Loa Elementary did a survey of parents that had students in all-day kindergarten this school year, and also of parents of students coming into all-day kindergarten this year. We wanted to share the results of the survey, see below. You can read specific comments we received here.

Responses of parents of students in all-day kindergarten:

Please indicate if you liked having your child in full day kindergarten. If no please indicate why.

• YES                 27
• NO                   2
• YES & NO         1

Do you feel full day kindergarten has helped your student academically?

• YES                 30
• NO                   0

To what degree do you feel the District should expend resources on early-childhood education (Full Day Kindergarten & Preschool) on a scale from 1 to 5, with 1 being no support and 5 being full support?

• 1                      0
• 2                      1
• 3                      0
• 4                      1
• 5                      27
• No Response      1

Responses of parents of students going into in all day kindergarten:

Please indicate whether you intend to have your child attend optional full day kindergarten or half-day kindergarten for the 2016-2017 school year:

• FULL-DAY                   26
• HALF-DAY                    7
• STILL DECIDING          1

If district resources would allow for daily mid-day or one-half day busing for your kindergarten student, would you have your student attend:

• FULL-DAY                   25
• HALF-DAY                    8
• N/A                             1

To what degree do you feel the district should expend resources on early-childhood education (Full Day Kindergarten & Preschool) on a scale from 1 to 5, with 1 being no support and 5 being full support?

• 1                      2
• 2                      2
• 3                      1
• 4                      2
• 5                      27

During the school board meeting on March 9^th, 2016, the Loa principal, teachers, and board discussed the options for next year. It was decided to continue offering optional all-day kindergarten for all students. Cherie Blackburn, Loa Principal, stressed that all-day was optional. Parents can continue to make what they feel is the best decision for their students and the teachers and administration will do what they can to be very flexible and accommodating for parents who only want their students in kindergarten a half day or have other specific requests. One parent in the meeting asked specifically when core concepts would be taught and the teachers responded that most are in the morning. They did clarify that anything the students were struggling with was usually continued in the afternoon so a student that only came during the morning may still miss some of those opportunities. If you have questions regarding kindergarten next year, please contact Cherie Blackburn at 836-2851.