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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]NP: the reason to show up early and often...I have a K in FCPS. It is HARD to find out what is going on! This means, those of us opting into public schools (who might otherwise choose private) are essentially taking a leap of faith about what our local school is offering. Those of us who have been reading about childhood development since we were pregnant have opinions on the type of eduction our children receive. This isn’t new. I agree there is a level of checking in with what is going on around you, but I can assure you the more recess group isn’t made up of only infant and preschool parents...Here’s the other thing, you’re right! Advocacy takes time. The school board is being fair in responding that to implement these changes takes time, money and planning. So for someone who is just starting the school system. Pre-k is the perfect time to get involved, maybe by the time my oldest is in 3rd grade they’ll have changed the protocol for entering K. Meanwhile, when my 3rd grader gets to middle school suddenly it will be implemented for all of elementary...

I’d also like to add, being in public school...there is a difference between what we are told as parents by the administration and what happens in practice. Supposedly my kid has 20min of outdoor play a day...but I often hear reported from my kid that they had to go in early, or went out late or didn’t go out at all, sometimes because of the weather, but just as frequently it’s because so and so didn’t clean up, or they had a guest speaker coming in, or they ran out of time doing something else. I hear you on the lost educational time, and it is distressing to read the limited number of hours spent on education time...I’m not personally sure what the best answer is, but I know keeping our kids inside isn’t it. [/quote]

But for instance if this is an issue for you, it's likely an issue for other parents and you have first hand experience which that other person did not. I don't think administration is trying to give you wrong information. However if there is some special PTA speaker, it might make sense that some other areas of the school day are impacted. I'm sure recess isn't the only one. Figure out what the issue is at your school and what the barriers are to making change and what change will imply for other areas and then go advocate. PTA meetings are open to preschool parents.  School board members are available to ask questions and they have the power to do the research needed within FCPS. There are ways to gather data from actual teachers and parents in the school system. Decisions made at a school board meeting tend to be decisions made for the entire school system. It's possible that your school does something different than another that can be fixed within that school or there may be an overall barrier within FCPS. Either way, if there is an issue, there will be existing parents that see the issue. I've seen the advocates for recess and most of them are preschool parents or parents of kindergarteners. However instead of advocating locally for half day K which would have saved the school system some money, they instead have been working at the state level to reduce core instructional hours and not just for kindergarten, but now for K-6. That was a dangerous move because there are many people at the state level (and local level) that want to reduce or not increase educational funding.[/quote]

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