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DCPS PK3-can I only send child 4 days?
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Anonymous
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I'm not sure about this, because I'm new to the whole school scene, so I'm hoping someone can help me out. My son will be 3 in April, and we are considering putting in for the DCPS/charter school lottery. However, I only work 32 hours a week, and would want to keep him home on Fridays with me. I'm wondering if schools are amenable to this sort of thing, or if there is an attendance policy. I am about to start checking out open houses and will ask then as well, but I was hoping to get some advance insight.
Thanks. |
Anonymous
| i am virtually certain that this will not be allowed. |
Anonymous
| Public schools have to have attendance policies and they don't get to set them themselves. They're legal requirements. I'm not sure if it comes directly from the city council or from the Office of the State Superintendent, but they're requirements all the same. If your child isn't going to meet them, then he doesn't belong in a public school. |
Anonymous
| OP here--thanks for the replies, they are helpful to us in our decision-making. |
Anonymous
| Can you switch your days from Mondays to Fridays in any given week? Because there are about 10 Mondays off a year (holidays) but also a number of Fridays off (professional days, parent/teacher conferences, half-days and so forth). There aren't that many five-day weeks when you really look at the school calendar. |
Anonymous
| Looks like EL Haynes is adding a 3 year old class this year. They get out at 1:00 on Fridays. |
Anonymous
There's no legal requirement to send your child to pre-K at all, thus no way that the school can force you to send him/her that 5th day a week. The only consideration, to me, might be if he/she will miss some crucial instruction that will make the other 4 days a week more difficult. Our experience was that the pre-k requirements/curriculum was mainly learning to identify the alphabet and at most one sound that letter would make in the initial position of the word. Math was mainly counting to 10 or 20. Pre-K also included a nap or quiet period every day at our school, so, frankly, each afternoon had really no instruction. After lunch and recess there was a story, quiet time and a snack, which pretty much took up the whole afternoon. So, IMO, your kid can miss every Fri, or you can perhaps send him/her for the AM only on Fridays and then pickup before lunch and spend the rest of the day w/ them. School can not make you give a reason for child's absence, like it can when your child is in K and school attendance is mandatory and "skipping" school requires a "legitimate" excuse. |
Anonymous
No, but they can certainly make full attendance a requirement for enrollment. Especially when there are limited spots, that seems only fair. |
Anonymous
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If you're not going to fully utilize a precious resource like free pre-school, then don't enrol your child. Leave it for someone who will.
Even if you could just create an attendance problem with your child and expect the school not to petition to expel your child so they can enrol someone who'll actually take advantage of it - do you really want to be THAT parent? Do you WANT your child's school to resent you? |
Anonymous
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OP here--Thanks for all the replies. Not sure about why some were hostile. I get that getting into schools here in DC can be stressful, and as I said in my original post, I don't know that much about it, that's why I was looking for information, not to be castigated.
The reason I am interested in these programs is the same reason many other parents are, because I currently send my child to daycare/preschool which is pretty expensive, and I was exploring my options for a low-cost/free alternative. I don't intend to mislead any school administrators or "take" someone else's spot. As I said, I had planned on talking about this with school staff during open houses. My intention isn't to deprive another child of a spot in a preschool and then not utilize it and be "THAT" parent. I currenlty pay for a full time daycare/preschool program where, by my choice, my child only attends 3 or 4 days a week, and we are part of the school community--I am on the PTA, I volunteer for school events, I bring my child in for special programming even if it's on an "off" day. Thanks to the PPs who pointed out that many of the school weeks are only 4 days due to holidays/trainings and that some schools dismiss early on Fridays, that opens my eyes. My child does better with definite "down time" to decompress built into his week, and five full days seemd like a lot to me. I choose to work at a reduced hours and salary so that I can be home with my kids more, so that means funds are tight. And, of course a free PreK program is appealing under anycircumstances. That's why I'm researching and trying to gather information. Thanks to those of you who responded kindly. |
Anonymous
| These boards can be good places to pick up good (and bad) info and advice, but you *will* get jumped on here. Don't take it personally, OP -- some people are just like that, especially when posting anonymously. |
Anonymous
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00:02 here. I'm sorry if it came across like jumping on you. I was really just being matter of fact, but maybe it came across more harshly.
I'll try to make it up to you by posting a list of charter schools that offer (free) pre-school, starting at age 3. I would recommend that you check them out and apply for lotteries as early as possible. Actually lottery winners are random, but for some schools the waitlist is prioritized by how early you got your application in. Appletree Bridges EL Haynes LAMB Potomac Lighthouse Two Rivers WEJ Doar |
Anonymous
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OP, as it was explained to me when my kids started PS and PK in DCPS, it is not required that a child attend school before K. However, if you sign your child up for PS or PK in a DCPS or charter school, your child's attendance matters for the sake of charting attendance in the whole school. This attendance is very important for passing AYP (Annual Yearly Progress) so your child's attendance would be messing up the stats for the whole school.
I was worried about the whole day thing at that young age, but it worked out fine. They do nap in the afternoon, plus these teachers KNOW kids this age and understand that they can't function at full-speed ahead for the whole day. I found it to be very similar to daycare -- morning of education and activities, lunch, some more play, nap, snack, day is over. You will find that you will only have intermittent full weeks. This week we have no school Friday (Professional Development), Monday (holiday), and then 1/2 day Friday (record keeping?). Could you change your work schedule to work 5 days most weeks and pick up your kid at 3:15 every day? It would save you the hassle of aftercare and you would get great time every afternoon to go the park, play at home, etc. |
Anonymous
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It's not only about attendance statistics - it's about actual dollars that come into the school. School budgets are driven by enrollment and attendance figures. There is a threshold for how many days a child can miss school before it becomes flagged by the school and it becomes a negative mark on your child's record. The fact that pre-k in DC is not required doesn't matter.
I agree with the PP, if you can get into one, DCPS pre-k is a great deal. We had a really positive experience and it was not overwhelming at all [I was 100% stay-at-home before]. The kids do have a lot of down time during the day - but it really is an opportunity to get kids used to being in a more structured environment. IMHO full-time pre-k is actually one of the best things DCPS has going for it. |
Anonymous
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Note that Bridges also has early dismissal one day a week. I think it's Wednesdays?
Other schools that start at age 3: HD Cooke ES Bancroft ES DC Bilingual Centronia Universal Preschool (hosted at DC Bilingual but a different program for 3 & 4 yr olds only) |