Kindergarten rant! - Annoyance #3

I've saved the biggest annoyance for the end of my rant series. The reason this is the biggest? Because it doesn't end!! Whereas the National Building Museum and the seat belt debacle will have a nice, clean finish to the story, my annoyance with Ian in kindergarten will continue for an entire year. Allow me to explain....

Fairfax County has 139 elementary schools. Of the 139 elementary schools, 101 elementary schools offer a full day kindergarten and the rest are only half day. Guess which group we fall in? Ding. Ding. Ding. Yep, you got it. In 2 weeks, Ian will be starting half day kindergarten. There was a plan to roll out all the elementary schools to a full day kindergarten, but somewhere along the way, budget cuts happened and it was this, among other cutbacks that ended up on the chopping block. Ugh! So not only will Ian's school not go to full day, it may never happen...not even in time for when Sam starts school in 3 years.

To make matters worse, all Fairfax County elementary schools offer an early dismissal on Mondays to give the teachers time for lesson plans. So, my child's half day kindergarten gets cut even shorter on Mondays. Folks, I am not making this up. I find Mondays to be a complete joke and a waste of time.

Here's Ian's schedule for the 2010-2011 school year:
Please keep in mind that I have requested the afternoon session. There is a morning session that meets and dismisses before Ian's begins.

Monday: 10:25am to 12:30pm
Tuesday thru Friday: 11:40pm to 3:00pm

Here's the real kicker -- last year, Ian went to preschool, Monday thru Friday, from 9:30am to 1:30pm. As a Pre-K student his day was longer than it will be in kindergarten. Seriously. And, Ian's 2 year old sister, going to preschool this year will be there for a longer period of time than his brother on the 2 days she attends.

I don't think I'd be so annoyed if it was uniform all across the county and every kindergartner had the same schedule. It doesn't seem fair to me that a good majority of the 5 year olds out there will have a major advantage to learn more and have double the amount of time in which to do it. The curriculum for all kindergartners are the same regardless of how much time they are in school, but the opportunity for enrichment programs (music, computers, phys-ed, etc) will all be condensed in order to fit in the core learning. It frustrates me to no end that this injustice is currently in play.

How is this fair? How can this possibly continue? Either make all the kindergartens full day or have everyone be half day. It just isn't right.

I keep hearing from everyone what a huge step kindergarten is and how its hard to believe our kids are old enough to go. But, I have to be honest with you. I feel like I am going backwards from what Ian was doing last year in Pre-K. With a 2 hour day on Mondays and 3 hours the rest of the week, I won't hardly have time to even miss him.