Parents frustrated with lack of everyday kindergarten programs in Sask.
CBC
Five-year-old Josef Johnson wishes he could go to school every day like his siblings.
Johnson is attending kindergarten twice a week in Saskatoon, as are many kids in the province.
Part-time kindergarten programs are an option many families get stuck with, as everyday programs aren't publicly funded in Saskatchewan.
"If you miss a day of school, that means that you only went to school once in the week," said Nancy Broten, Johnson's mother. "Is that OK for our five year olds? That doesn't make them ready for Grade 1."
Broten has been trying to place her son in an everyday kindergarten class, but said the process has been difficult. She said every program is currently full and has a long waitlist.
There are also other barriers for some parents. Factors like a family's proximity to schools offering everyday kindergarten and a child's additional needs — such as needing to improve their English before Grade 1 — are taken into consideration.
"There needs to be more access for the families who do want it, because it allows families to have jobs, to function well as society," said Broten.
Broten has her son in a daycare on the days he's not in kindergarten, but she worries about what he's missing not being in a classroom.
"I found myself on the brink of tears when I was calling to get him in full-time," said Broten. "My child has hearing loss, and I think that a classroom rich with literacy, routine, books and social development would be so good for him, for his hearing and just for his life."
Broten enrolled Johnson in the same school as his brothers and sister, but it doesn't offer everyday kindergarten.
A school closer to home does, but to be eligible for it, Broten would first need to enrol him in that school's part-time kindergarten program and get on the waitlist for full-time.
"We would have to switch schools with the hope that we could get in, and that's just not something that we're willing to do, for consistency for his life," said Broten.
Twenty-five schools across Saskatoon offer Monday to Friday kindergarten.
Funding for those programs is community-based and comes from campaigning by groups like the Saskatoon Public Schools Foundation, which has raised more than $20 million for various education programs.
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