District Approves Longer Kindergarten Day

A longer day is in store for some kindergartners in the Murrieta Valley Unified School District.

Board members approved the pilot program at a recent meeting, which means extended-day kindergarten classes at and will commence in August.

Initially, two classes are slated for Murrieta Elementary and three for E. Hale Curran.

E. Hale Curran Principal David Koltovich said his school is working toward a fourth class.

"The only thing I can remember from kindergarten is how to tie my shoes, and as you know, we have raised the level a little bit in the last few years," Koltovich said to board members.

"So having the opportunity to extend our day is something we have been looking at for several years."

About 1.75 hours will be added to the kindergarten day. At Murrieta Elementary, extended-day students will attend from 8:15 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., about an hour and 20 minutes shy of a full day. Students at E. Hale Curran will begin at 8:35 a.m. and end at 1:50 p.m.

Some of the advantages of extended day kindergarten, according to Koltovich, are that it increases school readiness, improves attendance, closes the achievement gap, supports literacy and decreases remediation costs further down the line.

Stacy Parmenter will teach one of the classes at Murrieta Elementary.

"We are still going to focus strongly on academics the first part of the day," Parmenter said.

One of the more exciting changes will be that the kindergartners will eat lunch in the main cafeteria, whereas before, they snacked in the classroom, she said.

"This will make them feel like they are more of a part of the community," Parmenter said.

They will still spend recess in the kindergarten area, she said.

After lunch, they will have a quiet time. Then they will launch into discovery groups for science, social studies, art, music and P.E. The day will be wrapped up with a sharing time, during which they will discuss their day.

Grade-level leaders at both schools developed the daily schedules separately, but said that ironically, they resulted in adopting very similar ones.

The concept was so popular among parents of incoming kindergartners that Parmenter said a lottery had to be held.

Koltovich added that the longer day will also help students work toward conflict resolution, which will teach them valuable social skills.

"We are very proud to be the first extended-day kindergarten in the district," Koltovich said.

One-hour after school care will be offered at both sites to accommodate the kindergartners, who may have siblings in upper grades. The hour of care will enable parents to pick up all children at the same time.

Because extended day students will start school at the same time as the rest of the grades, they can take the bus to school with their peers, which will cut down on some transportation needs in the district. The aftercare then gives them the ability to ride the bus home with other students.

The board unanimously approved the action.

"Our mission is to inspire students and this will help us do that," said Board Member Kris Thomasian.