Letters To The Editor

A Great Program

To the Editor:

At the last Board of Education meeting on January 26th, I happily praised the new kindergarten program and told of my daughter's experience with it. In the beginning I was nervous about the new program but thankfully I have come to see, it's many positive features, which is why I am so perplexed at the administrations desire to eliminate it.

As I explained at the meeting, I have been in my daughter's class in the afternoons when half the class is present and what I observed was wonderful to see. I saw 9 children reinforcing and learning in a quiet, relaxed and stress-free environment. I saw the freedom they have to move about in the room, the close social exchanges between classmates and the quality attention they easily received from their teacher. If a full-time program were to be adopted this would all change. A full-time program would double the class on these afternoons and ultimately give our students five afternoons with the entire class present. The wonderful intimate introduction to school would be gone and replaced by a setting more like first grade. This would be a great loss.

We're all acquainted with the term student-teacher ratio and one of the greatest advantages to the current program is a low student-teacher ratio in the afternoons. From preschool to university level there is no debate that a low student-teacher ratio is preferred. There is no research to the contrary, this is an accepted fact among educators. With that being said, five year olds require a lot of supervision and direction. I believe a full-time program which would make the student-teacher ratio approximately 1 to 20 at all times is a step in the wrong direction. The concept of independent learners is being touted as a positive by-product of full-time programs, to this I say, everything in moderation. Certainly I want my children to be independent learners but let's keep in mind this is kindergarten and the start of their formal education, they will need some guidance to get started.

The two 12:40 p.m. dismissal days allow for diversity. My daughter attends ballet on one of the afternoons and the other day is open for whatever she or I would like. I am glad she is able to attend ballet in the mid afternoon when she is still alert and can benefit from the experience. Ballet is fun for my daughter but it also builds her self-confidence and fosters self-esteem and good health. Ballet along with other extracurricular experiences would not be possible during the week with a full-time program, and that is unfortunate because they are obviously beneficial to children. The fact is after a long day and homework there isn't much time or energy left in a five year old for an activity that demands a lot of concentration.

I attended the work session on February 14th in which full-time kindergarten was a topic. I found the most interesting information to be the opinions of the kindergarten teachers expressed through the assistant principals. To summarize I understood that the majority of teachers liked the current program very much and favored it over a full-time program (but of course they would embrace any program adopted). One assistant principal gave some reasons why the teachers in her building preferred the current program and they were: 1)greater opportunity for individual instruction 2)greater opportunity to observe and assess the learning styles of each child and 3)greater opportunity to bring out the shy child. Inarguably these are sound reasons to continue the current program. Another point brought to the Board's attention was being able to advance a child to the next level, within the class' reading groups, is easier with the current program as compared to the old program because of the greater number of students. Now ten vs.five. Administrators went on to suggest that full-time would be an even better scenario for this task, given the pool of twenty students. I agree with that fundamentally but I see it at too great of a cost. It was also suggested at the meeting that a handful of children are confused about the different dismissal times. My daughter is not encountering this, of course at the beginning of the year it did take two to three weeks to understand the concept but there is no difficulty now, she actually knows all of her classmates schedules as well and has for some time now. I've never heard of this being an issue from other parents.

It seems obvious that the pros of the current program by far out way the pros of a full-time program. A few months are certainly not enough time to eliminate a program which is showing nothing but progress. The administrators even admit it is producing results, it is working well. To repeat a sentiment expressed by one of the board members "if it isn't broken why fix it?". I can appreciate wanting to give children every academic advantage . I want nothing less for my children. I know the very intelligent people of this administration are thinking of achievement and I applaud them for their efforts but if the current program would only be given the proper chance I think we would find that we have the means to accomplish the desired goals and then some.

Carole McVey

PAVES To Close

To the Editor:

With regret, we must announce the closing of PAVES (Paid and Volunteer Employment Service), a non-profit corporation which has served the youth and residents of Garden City since 1967.

For those not familiar with the service, we have provided a list (updated spring and fall) of high school and college students from the Village able to do various tasks for residents who called our telephone message recorder. The resident then called a person on the list and contracted directly with him or her to do the task at hand. In our earlier years we also staffed a summer office at the Cathedral House with adult volunteers who matched called-in requests with available young workers. Our modest budget was provided by the Garden City Community Fund, and the daily work was for many years overseen by Kay Kirby, one of the founders, until she moved from the Village to Texas.

As with all volunteer organizations, it has been increasingly difficult to find persons in the Village with the time and interest to do the work involved to provide the service. But the principal problem has become the possibility of lawsuits, however frivolous, faced by adult volunteers, as evidenced by an incident in the Village in the recent past. Although liability insurance is available for such occasions, it is expensive and still does not solve the problem of the time and effort required for a defense.

The Village Recreation Commission was contacted last fall to request the continuation of the service under their auspices, so that adult volunteers could work anonymously. After three months of consideration, the Village has now determined that providing our service would be too much of a risk, as it is more in the nature of a "one-on-one" situation (with possible litigants noting the Village's "deep pockets"). The School Administration was also contacted, but they do not want to get involved with what they perceive as a private function.

We trust that PAVES has been useful to the Village over the years and hope the day will come when organizations such as ours are once again possible.

William Bellmer,

Treasurer

Pay It Forward

To The Editor

A few years ago there was a book written about a young boy who had a simple idea, if everyone did one nice thing for someone without asking to be paid back, instead just "pay if forward" do something nice for someone else. The good would be passed on and he hoped for a better world.

Well in September our cousin Captain Chris Meyers a U.S. Marine in the A. Co. 2nd Tanks was deployed to Iraq. His sister sent out an email asking if anyone would like to write letters to him or the 150 soldiers under his command please do so.

I took the names of the soldiers and passed it on to my four children's teachers and also to the Andy Foundation. In January I received a letter from Captain Chris that states since November 1st he has opened an average of 70 packages a week not including letters. Not all packages came from G.C. but certainly a lot. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mrs. Guiry's second grade class and Mrs. Tierney's 4th grade class from Stewart School. Also Mrs. Reide's 6th grade class and Mrs. Ayer's 8th grade class in the Middle School. I would also like to thank The Andy Foundation as well for there generous support. My one suggestion has brought joy and smiles to Soldiers who are far from home and fighting for our Country.

I never expected to be recognized for doing something as simple as asking a few people to write letters. I guess I never expected to start something like paying it forward.

Last week I received a package from our Cpl. Andrew who is under the command of Captain Chris, inside was an American Flag with all the Marines' signatures. I am so proud of my children, the Teachers and the community for taking the time to support our troops. I wish for peace and for all who read this letter to" Pay it Forward."

Jean Eschmann