Corvallis Kindergarten Fees

My name is Ronald Bjarnason.

I have been aware of the kindergarten options and policies in our local school district (Oregon 509J) since spring/summer of 2005 when we began registration for our oldest child. During the 2005/2006 school year, she had a fabulous teacher and a wonderful experience attending a traditional 5-day half-day program at Adams School. We were told that bussing is not provided for half-day programs, and the parents of the half-day kindergarten students would be required to pick them up after their school day ended (around 11 am), which we did. Demand for the 5-day half-day program was high, and our child's class had 27 students.

The district advertises three different kindergarten programs.

- 5-day half-day with no fee
- 3-day full day ($68/month)
- 5-day full day ($290/month)

There are other options, however. Some schools do not offer a 5-day half-day program and in order to provide a free program, allow those children unable to pay the fee to attend 2 and a half days of the 3-day program (leaving at lunch on the third day). We have also recently discovered that there are some children attending 3 days in a 5-day program (again because of their inability to pay a fee). The district also offers a limited number of scholarships to those families who qualify under certain financial criteria.

As our friends began to register their children for the 2006/2007 school year at Adams School, they were informed that there would no longer be a 5-day half-day program. They were told there were only two options, both of which required a monthly fee. If they asked about programs that did not require a fee, they were informed of the "2 and a half day" program. Only after specific request were they informed that a 5-day half-day program would be filled if there were enough requests. The principal at Adams School, Patty Pearson said she was surprised that there were only 6 requests for the 5-day half-day program, and far too few to fill a classroom. As a result, only the 3-day full day and 5-day full-day options are offered at Adams this school year (2006/2007).

Our second child is entering kindergarten this coming year (2007/2008) and after talking to our friends and neighbors, we were a bit shocked when we heard how things were being handled. The registration policies at Adams School were limiting our choices and withholding information regarding the availability of the free programs required by District 509J and the State of Oregon.

Over Christmas 2006, we received some sound advice that we needed to contact the Oregon Department of Education. We talked to a few other friends that have been affected by these policies, and were referred to a local reporter, Jennifer Moody with the Corvallis Gazette-Times and Lebanon Express.

On January 10, 2007, I sent the following letter to various contacts at the Oregon Department of Education and my wife (Denise) sent a copy to Jennifer Moody:

(some names have been removed for this post)


To Whom it May Concern,

We are writing to register a complaint to the Oregon Department of
Education regarding the current policy at Adams Elementary School
regarding free Kindergarten.

Up until last year, there were three attendance plans for kindergarten:

5-day half-day, 3-day full-day, and 5-day full-day. Of the three, the
only option that did not require a monthly fee was the 5-day half-day
option.

As of this year, 5-day half-day kindergarten is no longer offered at
Adams. As a result, every student attending kindergarten at Adams is
assessed a monthly fee.

Our friend and neighbor, XXXXX, has a daughter attending kindergarten
at Adams this year. XXXXX questioned the principal, Patty Pearson,
regarding the fee. She was told that free kindergarten was no longer
offered. XXXXX asked if there were options for students from families
who could not afford the monthly fee, and was told she could apply for a
scholarship, which would waive a portion, but not all of the fee. She
was reluctantly told that, alternatively, she could enlist in the 3-day
full-day option and personally remove her child from class at the lunch
hour one day a week, wherein her child would miss the remainder of the
school day. Under this option alone would the school not assess a
monthly fee. When XXXXX asked if her child would be able to make up
the missed instruction, she was told that her child could not.

She asked if other parents were complaining about the policy, and was
told that others had asked questions, but she seemed to be the only one
making a fuss.

We have also been told that there is a District Policy that no students
skip kindergarten.

Under the current system, Adams Elementary School is unwilling to
provide equal education for students from families who cannot afford to
pay the monthly fees. Furthermore, they are not allowing students to
skip this grade, even if they have shown a proficiency to move to the
next level.

CHILDREN FROM FAMILIES WHO CANNOT AFFORD THE MONTHLY
FEE ARE BEING DENIED AN EQUAL EDUCATION.

Our son is preparing to attend kindergarten at Adams School and we hope
this matter can be resolved at the earliest date possible.

