Kindergarten Khaos

Sunday night was an interesting night in Alameda. More than 60 people lined up outside of Edison Elementary, a consistently high ranking school on the east end of the island, in order to get their children into kindergarten. The school sent out more than 100 packets to families of future kindergarteners even though they don't have enough space to accommodate all of them. There was a succession of phone calls on the east side Sunday evening, as parents got wind of the fact that their mere presence in the district wasn't enough to guarantee their kids a slot. By 9:00 pm, parents were converging in front of the Edison office with their sleeping bags, ready to camp out. Edison's principle, Marcheta Williams, told KTVU and Kron4, both of whom sent reporters to the school, that it wasn't "an audition for American Idol, this is kindergarten".

Parents were upset that the district hasn't made a plan to accommodate their children in the zones that they live. They also expressed irritation at the fact that there is no "sibling priority" at any of the schools in the district, meaning that it is likely that some siblings will be split between schools. At the "coffee with the superintendent", Ardella Dailey last week, it was a topic of discussion. When questioned about the lack of sibling priority, Dailey simply implied that there is no priority and there are no plans to implement it.

AUSD also held the second of three meetings last night to discuss cutting $2 million dollars from the school district's funding by closing Wood Middle school, increasing class sizes for 9th graders, eliminating some high school counselors and reducing support for athletic programs.

Our schools are already in crisis. The more cuts that are made, the more parents are going to pull their kids out of public school and put them in private, further decreasing funding. AUSD already receives much less per student than other Alameda county schools. What will it take to turn this around? It's time for us to rally for our kids and change this cycle. It really can't continue on like this.