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" I have had so much fun reading these blogs! I find the responses very entertaining from the authors who are anti-public school. I hope you are hiring someone else to home school your children in grammar and spelling! "

" This article and blog makes the case for Zero Population Growth. Hitler put youth into schools very early for indoctrination. They say it'a can't happen again. Well be careful what you wish for. Let's look into sterlization for people who don't want to take care of their children. It would be more cost effective. "

" If starting a 4 year old kindergarten program is all about money according to several blogs, it seems the biggest argument againast it is all about money. Education should not begin with how much it's going to cost, but how much good will it do for the children and our future. The answer is, plenty. The fear and smear about money, State requirements and lazy parents is just another 'the sky is falling campaign.' Anyone notice that life downtown did not come to an end when the WTC opened? There's plenty of parking. Stop being afraid of progress! "

" I home schooled all three of mine for the first 2 years of school before putting them into Tomah public schools. It was very easy to get them in. I had no problem with it and they were very accepting to them in to the school district. "

" Dear Parent,

I see alot of Buts, and If's in your post. I also noticed you said If you had a 4 year old. How old are your children? Why are YOU so concerned about the education of our 4 year olds? Is it cause the taxes you are worried about? When it comes down to it Education is one of the main priorities we should be thinking about. Look at some of the children out there, some parents are to busy with the night life to even teach their children how to read, sing their ABC's. Why not give our children more of a lift in education.
Right now 4 year old kindergarten isn't mandatory, in the future maybe. Right now it is here for a purpose the help our children get a head start in school. I'm a stay at home mom, I do everything I know to teach my children the basics, but the knowlegde and help from a educated teacher is wonderful. We shouldn't deny our children that right if it's out there for them. Maybe people should do alittle research on their part to see how other communities in Wisconsin are benefiting from this program. If I were to move back to Tomah I would be fighting for Tomah to have a 4 year old kindergarten. Also Teachers are leaders in every community, they also do not get paid enough for all they do. I have a great respect for them. I'm at my childs school all the time. I see just what all the wonderful teachers are doing from day in and day out. The 4 year old classes are no different, they have educated teachers, that give all they can to each child. "

" Your correct on most of your post but, the State hasn't made it law yet. But they are working on it big time behind the scenes

The 4 year old Kindergarten is not Mandatory, But it will be if enough of the state districts pass this in there districts, Then the STATE will have no way out, this is a back door way of the TEACHERS UNION FORCING THIS INTO LAW

The Teachers union is lobbying VERY HARD in Madison for Mandatory 4 year old Kindergarten

People need to wake up and do a little research into this matters before BLINDLY FALLING INTO THE NEXT BIG LIBERAL TRAP "

" I was raised in Tomah,and went to school in Tomah.I now live in Portage about an hour away from Tomah. Our town has a 4 year old kindergarten, and to let you know, it is optional to let your children attend the program. It's a head start sort of Program, my son loved it.He is now in regular kindergarten, and it helped him ajust to a school setting. In the 4 year old kindergarten classes they only go 4 days a week and it's only half days. My next child will attend in the fall. I know that alot of towns, and cities in the state of Wisconsin has a 4 year old program. It's a positive step to help your childs education.
"

" If this goes into effect in TOMAH it will be under the STATE LAW AND BE MANDATORY THAT EVERY CHILD MUST ATTEND.

1 problem with the State law unless that has changed is the 4 year old kindergarten is under the ages for home schooling, like I said this may have changed


The only way out would be to sign your child up for Home-schooling. If you do this then want your child to attend Tomah Public Schools later on it is a tremendous battle to get them in.

They will test your child like no child ever gets tested going to Tomah Public Schools

Heres a link to a great site that every parent should look into. Even if you plan on sending them to Public School there is a lot of books available to properly teach them, and from very young ages

http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/laws/blWI.htm

"

" If I were a parent of a child who could go to kindergarten at age 4, but I decided to hold him/her back and start them the next year...can't I do that? What is the law? It's my child I would think I should have a say as to if I would send him/her or not. Some 4 year olds may be ready while others my not be. I feel it is the parents that should make the choice. "

" Baloney. "

" Who do you think is behind this 4 year old Schooling. IT'S THE TEACHERS UNION OF WISCONSIN

Could you be any more BLIND

I do agree with you about Many parents sitting kids in front of the tube for babysitting


But I guarantee you this, Most of us are very happy with the pre-schools we take our kids and Grandkids to and don't believe for a minute that a public school could do NEAR THE JOB AS THE REAL PRE-SCHOOLS

Public school is a disaster in Tomah, Look at the Drop out rate in Tomah and all the other schools in Tomah to send kids to. If the Public school system was so good there wouldn't be so many other schools to send your kids to