Thank you,

Ronald and Denise Bjarnason
Corvallis, Oregon


This email has been sent to the following individuals within the Oregon
Department of Education:

Winston Cornwall: School Community Partnerships - Civil Rights
Specialist Mary Bunn: Elementary/Secondary Transitions - Ed. Specialist,
Nontrdtnl Careers/OCR Mary Ann Smith: Elementary/Secondary Transitions -
Ed. Specialist, Middle School, Reading First Robert Larson: Federal
Liaison - Federal Liaison Gene Evans: Communications - Director of
Communications Helen Maguire: Support to Districts - Director

This email has also been sent to Jennifer Moody, an Education Reporter
with the Gazette-Times and Lebanon Express


I received the following response from Winston Cornwall at the ODE that same day:


Mr. Bjarnason,

Thanks for your message. I believe your complaint to the Oregon Department of Education (ODE) may be considered a Division 22 (Standards) issue, but my colleagues who handle these matters are away from our office until next week.

As with nearly all complaints to ODE, Oregon Administrative Rules require you to file a formal complaint with the local school district first . If your complaint is indeed a Division 22 concern, you would have to exhaust local district complaint procedures or sixty (60) calendar days before you could make an appeal to ODE.

If you have not filed a formal complaint with the Corvallis School District, I strongly encourage you to do so. Complaint procedures are available from Adams Elementary, any Corvallis school or the District office. These procedures are also published in the Corvallis school District Parent and/or Student Handbook(s). Some districts also include these policies on their websites.

If you have filed a complaint with the Corvallis School District, please send me a copy of your initial complaint and any additional correspondence you have sent to or received from the district. I will serve as your ODE contact until my colleagues return and they advise me on the exact process for responding to your concerns. Please direct all future communication to me in the interim.

Feel free to contact me via e-mail or the below listed address and telephone. I look forward to your response.

Winston

Winston Cornwall
Education Program Specialist
Civil Rights/Equal Educational Opportunity
Oregon Department of Education
Office of Educational innovation & Improvement
255 Capital Street NE
Salem, OR 97310

I also received the following two emails from Jennifer Moody:

Hi, Denise. I called Theresa Hogue at the Corvallis Gazette-Times
yesterday about what you told me and she said she was very interested in
following up, it would just be a question whether it will be her or
someone else in her newsroom. I will cc this to her. You should be
hearing from someone at the GT very soon, and if you don't - say, by the
end of next week - call me here at the Democrat-Herald. I'm at xxx-xxxx.

I checked with our Albany school district today and the assistant
superintendent (who used to work in Corvallis) looked totally blank and
said, "How do they do that?" Lebanon, which has two all-day
kindergartens that it pays for out of its general fund, had a similar
reaction.

I'd recommend sending this letter in written form to the state folks,
too, and follow up with a phone call to make sure they got it. Ask Gene
Evans what the complaint procedure is, maybe.

Keep in touch. We're interested.
Jennifer Moody
Democrat-Herald



Just heard back from Theresa. Sounds like your contact is the managing
editor over there, Rob Priewe, rob.priewe@lee.net.

--Jennifer Moody

Following the contact provided by Ms. Moody, we forwarded the original complaint to Rob Priewe (who we have never heard from).

As we have a son preparing for kindergarten, my wife called the front desk at Adams school regarding registration for the coming year. After that phone call, I sent the following email to Mr. Cornwall:


Mr. Cornwall,

Thank you for your response.

Today we have taken a few steps that I wanted to make you aware of.

My wife called Adams School regarding the kindergarten options for the 2007-2008 school year. She was told there is a 5-day all-day option ($290/month) and a 3-day all-day option ($68/month). She was told that there are currently 3 students who avoid the fee by leaving early on the third day of their 3-day all-day enrollment. She asked if there was an option for students to attend 5-day half-day, and was told there would not be. She was also told that if enough parents requested the 5-day half-day option, then perhaps they would include that option.

My wife has been contacted over the phone by a reporter from the Gazette-Times.

I am going to pick up a complaint form from the district offices this afternoon.

I looked up Section 22 on the web. I think the clause that we would be most interested in would be the following (copied from the web page):


581-022-0803
Kindergarten Programs
(1) By July 1, 1989, the district school board of every common school district shall provide kindergarten facilities and programs free of charge to all kindergarten-age children residing in the district.

