Schools

UPDATED: Parents, Elected Officials Rally for Full Day Kindergarten

Several hundred people turned out before tonight's budget meeting to support full day kindergarten and teacher raises

Several hundred parents, teachers and elected officials rallied in front of the Fairfax County Government Center on Tuesday afternoon in support of full day kindergarten across FCPS.

Many children were in the crowd, carrying signs and banging rally sticks. Andrea Feigenbaum brought her sons Mitchell and Dylan to the rally. Mitchell, a current kindergartener at Sangster Elementary, which has half day kindergarten, is set to speak at the public hearing.

"I'm speaking to get full day kindergarten because we need it," Mitchell said. "At Sangster, we're really in a rush."

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"They don't have the chance to learn the basics before they learn the next thing," Andrea said. "We're hoping if we get funding from the Board of Supervisors we'll get full day K in time for the fall [when Dylan will start kindergarten.]"

Many teachers also came out carrying signs demanding cost of living increases and raises.

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"We stand with the teachers and they stand with us," said Shaista Keating, the chair of Fairfax for Full Day Kindergarten in Fairfax County.

Keating said that she saw representatives from all of theย 37 elementary schools in the district without full day kindergarten and many PTA presidents from schools with full day kindergarten already.

Mount Vernon District Supervisor Gerry Hyland has proposed that the Board of Supervisors transfer $7.3 million to the School Board, the exact amount needed to implement full day kindergarten across the district. He has faced reluctance from other supervisors who do not believe the school board will use it for that purpose.

โ€œIf we transfer it to youโ€ฆitโ€™s then up to the school board to use it that way,โ€ Hyland said at the rally. โ€œI think itโ€™s important that this board transfer money that gives you the flexibility to do what needs to be done.โ€

Numerous other elected officials came out to speak at the rally.

โ€œEvery child in the commonwealth of Virginia has the right to equal education opportunities starting with early education,โ€ Delegate Eileen Filler-Corn of the 41st district said. She said that 4 out of 9 elementary schools in her district offer only half day kindergarten.

โ€œLet me take a moment to thank the hardworking teachers that are standing with us today,โ€ Filler-Corn said. โ€œโ€ฆWe also owe a debt of gratitude to those half day kindergarten teachers given the burden of teaching the same lessons in half the time.ย  With limited hours, they work hard to ensure that these young students are given a great start to their education and our schools.โ€

Delegate Scott Surovell of the 44th district spoke of his own experiences growing up in FCPS.

โ€œI would not have been able to go to the public university I had, the law school I had, to have the career I had, to run for the house of delegates to lead this community but for the investment that this county made in me and that these teachers that are here today are putting in our children,โ€ Surovell said. โ€œOur same children have to have those same opportunities.โ€

Surovell said that when he ran for his seat two years ago, full day kindergarten was an issue that his constituents continually brought up to him.

โ€œWhy do our children have different educational opportunities than everybody else?โ€ Surovell said. โ€œWhy do we not get the same quality of education as everybody else does? It ainโ€™t fair.โ€

Surovell also spoke in favor of increasing teacher salaries. He said that he ran a constituent survey, asking what should be done to improve the quality of education in Fairfax County.

โ€œThey said teacher salaries is the number one thing we can do,โ€ Surovell said to cheers from the crowd.

โ€œItโ€™s something that I think has been long overdue,โ€ Senator George Barker of the 39th district said. โ€œI can tell that one of the things we need to do at the state level is make sure we step up our funding for education generally. the last several years weโ€™ve had to make some cuts. Weโ€™ve minimized those cuts as best we could but in reality weโ€™re providing significantly less funding for k through 12 education across the commonwealth per student than we did four and five years ago.โ€

Barker said that he would do everything he could on the state level to help the cause.

Once the rally moved into the government center, attendees flooded into the board auditorium, filling it up to its maximum capacity. Representatives from the office of the fire marshal were present to ensure safety was maintained.

Many others who could not fit into the auditorium stayed out in the main hall, where many of the children played by jumping up and down the staircase.


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