There is an outpour of reactions from people, including educators and parents, after remarks from an area school board member.
During a phone interview on Saturday, Lois Kaneshiki, a school board member for the Hollidaysburg Area School District, questioned the value of kindergarten education.
Her remarks come after voting ‘No’ for a permanent substitute teacher position for K-classes at the Ten of Foot Elementary School.
Joseph Scott, a former 5th grade teacher, said he knows first hand the value of kindergarten curriculum.
“Kindergarten is far more academic than a lot of people give it credit for or actually understand,” Scott said.
He said the essentials taught in K-classes are what lay the foundation for future learning.
Those essentials include basic sentence structure, the alphabet, numbers.
Scott also said even skills like knowing how to hold a book or flip its pages, those are crucial things that help kids “learn to learn.”
According to the National Education Association, early learning helps “…support the learning of all children, whatever their earlier experiences, environments, cultures, languages, abilities, or disabilities.”
Kaneshiki said based on her research from the Home School Legal Defense Association, academic achievement in early learning doesn’t compare to higher grades.
She said that data influences her role as a school board member.
Kaneshiki also said she didn’t take into consideration that approval for a permanent substitute teacher would help lighten the load for teachers in the classroom.
The school board member said she didn’t think additional students in a classroom wouldn’t affect teachers or their overall effectiveness.
Scott said that the extra set of hands would make a difference.
He noted that every minute counts and eventually adds up, inevitably giving each student more one on one experience for a better learning environment.
Social media is flooded with reactions to her statements.
Teachers who we reached out to didn’t want to go on camera, but one told us anonymously that Kaneshiki “Lacks qualities a school leader should possess.”
Scott said there’s one thing that is clear from all of these conversations.
“The need for dialogue has been established…the people that we put into a certain office are going to impact, directly how we are going to be treated.”
Click here for more on Kaneshiki’s perspective on the value of early learning.
