Preschools denounce pre-K program

BY ANDY BLATCHFORD

andy.blatchford@transcontinental.ca

Preschool teachers are questioning the Lester B. Pearson School Board’s decision to implement a kindergarten program for four-year-olds next fall.

“I feel for the children,” preschool teacher Barbara Trottier told Pearson’s council of commissioners meeting Monday.

“They can’t even reach the first step on the bus and you’re putting them with children in Grade 6 who are swearing at the back of the bus.”

About 15 preschool teachers showed up at the meeting to voice their concerns over a $240,000 pilot project to open three kindergartens for four-year-olds.

The half-day program will be tested during the 2007-08 school year at three elementary schools: Thorndale in Pierrefonds, Mount Pleasant in Hudson and Orchard in LaSalle.

Several teachers from a West Island preschool network spoke out against the possibility of a classroom environment where one adult would teach a gang of kids.

“I really don’t believe that one teacher can handle 20 children, especially if there is a special-needs student in the class,” Trottier said.

She teaches at a preschool in Pincourt, where she said there are four adults for every 20 children.

“It’s a sad day for children on the West Island,” she said.

Teacher Brenda Cater says four-year-olds are too young to be learning numeracy and literacy.

“There’s so much more to development,” said Cater, who runs the Coolbrooke Park Preschool in Dollard des Ormeaux.

Her students learn letters and numbers, but there is also a key focus on creativity and socialization.

“We learn through play at preschool,” Cater said after the meeting.

For local private preschools, the creation of kindergartens for four-year-olds in the public system also raises business concerns.

“Definitely, for all of us,” said Cater. “We all teach three- and four-year-old children. It’s half of our (student) body.”

Meanwhile, Pearson Teachers’ Union president Serge Laurendeau said the program is a good idea pedagogically, but opposes pushing children at such an early age.

“The role of the kid is also to be a kid,” he told the council.

“I feel we’re taking away the roles of the parents. I just feel that we’re trying to make them geniuses when they’re in Grade 1, Grade 2, Grade 3.”

Pearson chairman Marcus Tabachnick said parents will pay $100 to register a child in the Pearson project and eligibility will depend on criteria such as demand, proximity and siblings in the school.

He said the program will help the board to see problems in students at a very young age and start corrective measures early.

There are studies that back this up, he added.

“The literature is just accumulating at a tremendous rate as to how effective it is to get to youngsters at an early age,” Tabachnick said.

“We’re not trying to take their childhood away. There’s time to play.”

The program, which is already available at several inner-city schools in underprivileged areas, will teach subjects such as the alphabet, socialization skills and reading in a formal setting.

The schools won’t take away the parent’s role as prime educator, he said.

“As a public system we really feel that it’s important to offer the best services we can and as many services as we can to the general public,” he said.

There will be about 15 students for every teacher, he added.

Tabachnick said the project was suggested in a recent report tabled by an advisory committee created by the Quebec English School Board Association.

The program could expand to other Pearson schools in coming years, depending on demand and finances.

“If the success is what we’re confident it will be the council next year will review the options,” Tabachnick said.