In conjunction with the Melrose School Committee’s ongoing effort to evaluate the effectiveness of their Placement Policy, the committee invites the public to attend an informational meeting on Monday, July 11, 2011 from 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. in the Melrose High School Resource Center. The purpose of this meeting is to discuss "Combining half day kindergarten students with full day kindergarten students into a single classroom." Of the proposals before the committee at this time, this one varies the most from how we currently educate kindergarteners, and it would require extended time to plan and implement. This meeting is an opportunity to begin exploring what this might look like, and what we would need to do going forward. There will be a short presentation by school department administrators followed by a question & answer period.
The presentation will cover:
- what ½-day and full day curriculum look like now
- how curriculum might change if the classes were combined
- what might the educational benefits be to combining
- what might the educational challenges be to combining
- what lessons can we learn from other districts where this is being done now
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Anyone is welcome to submit questions in advance to Kristin Thorp, Policy and Planning Subcommittee Chair at kthorp@melrose.mec.edu prior to the meeting date.
This is a preliminary information gathering meeting. This is not a proposal that this be done in Melrose, nor is it a plan for how to do that. In the event that Melrose does choose to combine ½-day and full day kindergarten in the future, a team will fully evaluate all aspects of curriculum and scheduling. Any change to the Placement Policy or to Kindergarten instruction will begin with the 2012-2013 school year.
