The Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD) revealed on Friday that it will offer full-day kindergarten and transitional kindergarten (TK) programs beginning in the fall.
The decision is a result of the district’s agreement with the Teachers Association of Long Beach (TALB) that was approved at their Wednesday, May 18 meeting. However, the district had explored a full-day option for kindergarten/TK since before the pandemic.
The state has a four-hour maximum instruction time statute for kindergarten classes. Full-day kindergarten, however, is an exception to the statute and allows for expanded class time beyond those four hours. At LBUSD, kindergarten classes usually last about three hours, but will expand to about six hours starting in the fall.
TK is the first year of a two-year program that provides age and developmentally appropriate content taught by trained teachers to children with birthdays between Sept. 2 and Feb. 2.
For the 2022-2023 school year, students born between Sept. 2, 2016 to Sept. 1, 2017 are kindergarten eligible whereas students born from Sept. 2, 2017 to Feb. 2, 2018 are eligible for TK.
Parents can choose to not participate in the full-day program and instead pick up their children after the state-mandated minimum time—80 minutes for TK and 200 minutes for kindergarten.
The full-day extension time does not hinder the learning of core subjects like math and reading as the additional time is mostly used for outside, play-based learning and other activities such as drama and art, according to a statement from the district.
According to Superintendent Jill Baker, these programs will equip children for future academic success through “convenient, economical, developmentally appropriate instruction and learning experiences.”
“We know that many parents are eager to take advantage of these extended learning opportunities,” Baker said.
As per the agreement, the district is currently looking at class sizes, staff to student ratio—a 12-1 ratio for TK—as well as having several hours of adult support—consisting of college aids, paraprofessionals and literacy support teachers—for full-day kindergarten programs.
In addition, a Full-Day Kindergarten Committee formed by five District members and five TALB members will meet quarterly for the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 school years.
In collaboration, they will review program support, analyze data and provide recommendations for improving the program. A full-day TK committee will also be formed and serve the same purpose.
Before the upcoming school year starts, all kindergarten and TK teachers will receive eight hours of paid time for training and classroom setup. Additionally, teachers and supervising administrators will be offered ongoing professional development for topics such as effective classroom environments and outdoor learning.
Board Member Megan Kerr said at Wednesday’s Board meeting that moving towards full-day kindergarten/TK had been a long time in the making and was appreciative of the update.
“I want to thank the teams who worked on this and the teachers who gave us really vital input all along the way to make this a reality in a way that works best for our community,” Kerr said. “We’re grateful to be here.”
Parents can find further enrollment information and options here.