Now with that in mind WE NEED VOUCHERS to pay for the other schools, There is no reason we should be paying twice if we choose not to send our kids to public schools. PLUS if they Public school had competition for the money they would clean up there act and REALLY GET SERIOUS about TEACHING WHAT'S IMPORTANT IN LIFE instead of all these WHACKO programs that are meaningless in life "

" Does it seem a lot of people want a 4 year old kindergarten so they don't have to pay for another year of day care? I mean it's sad enough over 4 million kids think tv is the way to learn over your parents, then parents park there kids by the tv for a babysitter, then have the brains to blame tv for kids faults. Come on why don't parents step up and do some work for their children, and let the teachers keep doing what they have been trying to do for years. They have some great teachers in the Tomah district, just have to have the kids belive that. "

" If we put 4 year olds in school then what do they do in the summer for daycare. Daycare now consists of mostly between 2 and 4 year olds. Take away 4 year olds and daycare will be even harder to get. Daycare providers will say its not worth it and quit. THen summer rolls around and its tougher yet. Can the school district stay open during the summer and watch our children then. I don't think so. It would not be cost effective and this is not about what taxpayers and parents want its what other schools have and the money tomah can get from additional students. These are not kids they are dollar signs to the powers that be. Like it goes then La Crosse will decide that 3 year olds need pre-education and like sheep the schools will follow because there is money involved. "

" to "Education Can't Hurt You"

We ALREADY HAVE PRE-SCHOOL, I take my Grand kids in and WE PAY FOR IT as it should be. Why should the masses be asked to pay more money for our children? And this is about choice, we can choose which Pre-School we want our Children to attend. I know it can be a hassle at times to get the kids to Pre-School but I would rather have our family have a little hassle then have The Tomah Public School System do the same thing as the Pre-Schools for 10 times the money

this is about getting more FUNDING and putting the PRE-SCHOOLS OUT OF BUSINESS

The Pre-schools have terrific RECORDS of success and have great teachers that we the parents-Grand parents can work with.

Why do we need the Public School system get into this area and totally Mess this up also

This would be a massive LOGISTIC problem, but BIG BUCKS FOR THE SYSTEM

This is beyond Nonsensical, This is purely done for MONEY to the District and should be slammed down immediately

This gets back to personal RESPONSIBILITY

How about we get TAX CREDITS for taking our kids and Grand kids to pre-school and keep this PRIVATE?

Why does the Public School System have to be the only ones that benefit monetarily.

We need less Government NOT MORE

We would need more buses running, Bigger schools, more teachers To do the same thing that the PRE-SCHOOLS are already doing

Years ago we had 12 years of Public School, then 13 years now The teachers want 14 years

The poster that stated we should start them at birth becomes more meaningful(and laughable) after reading the reasons for 4yr school

To many people this sounds like a great deal "HEY we get FREE SCHOOL", BUT NOTHING IS REALLY FREE NOW IS IT.

MORE MONEY,MORE MONEY,MORE MONEY,MORE MONEY

All these bureaucracies are trying to expand to get more of the pie, ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. Just take care of the job you have now and DO IT BETTER and leave us parents alone to CHOOSE THE PRE-SCHOOLS WE WANT "

" With the "no child left behind act " in full force we need to do everything possible to get our children ready for school.With the threat of Federal Funding taken away if you do not make the grade is to big a risk and price to pay!!The unfortunate thing is that there are not enough Day Care settings out there offering Preschool to parents and the ones that are maybe 1/2 days or a couple times a week full days so in a society with both parents working transportation becomes a problem with 1/2 day classes offered .If the parents do not have someone that can help with transportation then it becomes almost impossible for the child to enroll in these preschool classes.
As a parent with a special needs child I have to tell you that the progress my child has made being in the Early Childhood Program is phenomenal. Will he function in a normal classroom setting? No. But, I think he is in a better position today because of the Early Childhood Program that they have prepared him to learn at a quicker pace than had he not gotten this extra schooling.My hope would be that the 4 year old kindergarten class would give us the same results and that as they prepare to enter 5 yr old kindergarten hopefully they will be ready to learn . Here is what a kindergarten child will be tested / check on the the first couple of weeks:1)Color recognition 2) Numeral Recognition 3) Rote Counting 4)Number Association 5)Shapes 6) Alphabet Recognition 7)Visual Discrmination 8)Visual Motor 9)Name 10)Sequencing 11) Book Awareness 12) listening Comprehension/Retelling 13) Phonemic Awareness 14)Comprehension/Prediction 15) Following Directions Now that is alot so, with the State offering funding to school districts that implement 4 yr old kindergarten we have to take a look at the possibilities. It is in the early stages I would encourage you to get on the commitee so that your thoughts can be heard or is it easier to sit behind a computer and complain about it . We are a minority in that most schools around us have already implemented this in their schools. Lets not be stupid sit back and see if we should of added this but, be proactive in investigating it, getting all the facts then make the judgement from all the facts.Please join us in this study because maybe just maybe you will see the light on how important education is and is going to be in the years to come. "

