the district.
“So far, 91% of all of our kindergarten registrations are for the full day
experience," Stowell said. “We anticipate that number will go up.”
Fox Hollow Elementary kindergarten teacher Evelyn Munoz has been a
proponent of full-day kindergarten for years and is happy to begin the
transition.
“I'm excited about the chance to spend more time with the kids,” Munoz said, “because we can teach core instruction in the morning and do the fun stuff still in the afternoon, which we weren't able to do as much when we were teaching half-day.”
Munoz taught full-day kindergarten in California prior to moving to Utah, and she was part of the pilot program at Fox Hollow last year. She's seen the positive differences firsthand.
“We were top the kindergarten team in the whole entire district out of 61
elementary schools,” Munoz claimed.
For parents worried about losing quality time with their kids, Munoz shared some advice.
“I’ve been teaching kindergarten for seven years, and every year it's the
same pattern. Kids are very resilient, more so than parents normally think," she said. "So, my suggestion always, at least to parents in my classroom, is give me two months.”
According to Munoz, almost every parent who gives the program a chance has loved what it has done for their child’s education, but wants to remind parents that while the change is district-wide every parent has the option to choose half-day kindergarten for their kids.
