how does full day kindergarten sound now? And why couldn't the school district focus on cost earlier? Poor management!

I agree 100% John- but now is ti too late for the full day kindergarten to be pulled? A huge expense - not state mandated and an enormous tax burden for all- where do we go from here? It NEVER should have passed in the first place but can we fix this now?

The community needs to attend the meetings for the school district and read the minutes from past meetings. There are many big decisions made at these meetings and the public is invited to participate The community should speak up during the planning process.

they should pass items that make full fiscal sense for the long term. Full day kindergarten was a mistake in any economy its a baby sitting service we all pay for..

Wow. I can't imagine that anyone who would suggest full-day Kindergarten to be a "baby-sitting service" could possibly be involved in education today. We are so proud in Cornwall of our academic programs and high test scores, and it is a big reason why people choose to raise their families here. There are not many districts around at this point who DON'T have full-day Kindergarten. We are living in the dark ages if we go back to half-day. The foundation laid for our children's learning is so much richer if they have more time in their school day. As an educator I can tell you that Kindergarten is not like it used to be when we were kids - naptime, playtime, a little music and art time... Our kids are learning to read and write at a much earlier age now, and it helps prepare them for the more rigorous curriculum that we have now in the upper grades. Why not give them all the advantages they deserve? Unfortunately, on the state level is where the problems really lie- expectations of our children are much too high on state tests, but as long as we have to meet our state standards and NCLB regulations, we have the responsibility of giving our children the best possible start we can in school.

My child is in the full day kindergarten program. I can tell you that she does a lot more then fingerpainting and napping. I strongly feel that the foundation she is getting now is going to give her a solid basis for future learning. The fact that Cornwall offered a full day program influenced our choice to move into the district last year. We were highly impressed with the educational program, small size, and performance of the cornwall schools (as well as the testing scores) Pulling Kindergarten is not the answer to the budget needs. Like any other budget, it needs to be looked at as a whole to begin the trimming (including proposed salary increases Supe!). I also think a message needs to be sent to Albany that cutting into education is not going to be tolerated when there is still suchs blatant misspending going on statewide.

When we as a society rely on the establishment to teach our children the ins and outs of basic imaginations, writing skills and reading we are lost as a family and a society I don't understand why we push others to teach our kids like its their responsibility and its absolutely wrong As I said before it is a day care program and another form of waste for us the taxpayer we will end up paying for the whole cost sooner than later.

The Constitution created the necessity for adequate public education to prepare the citizenry to exercise the role of self government. An educated voting public underpins a successful structure, as was explicitly recognized in Brown v. Board of Education. A full day kindergarten is very important in starting your child on the road to a solid education. If we must raise taxes to do it so be it. We have an excellant school system and that is a major reason many of us chose to live here. To all the Great teachers in C-O-H I offer my thanks for the great job you are doing.

My daughter is currently in full day Kindergarten in Lee Road. I am so very impressed by what she is learning and I completely disagree with this program being termed a "babysitting service". Mr. Buescher, are you speaking from experience? Do you have a child in Kindergarten?