" How about we quit spinning whats really behind the 4 year old school


This has NOTHING TO DO WITH EDUCATION BUT ALL TO DO WITH THE TEACHERS UNION, MORE TAXES MORE BUILDINGS,More MEALS. MORE,MORE,MORE


Yes indoctrination of 4 years old would be easier, and to brainwash the young minds into the Liberal values but it is NOT NEEDED, and why is it not needed? because the school system already has them for 13 years and they still cannot teach them the FUNDAMENTALS of education and now you want more time?

How about we accept the FACT that our PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM IS A FAILURE and attack the problem and fix that first?

This Einstein quote should be lived by EVERYONE

Insanity:doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

No more years in school, fix the system you have before wanting more, but then again they actually believe they are doing great. Can't teach the teachers anything they already know everything but just fail to teach it to the students they are in charge of teaching

For years the liberals have just wanted to throw money into the School systems to "FIX" THEM and nothing has really happened, NOW we have a backdoor method to throwing more money into the School Systems, very clever "

" There continues to be a thread of idiocy by some people that education is a bad thing. Those that fought all day, every day kindergarten. Those that thought that the business world of Tomah would come to an end if the WTC opened their doors downtown. Those who think 4 year olds can't be taught -- and if they are, it's just a waste of money. A child's mind is ripe for learning at 4 years of age.... the foundation of all future learning is built during this time..... it seems that some of those opposed to education have never really been a parent. Well then, you don't really know. Education can't hurt you, whether you like it or not our kids will be smarter than us. And that's a good thing. "

" this has to be a LIBERAL IDEA, why don't we just put the kids in school on there birth. The problem with the Public School System is not that we're not getting kids into school early enough in there lives the problem is once they are there we do very little with them in the way of EDUCATION.

We need to go back to TEACHING in school, and not all this "DIVERISTY" and Liberal Whacko garbage, HOW ABOUT WE TEACH THE KIDS WHAT THEY NEED IN LIFE. LIKE READING WRITING, AND ARITHMETIC. How about we teach them how to balance a check book, how to do inventorying, something that will teach them a skill, or many skills now that would be "TRUE DIVERSITY".

How about we get back to TEACHING THE KIDS what they should be learning instead of all these ridiculous whacko ideas that don't do anything for them in life, not to mention these crazy ideas don't properly prepare them for higher schooling.

4 year old Kindergarten are you KIDDING ME. Let's just try the teaching thing for a couple of years then we the people will evaluate how your doing.

Another class, so I guess we would need a bigger school, O MY GOD TIME TO BUILD ON. HEY WE NEED MORE TEACHERS NOW to go with the bigger school for another class.

TALK ABOUT A SCAM. Let's get back to basics and perfect that before we add to the already major problems of PUBLIC SCREWL SYSTEMS "

" I believe white (Caucasian) people are called "the minority". I don't know of any other schools outside of this area that teach Native American Culture in a "Multi" cultures class that barely touches on African American, Indian, or Chinese Cultures. Get used to it kids... I don't know of many applications that give special consideration to "minorities" in the real world. It's a shame that in such a multi cultured community we have to bring racism into the schools, but it looks as though our leaders are promoting it. "

" Ummmmm, "diverse": different, unlike, of different kinds, varied.
I don't think Ms. Justinger meant diverse in relation to culture or race. I have no idea who you are and why you are so bitter, but how odd. They are just trying to take time to make sure many voices with varied backgrounds are heard. It's a big committment and they are wise to make the decision carefully.
By the way, Ms. Justinger has an incredible amount of knowledge, dedication and care for the students of our district. "

" ...and the indecision continues...It would appear that the board is a little hesitant to make a decision during election time! By the way, Ms. Justinger, I am so glad that this ad-hoc committee will be a shining example of diversity, because cultural and ethnic differences (as we know it does not refer to sexual orientation) are so pertinent to the concept of 4 year old kindergarten. I can see it now, "as a Native American, we feel that... As an African American, we feel that...As a bigot, er...I mean White Anglo-Saxon Person, er...that is to say white person, or is it caucasion (what exactly are white people to be called these days?), we feel that..." This is all so asinine it's disgusting! I hope the two members of the board that are up for re-election are aware of how silly all of this indecision is, and I can't wait until "sound bite" Justinger's time is up! "