Fort Worth ISD extends pre-K day to match elementary schedule starting 2024-25 school year
Parents with young children in the Fort Worth Independent School District will be able to pick up their pre-K and elementary students at the same dismissal time next school year.
As pre-K enrollment kicked off for Fort Worth ISD last week, the district announced an extended day for its youngest students that will align with the kindergarten through fifth-grade schedule. The day will last from 7:50 a.m. to 3:20 p.m., adding an extra 50 minutes until the 3- and 4-year-old students leave for the day. The change will simplify transportation logistics for families with more than one child who are currently having to make two trips to the same campus.
Bethany Edwards, executive director of the Early Learning Alliance, applauded the schedule change, noting how the gap between the end of a child’s school day and the end of a parent’s work day is “notoriously challenging for families.”
“The transition will align FWISD with neighboring Arlington ISD, (which) already offers prekindergarten during the full elementary school day. I trust that FWISD will fill the extra time with developmentally-appropriate activities and hope the emphasis will be on the development of students’ social-emotional skills, the domain of kindergarten readiness that FWISD educators previously identified as critically important,” Edwards said.
A 2020 Tarrant County kindergarten readiness report by the Early Learning Alliance showed that although local teachers identified social-emotional skills as the most important for kindergarten readiness, such as the “ability to communicate needs for assistance,” they believed their district viewed literacy and language as the most important. Of the 104 participants surveyed, 44% were Fort Worth ISD administrators and teachers.
Heather Hennesey, director of early learning for Fort Worth ISD, said the district is looking at utilizing the additional time with more small group, teacher-led instruction focusing on pre-literacy, pre-math and social-emotional learning skills. Additionally, students will have a longer rest time of 45 minutes instead of the current 30 minutes.
Hennesey anticipates the scheduling change to be a “smooth transition.”
“I am sure it will have a positive impact on their kindergarten readiness,” she said. “The more opportunity that students have for oral language development, for rich academic experiences, listening to books, (and) being able to engage in environments that have high-quality material, the more we set them up for success. I feel quite confident that we will see this change pay out in student outcomes.”
Fort Worth ISD parent Teresa Juarez has four children who attend T.A. Sims Elementary School with the youngest currently in pre-K and the oldest in third grade. She also has a 2-year-old who she plans to enroll in pre-K there in the future. Driving back and forth every day for the different pickup times is challenging, she said.
Although the schedule change will make her pickup routine easier, she also believes it is a long school day for children at pre-K ages, and even at the kindergarten age. Her 4-year-old daughter is usually tired and can sometimes be fussy when Juarez picks her and her siblings up from school. She was glad to hear that rest time will be longer for the students.
“I would like them to have more activities outside when time permits,” Juarez added. “In the long run, I think it (will) have a positive impact.”
Fall pre-K enrollment for Fort Worth ISD opened on April 1 and can be accessed on the district’s website. The district accommodates all children who turn 4 years old on or before Sept. 1, but there’s limited space for 3-year-olds depending on where they live and their family’s income.
