PLATFORM

I think this is a great program for little kids, but it needs more thinking if there are plans to extend it to elementary school-age children. The older the child, the more the sense of peers and neighborhood is important to them.

It is also more difficult if older children have to go out of the neighborhood for school activities, such as dances and sporting events. And the older child, the less the advantages to going to school near the parent.

Younger children, especially preschool and kindergarten age, usually stay (only) half a day. Children in this program will probably have to stay longer in a day-care situation. They will probably be content to know they are near their parents and their parents will feel less anxiety.

Also, most parents working in the city have a fairly long commute, some up to two hours. That’s an extra hour on the way in and an extra hour on the way home for the parent an child to talk about how the day went and about homework.