Full-day kindergarten is crucial to the implementation of the NYS Common Core. Yet Harborfields district still provides only half-day kindergarten. It is crucial our children receive the same high-quality education offered in 98.7% of New York school districts.

As of September 2015 currently 9 districts  out of over 700 school districts in New York (98.7%), still have half-day kindergarten, and Harborfields is one of them. The LAST on Long Island!

 Studies show that high-quality, full-day kindergarten is integral to retaining and building upon the progress made in preschool.

 The Common Core Curriculum for kindergarten was designed based on the assumption of a full day program with an hour each of writing and math, and an hour and a half of reading. Kindergartners need the important child-centered, creative activities that lead to the problem solving, socialization and critical thinking described in the Core standards. There is no way Common Core Curriculum can be appropriately taught to five-year-olds in a two and a half hour day.

Young families moving into the area look for schools with quality education, and especially full-day kindergarten.

The NYS aid package for conversion from half day to full day more than pays for our first year of this conversion. Hundreds of thousands of dollars in full-day conversion funding is available to districts converting to full day.

If the community wants full-day kindergarten, Harborfields has said it would find a way to fund it without piercing the cap or residents losing any property tax rebate.

Our children are being unfairly deprived of the solid foundation needed to succeed, not only in school, but in the increasingly competitive race for colleges and careers.

 To:

Harborfields Superintendent of Schools, Diana Todaro

Assistant Superintendent for Administration & Human Resources, 

Dr. Francesco Ianni

Harborfields Board of Education:

Dr. Thomas McDonagh, President

Donald W. Mastroianni, Vice President

Irene Gaughan, Board Member

Nicholas P. Giuliano, Board Member

Hansen Lee, Board Member

David Steinberg, Board Member

Suzie Lustig, Board Member 

 We are petitioning the Harborfields School District and Board of Education to implement a full-day Kindergarten program in our schools. It is incumbent upon the district and Board to give our children the same opportunity for quality education as children in 98.7% of NYS school districts. Full-day kindergarten is crucial to the implementation of the Common Core Standards and provides the solid foundation needed to succeed, not only in school, but in the increasingly competitive race for colleges and careers.

 Sincerely,