Full-day school for some tots

Five Granite District schools will have one full-day kindergarten class next school year using federal Title I money set aside for schools in low-income neighborhoods.

Farnsworth, Monroe, South Kearns, Stansbury and Woodrow Wilson elementaries will participate in the pilot program.

Research shows full-day kindergarten helps level the academic playing field for disadvantaged children, and that successes there can help ensure all students meet the state's goal of reading by third grade.

"This is not . . . more of the same" that's taught in traditional half-day kindergarten classes, said Rob Averett, district school services director for Title I elementary schools. "We're turning it into an enriched day."

The five schools had a pool of families applying to participate — often, more than the 24 or so slots available at each school, Averett said. Participants were selected by lottery; several schools have waiting lists, he said.

Full-day kindergarten is offered in 15 of 40 Utah school districts, including Salt Lake City, Ogden and Box Elder. Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. earlier this year proposed the state spend $7 million on optional full-day kindergarten in schools statewide — a move supported by the State Board of Education but, ultimately, not the Legislature.

Opponents to the measure have feared full-day kindergarten, should it be mandated, could put parents' rights at risk. Utah law does not require children to attend kindergarten at all.