Current Batavia Kindergarten Program Will Stay This Year, Some Parents Disapprove

The Batavia kindergarten format that started a few weeks ago will stay in place for the rest of the 2011-12 school year.

That's what the Batavia School Board decided at its meeting Tuesday night after hours of discussion, and multiple comments from parents, principals and teachers. They voted 5-1 to keep the kindergarten program the way it is. Jack Hinterlong, board vice president, voted against the measure.

The vote brings some relief to parents with kindergarteners in the district's tuition-based after-school enrichment program. They learned that the School Board  in art, music and physical education from the students in the enrichment sessions.

But this vote also upsets the parents of kindergarteners who are not in the program. Students who are only in the regular kindergarten program get their art, music and P.E. from their regular teachers, not from staff that specialize in those topics. This teaching format started this school year.

"I felt they had a solution in front of them … that made all the kindergartners equal," said parent Chris Hunecke after the meeting. "They chose to make it easier on the administrators and teachers rather than do what's right for the children."

Hunecke and many other parents on Tuesday filled the meeting room at the district's main office to share their concerns. More than 14 individual moms and dads addressed the board during the first hour of the meeting.

In previous years all kindergarteners got their art, music and P.E. lessons from building specialists. But the district earlier this year made plans to transfer these lessons over to regular kindergarten teachers due to budget cuts.

Students who are in the after-school enrichment program this year were still able to keep their specialized teaching, and parents said this made the groups of kindergarteners unequal.

The district argued that the enrichment program is a time to practice what students learned in their regular classes. Principals and teachers said keeping the programs unchanged for this year would be the most beneficial option, said Brad Newkirk, the district's chief academic officer.

"The overwhelming opinion of the kindergarten teachers was that any major disruptions to student schedules at this point in the year would have a significant negative impact on both kindergarten and all other elementary students," said Amy Biancheri, vice president of the Batavia Education Association teachers union. "The teachers strongly felt that the best option at this point was for the kindergarten program to remain as is."

What About Next Year? 

Board members last month and on Tuesday  after this year and reevaluating whether the after-school enrichment program was still a good option for kindergarteners.

The district said any major changes to the kindergarten program would have to be made by November. This way the district can publicize and prepare the correct program descriptions in December. Parents will select a kindergarten program for the 2012-13 school year in early 2012.

The after-school enrichment program will be part of larger discussions about what matters most to parents in the district.

These discussions will be called listening posts. One of them will be held at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 11 at , 305 N. Van Nortwick St.

Another listening post will be held on the east side, said Jack Barshinger, Batavia superintendent.

Parent Christy Vozza wants to see the enrichment program stay in the district. She has a son in the program this year at .

Vozza said she felt horrible for the kindergarten half-day students, who will not get specialized instruction this year.

"It's kind of bittersweet," Vozza said. "No one is still 100 percent happy."

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