Uncertain Future for Full Day Kindergarten in Ontario

Thursday, 31 January 2019 at 13:31

The Chair of the Thames Valley District School Board hopes the Government will consult with local boards, before making any major decisions on Full Day Kindergarten.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford dropped a bombshell yesterday when he said he wouldn't guarantee full day kindergarten past next year.

Ford wouldn't commit on his plan for Full Day kindergarten, other than to say that any decision that's made is going to be better, it's not going to be worse. Trustee and Chair of the Thames Valley District School Board Arlene Morell has the program has proven to have many benefits.

"Education has certainly changed over the last 30 years and full day kindergarten, nicely eases the transition for our students, in terms of day care related to attending the school and the school day on a full time basis. We believe that the full day learning program nicely transitions students from the home or day care environment into the school system. It provides a wonderful foundation in a play based learning environment that promotes that physical and emotional development of children with a teacher and an early childhood educator. It ensures their success going into grade 1 and beyond and it also allows our schools and our educators and our support staff to identify learning needs of students and be able to prepare to meet the learning needs of students."

Morell says she hopes the Government will consult with local boards, before making any major decisions.

"On one hand while I respect the work the current Government is undertaking in terms of finding efficiencies. In terms of the role of a trustee, we know our communities best and we, I believe have a role in working alongside our Provincial Government in terms of finding where those cost savings can be found and in terms of where those investments need to made in the education system. We are locally elected to be able to provide guidance and governance to public education and I hope that the current Government will look to our expertise, alongside their expertise, in terms of finding where we need to be making assessments and where we need to find those cost savings."

Full Day Kindergarten was first introduced by Dalton McGuinty and the Liberals. It costs the Province $1.5 billion dollars.