Posted by jerry99, a resident of the Barron Park neighborhood, on Oct 10, 2012 at 7:47 am

Just another scam for parents to get a year of free child care paid for by PA taxpayers. Means more teachers and of course its the teachers unions that get politicians elected. Same old corruption that happens at the city level, state level and federal level. Buy the politican, get repaid by the politician, and increase taxes on the citizens.

Posted by Jan H., a resident of the Old Palo Alto neighborhood, on Oct 10, 2012 at 2:00 pm
Jan H. is a member (registered user) of Palo Alto Online

My guess is that parents are afraid that being in transitional kindergarten will stigmatize their children later on in their school career.

Or may be they are just a little afraid of a a new program in its infancy and untested.

Posted by OhlonePar, a resident of the Duveneck/St. Francis neighborhood, on Oct 12, 2012 at 12:13 am

I'd say neither of the above. Palo Alto has Young Fives, which serves the same purpose and is well-established--indeed, the transitional K kids are now Young Fives kids.

In other words, there's already a well-known existing program that does the job.

Posted by palo alto mom, a resident of the Duveneck/St. Francis neighborhood, on Oct 14, 2012 at 2:25 pm

The transitional programs is for only a few hours a day, so its not "free childcare". Most Palo Alto parents have had their kids in high quality preschools and will continue to keep them there rather than moving them for a year to Greendell then to their elementary schools. If the transitional program took place at the elementary school sites, I suspect there would be more participants.