Alternate day class schedule approved

Published 9:00 pm Monday, February 9, 2004

MUKILTEO — Kindergartners will follow a full-day, alternating day schedule in the Mukilteo School District this fall.

The Mukilteo School Board voted 4-1 Monday night to switch from a half-day, everyday program in a move expected to save about $150,000 a year in transportation costs.

The decision, after an hour of debate and public testimony, came despite several pleas from parents to keep the half-day schedule. Board member Bruce Miller was the lone dissenter.

He said he felt the district would be rushing to make the change by fall and worried that students, particularly those learning English as a second language, would be hurt by less consistent contact with teachers.

"I think our district needs (more) time to put a solid program together," he said.

Other board members said the district, which made $1 million in budget cuts this school year, must look at the entire kindergarten through 12th-grade system and recognize this switch is just one in a series of ongoing spending reductions.

"We are not attempting to be penny-wise and pound-foolish," board member Kevin Laverty said.

"It is not irrevocable," said Judy Schwab, another board member. "We could go back to the system we have always known" if there are problems.

The district has stressed that students would still have the same number of hours in class.

A committee of district employees and parents studied whether the switch to alternating days would affect academic progress. It couldn’t find any recent studies, although there is research that shows higher academic achievement for kindergartners enrolled in full-day, everyday programs.

However, some parents said studies from the late 1980s and early 1990s suggested the half-day everyday schedule yielded better results than full-day, alternating-day programs.

Lori Kerr said she has a child entering kindergarten in the fall. "I feel like she is going to be a guinea pig," she said.

Kristy Wood, an educational consultant and another parent of an incoming kindergartner, said the district could lose enrollment with parents choosing half-day, everyday schedules at private schools.

Besides public testimony, the district received 757 written and electronic mail surveys on the issue last month. Of those, 427 were from parents with a child who will be attending kindergarten in the near future.

Among those parents:

34.2 percent like the idea and have no concerns with the switch.

27.2 percent had some concerns but were willing to support it.

38.6 percent don’t like the idea and want the district to cut other programs.

The biggest parental concerns were no daily contact with the teacher, the longer school day and disruptions to child care schedules.

Bus drivers, who would see some routes disappear, previously raised safety concerns, arguing that the change would add to existing routes 200 young students who need more attention than older students.

Superintendent Marci Larsen recommended the change to help the district financially. She said the district has enough time to make it work by fall.

Reporter Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446 or stevick@heraldnet.com.