In order to maximize learning opportunities for Olentangy’s youngest students, the district will be modifying the kindergarten schedule beginning in August of 2013. Currently, kindergarten students are assigned to a Monday/Wednesday or Tuesday/Thursday schedule and also attend school on alternating Fridays. Beginning with the 2013-2014 school year, kindergarten students will attend school on a Monday/Thursday or Tuesday/Friday schedule with alternating Wednesdays.

This change will benefit kindergarten students in several ways. Most notably, it will provide more consecutive days of learning, which gives teachers more freedom to create lessons that build off of a previous day’s work. Currently, only Tuesday/Thursday students have the opportunity to attend school on consecutive days. In the future, all students will have this opportunity each week. Similarly, the new schedule helps to reduce the number of consecutive days that students are out of school. Currently, students are out of school for four consecutive days every other week, but this schedule reduces that to three days. Finally, the new calendar allows the district to better balance the total number of days each set of students is in class because Fridays are often impacted by holidays and other no-school days, while Wednesdays are not.

The decision to modify the kindergarten schedule was made after much research and consideration. Olentangy understands that our families lead very busy lives and that schedule changes can be a challenge. The district hopes that providing advance notice of this change will minimize any inconvenience for families.

Thank you for your partnership as we continue to improve educational opportunities for our students.  Click here for more information on registering for kindergarten.  Click here to learn more about preparing your student for kindergarten.