Feel free to respond if you feel it it appropriate, although I will not expect a reply. This email (as well as future emails) will serve as proper documentation should the need arise.

Ronald Bjarnason
Corvallis, OR



Mr. Cornwall responded that day (January 12th) with this email:

Mr. Bjarnason,

Thanks for your response.

Russ Sweet, one of our Ed. Specialist will now become your official ODE
contact should you require one. Mr. Sweet's contact information is:

Russ Sweet
Education Specialist, Oregon Reading First
Office of Educational Improvement and Innovation
Oregon Department of Education
255 Capitol Street NE
Salem, Oregon 97310
Desk: (503) 947-xxxx
Fax: (503) 378-xxxx
russ.sweet@state.or.us

Winston


Per request by Mr. Corwall, we filed a formal complaint at the district. A few days later, we came home to find a message on our answering machine from Jim Hogeboom, the Assistant Superintendent of District 509J. He informed me that I first needed to attempt to resolve the issue with Ms. Pearson at Adams School before speaking with the district, that he had contacted her and she would be calling me soon.

After talking to Ms. Pearson about the issues involved, she agreed that it was a difficult situation. She denied any knowledge of anyone withholding information and insisted that a 5-day half-day program was always part of the plan for the 2006/2007 school year, and was pulled only after there were a lack of requests.

Unsatisfied with my conversation with Principal Pearson, I sent the following email to Mr. Hogeboom (and cc'd Russ Sweet) on January 18th:

Mr. Hogeboom,

Thank you for you phone call yesterday. I spoke with principal Pearson on the phone today and would like to continue to pursue this topic at the district level.

I maintain that it is unfair to have different levels of kindergarten instruction based on the amount of money that one pays in monthly fees. Furthermore, charging kindergarten-age children in the district for kindergarten facilities and programs is a violation of Clause 1 of Section 581-022-0803 of the Oregon Administrative Rules.

I look forward to speaking with you soon.

Ronald Bjarnason
Corvallis, OR

The next day (January 19) I received the following two emails from Kathy Rodeman at the district offices:

Dear Mr. Bjarnason,

As the Director of Business Services for Corvallis, I’m responsible for the fees associated with the all-day kindergarten program. I have time to meet with you next week on Thursday afternoon or Friday afternoon after 3:00 p.m. If either of those dates work for you, please let me know a convenient time to meet.

Kathy Rodeman



Dear Mr. Sweet,

The Corvallis School District has offered a tuition-based all-day kindergarten program for almost a decade. In direct response to Mr. Bjarnason’s complaint, this program is above and beyond the half-day free kindergarten program that is offered to all age-appropriate students.
The state school fund pays districts only half of a regular weighting for kindergarten. To extend this program to full-day we charge enough to pay for the direct costs involved. These costs are a half-time teacher, some supplies, handling applications and collecting fees. Additionally, we structure the fees to build in some scholarships for students on the free or reduced lunch program. Our kindergarten fees are reviewed publicly by the school board and approved prior to registration. Applications are accepted and a lottery is run to determine the enrollment in programs with more applicants than seats.
We began this program in response to interest from parents for a longer kindergarten school day. This is considered an optional, enrichment opportunity beyond the regular school day for kindergarten students. Each school continues to offer a half-day option for those not interested or unable to attend the full-day program. When we began this program, we conferred with staff at Oregon Department of Education and our attorneys to make sure we were structuring it legally.
Please explain to Mr. Bjarnason that we have acted in complete compliance with state laws.

Kathy Rodeman
Director of Business Services
Corvallis School District

I replied to Kathy's invitation with the following email:

Ms. Rodeman,

My wife and I would like to meet with you Friday at 4pm. We assume your office is located in the District offices on 35th in Corvallis. If this is not the case, please let us know where you would rather meet.

We appreciate your willingness to continue to discuss the issue.

