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Opinion: Full-day kindergarten should be an option for all

I wish this would have been an option for my two children.

SHARE Opinion: Full-day kindergarten should be an option for all
House Speaker Brad Wilson, R-Kaysville, presides over the House during the 2022 session of the Utah Legislature.

House Speaker Brad Wilson, R-Kaysville, presides over the House during the 2022 session of the Utah Legislature at the Capitol in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Jan. 27, 2022.

Kristin Murphy, Deseret News

I am writing in support of full-day kindergarten as an option for all students. To me, it is exciting to think of what could be possible if all students were given the option to attend a full day of kindergarten.

For my own two children, I wish this would have been an option. However, it simply was not something we had access to.

I was left to find an additional program they could participate in. That was the most chaotic year, and is not something I would willingly do, if it wasn’t something I believed in so deeply! Every lunch break was spent driving my child from their half-day public school kindergarten to a different private half-day option. These sweet 5-year-olds had to manage learning two school systems, two sets of expectations, and keep track of work for each school they attended.

How wonderful it would be to have all their learning in one place. As parents, this is something we should be able to choose. We know our children and what their needs are. Please support full-day kindergarten as an option for all of Utah’s students — they deserve it.

Marie Steffensen

South Jordan