Mailbag: School Beat: Mr.Connors Writes DPI

Dear School Board Members:

The primary reason given by the administration for eliminating the last remaining stand-alone half-day kindergarten section and replacing it with a half-day kindergarten option “imbedded” within some full-day sections is that doing so will allow the school district to receive full-time revenue for all kindergarteners, including those whose parents remove them at lunchtime under the half-day option. I found it hard to believe that the state Department of Public Instruction (DPI) would give full-time funding for half-day kindergarteners, so I exchanged numerous email messages with a Jill Haglund at DPI to determine if this was possible.

Ultimately, the answer I received from Ms. Haglund is that DPI does not know enough about the Evansville school district administration’s proposal for an imbedded half-day kindergarten option to determine whether the children being withdrawn at lunchtime would qualify for full-time revenue. Therefore, I urge you to direct the administration to submit a detailed written description of the proposed “imbedded” half-day kindergarten option to DPI with a request for a written determination whether DPI will allow full-time funding for the children who are withdrawn at lunchtime.

Until such written verification is obtained, it would not be prudent for you to vote on whether to eliminate the stand-alone half-day kindergarten section. If you go forward without this written opinion, DPI might determine that the alternations to the schedules of some of the full-day kindergarten sections to accommodate the withdrawal of children at lunchtime constitutes a “substantial change” in the full-day kindergarten curriculum to offer a half-day option, in which event DPI would not allow the school district to receive full-time revenue for children whose families remove their children at lunchtime under the half-day option and the school district would be required to provide transportation to children withdrawn at lunchtime. In addition to not receiving the additional revenue and not avoiding the transportation cost, the school district still would have to pay for the additional full-day kindergarten teacher (replacing the half-day kindergarten teacher). This would be a financial disaster for the school district, and personally embarrassing to all of you.

The following is a series of excerpts from the email messages between Ms. Haglund and me, which I have provided to more fully illustrate what I already have written above. I have copied Ms. Haglund with this message, so that if I have somehow distorted her message with my editing, she can bring this to your attention.

This is the information I provided and question I posed to Ms. Haglund. It is long, but I wanted to make sure she had enough information to answer the question.

“Dear Ms. Haglund:

“Thank you for your response, in which you wrote as follows:

“‘If a district significantly altered their full day curriculum such as having a separate class for children that leave at noon, this would be considered allowing a part day option and the district would not be able to claim full reimbursement.’

“I need clarification from you regarding what actions would cause the Department of Public Instruction to conclude that ‘a district significantly altered their full day curriculum.’

“Evansville Superintendent Heidi Carvin has proposed to replace the only stand-alone half-day section of kindergarten in Evansville with another full-day section, but she has repeatedly stated in public (and in an email message sent to parents) that doing so would not eliminate the half-day kindergarten option.

She says parents who want the half-day option will be able to remove their children from full-day sections each day at lunchtime.

“Parents have pointed out (based on actual past experience) that this ‘option’ will be substantially inferior to stand alone half-day kindergarten, because the schedule for the full-day sections includes desired curriculum elements in the afternoon, which children removed at lunchtime would miss (in contrast, the curriculum for the the stand-alone half-day section does not sacrifice these desired elements).

“Ms. Carvin has responded by proposing to change the schedules for some, but not all, of the full-day sections to minimize the impact on children who are withdrawn at lunchtime, and to place children whose parents want the unofficial half-day kindergarten option in the sections with the modified schedules.

“Would the proposed modification of schedules for some of the full-day sections and placement of the children whose parents want the unofficial half-day kindergarten option in the sections with modified schedules constitute a substantial alteration of the curriculum such that the school district would not be eligible for full-time revenue for these children and would be obligated to provide lunchtime transportation home to these children?

“Your conclusion regarding this precise fact pattern might be crucial to the Evansville school board when it decides whether to eliminate the half-day kindergarten option. I look forward to your response.”

This is the initial response I received from her:

“I don't think there is much more that I can say. My prior email did say that placing all children who leave at noon in one classroom would alter the program to make it a part day class. While substantial change is hard to define, it would involve the district changing the common program structure to allow part day attendance. It would not involve a teacher making curriculum adjustments based on the attendance of children in the program.”

This did not clearly answer my question, so I pressed her for a clearer answer. This is the message I received from her the second time.

“I feel I have responded when I said that ‘substantial change is hard to define, it would involve the district changing the common program structure to allow part day attendance.’ And from a previous mail ‘In this case the 5k program would be adapted to allow half and full day participation.’

“I have talked to our finance team about this. DPI does not have a definition of ‘substantial change’. If DPI was to make an official determination on how we were to administer the law in this case, we would need a final description from the district administrator/school board on how they were going to set up the program.”

Just to make sure we understood each other, I asked Ms. Haglund to characterize DPI’s position. The following was her characterization:

“I think the correct interpretation to my statement is that we don't know what Superintendent Calvin will finally propose since this question was raised.”

In conclusion, you, the members of the school board, do not know whether your administration’s scheme to obtain full-time revenue for children withdrawn at lunchtime from full-day kindergarten sections will provide the financial gain promised by the administration. Please do not make a decision until you know the facts.

Bill Connors

622 E. Countryside Dr.

Evansville, WI

882-4773