Ronald and Denise Bjarnason

We had a pleasant meeting with Ms. Rodeman. Ms. Rodeman took notes, but neither Denise nor myself did (which we regret). As we have no documentation from that meeting, I won't attempt to recreate an exact account. We spoke about the fee issue, about the differences between a 5-day half-day program and a 3-day full day program, especially in the context of young children unaccustomed to attending a full day program. We spoke about the bussing issue. Ms. Rodeman assured us that bussing must be provided for all official school programs to all students who live in the school boundaries and more than 1 mile away from the school. This was obviously news to us. We assured her that this was not the information we were receiving from Adams School, and that the principals needed to be instructed on this.

We were adamant that providing misinformation regarding fees and bus availability would affect registration numbers. Families that are not aware of their options will typically resort to the schedule that best fits their situation. For disadvantaged families, this means enrolling in whatever free option may be available to them.

That same day, I received the following email from Russ Sweet:

Dear Ron,

I apologize for not responding sooner. I have been out of the office
with a family medical situation since last week.

As the kindergarten is described to me, it appears that no laws have
been broken. Since the half-day is available to all students free of
charge, then the district is in compliance with the law. I am still
trying to find information about how the day is structured. The law is
pretty vague about what is required of a kindergarten program.
However, if the district meets the basic components of a kindergarten
program as they are described in the law during the "free" part of the
day, then the district is in compliance. If, however, some of the basic
components are only offered during the "fee-based" part, then the
district might be non-compliant.

In any case, please continue to avail yourself to the district complaint
procedure on this matter. The Department cannot intervene until that
process has been exhausted. Please keep me informed. I will be happy
to answer any questions I can on this matter.

Sincerely,

Russ Sweet
Education Specialist, Oregon Reading First
Office of Educational Improvement and Innovation
Oregon Department of Education
255 Capitol Street NE
Salem, Oregon 97310
Desk: (503) 947-xxxx
Fax: (503) 378-xxxx
russ.sweet@state.or.us

On February 2, Kathy responded:

Dear Ron and Denise,

I enjoyed meeting with you and have attached a letter summarizing my response to your complaint. If you have any questions or feel that I didn’t capture your concerns accurately, please email me.
Thanks,
Kathy

These were the contents of the attachments:

February 1, 2007

Ronald and Denise Bjarnason
xxxx xx xxxxxxxxxxx
Corvallis, OR 97333

Re: Complaint regarding Adams Elementary Kindergarten Program

Dear Mr. and Mrs, Bjarnason,

In response to your complaint regarding the kindergarten program at Adams, we met and reviewed your issues. I heard the following points:
It’s not fair to require payment for any kindergarten programs. Scholarships don’t make up for it unless every person who needs a scholarship receives one.
You feel the decision to require the free kindergarten students at Adams to attend the 3 day program and leave ½ day on Thursday is discriminating against people who are less affluent.
You are concerned whether there are the same number of instructional hours in the 2 ½ day program as there are in 5-1/2 days. (I asked you to email me your calculations regarding this.)
You feel that the language the schools/principals use regarding the kindergarten program adds to the confusion of parents. If kindergarten programs are free, then we should call the tuition-based programs enrichment or enhancement.
Transportation for free kindergarten programs should be available.

Regarding your complaint that Corvallis School District has violated Oregon Administrative Rule 581-022-0803, I disagree with your interpretation. The State School Fund statute deals with this issue. ORS 327.006(1) includes the statement: “The aggregate days membership of kindergarten pupils shall be calculated on the basis of a half-day program.” The only mandatory kindergarten program for districts, under the law, is a half-day program. ORS 339.115 prohibits certain fees as condition to admission. A district school board shall not require payment of fees as a condition of admission to those pupils entitled under the law to free admission. By reason of the ORS 327.006(1), the free admission is equivalent to a half-time program.. Therefore, admission may be charged for courses not part of the regular school program, according to ORS 339.155(1)(a).

When I spoke to the Adams principal, she assured me that the kindergarten teachers are very aware of the need to provide instruction on new topics during the free kindergarten program time. In the fee-based part of the day, they may practice some of the new learning, but no new materials are presented.

I agree that our language regarding the optional, tuition-based programs could be improved. I’ve asked our Assistant Superintendent and the elementary principals to call the all-day, three-day options “enrichment” or “enhancement” to address the concern you raised. I have also requested that when describing the kindergarten experience that all kids receive, that they do it in a way that parents who are not able to afford the tuition-based programs feel welcomed and that they are providing their students a valuable experience.

