by Steve Schulz,
Editor
Parents who hoped for Wadena-Deer Creek schools to adopt all-day, every-day kindergarten have gotten their wish.
The WDC School Board approved the funding for ADED kindergarten at its April 16 meeting.
The board has shown a steady commitment to bolster the education of the youngest students in the district, said Elementary Principal Louis Rutten, who started in 2001.
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"My first year here we were looking at a pay-as-you-go option for parents who wanted it for their kids," he said. "The board felt if they were going to do it, they'd do it all at no cost [to parents.]"
Rutten said the school district has enhanced education in the lower grades through grants -- and then through direct funding when the grants ran out.
The educational benefits will mean better prepared kids at every grade level, Rutten said.
"We'll find that positive effect on academic achievement for children -- all of them, but especially for children at risk," he said. "It stands to reason they'll have better academic achievement, social and emotional growth, and intellectual growth as well."
Rutten said the studies have been clear the benefits outweigh the costs. And he said it's a better investment to spend money on programs like ADED kindergarten instead of trying to catch the kids a year or two later to do remedial work.
"You end up paying for it either way," he explained. "You want to pay for it on the front end -- you'll get more bang for your buck."
Rutten said another big benefit of ADED is simply having a schedule that's static. This year's model of having "blue" and "gold" sections, which meet alternating days and trade some Fridays (though not on a strict rotation), was confusing to parents and students alike, he said.
"That's a huge advantage of going all-day, every-day is your calendar is set," Rutten said. "It's just one less transition for them to get used to."
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Rutten said the criticism about ADED kindergarten being nothing more than free day care is off base.
"We're not intending to be a day care," he said. "We're intending to provide a rich learning environment, challenge kids, and prepare them for success at reading and math into the first, second and third grades."
