California is rolling out free preschool. That hasn't solved challenges around child care
Time:2024-04-20 22:27:55 Source:worldViews(143)
CONCORD, Calif. (AP) — A year before I-Ting Quinn’s son was old enough for kindergarten, she and her husband had the option to enroll him in “transitional kindergarten,” a program offered for free by California elementary schools for some 4-year-olds.
Instead, they kept their son, Ethan, in a private day care center in Concord, California, at a cost of $400 a week.
Transitional kindergarten’s academic emphasis was appealing, but Ethan would have been in a half-day program, and options for afterschool child care were limited. And for two parents with hectic work schedules in the hospitality industry, there was the convenience of having Ethan and his younger brother at the same day care, with a single stop for morning drop-off and evening pickup.
“Ethan is navigating changes at home with a new younger brother and then possibly a new school where he is the youngest,” Quinn said. “That doesn’t even include the concerns around drop-off and pickups, including transportation to and from his class to afterschool care at a different location. It is just a lot to consider.”
You may also like
- Revealed: Why you should always take your own sandwiches to the airport
- HKFP Lens: HKU shares 3,000 images of colonial Hong Kong from the Frank Fischbeck collection
- Finance minister should resign over scrapping of Interislander upgrade funding
- Peregrine lander: Technical hitch threatens US Moon mission
- The 10 WORST lyrics in Taylor Swift's new album
- Laura Kuenssberg: West facing 'authoritarian' alliance, says NATO chief
- Belgium probes Russian interference in EU elections
- Government holds first carbon auction of the year after four failures
- History with Maple Leafs could help Bruins snap short playoff slump