Dear Editor,
September is almost here, and once the labour issues between the teachers and the government get settled, the school system will once again demonstrate how disconnected they are with the working families of Langley.
This year our family will be re-introduced to the concept of “gradual entry†into kindergarten.
For those unaware of the program, it is designed to gently ease children who have been attending daycares since age one to the “rigours†of full-day kindergarten.
It involves a first week of school with a grand total of three hours of encounter time between our child and her new teacher. In the second week, she works all the way up to 4.33 hours.
Since most kids in working families have been attending daycares since age one, what gradual entry actually represents is a struggle to figure out or pay for child-care arrangements for kids who are completely ready for school but no longer have a slot in a daycare.
For families like my own, with only one parent available to do home care during the week, it means using two weeks of annual holidays to accommodate this questionable requirement.
It is time the school system gave kids some credit for resilience, and cut the “gradual entry†back to one week.
Blair King, Langley