Also, we’re required to provide transportation mid-day if the elementary aged student lives more than one mile away from school and attends their neighborhood school. We will provide kindergarten transportation under the same eligibility, if the parents need it.

I appreciate your time to explain your concerns and attempt to resolve this complaint. I have forwarded a copy of this response to Russ Sweet at Oregon Department of Education.

Sincerely,


Kathy Rodeman
Director of Business Services

Denise and I were disappointed at some of the intonations of this account, but we agreed that it was mostly accurate. Some of the issues that we felt were omitted from Kathy's notes are mentioned our response (see below).

Somewhere in this time, Ms. Moody referred us to another reporter who told us that this appeared to be only a miscommunication between the district, the school, and the parents, and that it would not make an interesting story.

Up to this point, we had been receiving encouragement from all of our friends who were in similar situations. We encouraged them to file their own complaints. They encouraged us to not give up, but to push this as far as possible, because they all agreed the district policy was unfair.

I emailed every kindergarten teacher in the district that I could requesting their daily schedules (as requested by Ms. Rodeman). It was a form letter. This is what it said:

Ms. XXXXX,

My name is Ronald Bjarnason. I have a son who is preparing to enter kindergarten, and am trying to figure out some things regarding the school schedule.

I'm interested in comparing the allocated instruction time for the various kindergarten plans (5-day full-day, 3-day full-day, and 5-day half-day). I don't need a schedule of when the kids are where, just a breakdown of where their day is spent.

# of minutes in instruction
# of minutes at recess
# of minutes in lunch time (for full-day programs)
# of minutes at other activities (if any)

If you could provide me with whatever information you have, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thank you.

Ronald Bjarnason

I didn't get too many responses. Those I received encouraged me to attend their school's Kindergarten Night. There were only cosmetic differences between the schedules, but all seemed to indicate that there was no significant discrepancy between a 2.5 day program and a 5-day half-day program when it came to scheduled classroom time.

During this time, I attended the Kindergarten night provided by Adams School. Not much had changed, although they were very up front with the information regarding the 5-day half-day program. I was disappointed to hear Principal Pearson inform us that bussing would not be provided for the half-day programs.

Somewhat discouraged, and very busy, I put this issue on the back burner for a few weeks.

After discussing our options with my wife, I decided to pursue this course to the end. In this time, we had discussed the issue with various parents and friends, and the unanimity of their responses compelled me to continue. Everyone we talked to agreed that the district policies were unfair and needed to be addressed.

I was not dissuaded by Ms. Rodeman's response that their attorneys assured them they were correctly interpreting the issue. After all, that's what their paid to say.

I decided to follow the paper trail of Oregon State Law conveniently left in Ms. Rodeman's response. I read the referenced sections, and determined that this could likely be interpreted both ways. It seemed pretty clear that the district was within their rights to charge for the extra class time (as it was not a part of the regular curriculum).

The ongoing dispute revolved around whether or not non-paying children could attend the state-funded portion of a fee-based program without obligation to pay for (or attend) the extra class time. As there is currently no distinction in the daily kindergarten schedules of the 5-day full-day programs, this option is not available to students.

I maintain that "Separate but equal is NOT EQUAL". Children who cannot afford tuition should have access to the very same classrooms and the very same teachers as those children who can afford the tuition.

On March 7, I received a short email from Russ Sweet asking if I had received a written response from the district. I assured him that I had, and that I was preparing a response. In my investigation of the State Laws (located at http://www.leg.state.or.us/ors/339.html ), I came across ORS 339.147. In my response that same day, I quoted a portion of that section. This was my response:

Kathy,

Thank you for your response.

Per your request, I have attached a minute-by-minute breakdown of
activities for full and half days. I emailed a number of 509J
Kindergarten Teachers, and reviewed their websites. Individual breakdowns
had cosmetic differences. This is the most precise breakdown of those
that I reviewed.

I attended the Kindergarten night at Adams School in February. I was very
disappointed to hear Principal Pearson instruct the parents that the
school will NOT provide bussing for children attending half-day
programs. In discussing this issue with her, she insisted that she has
never been informed of any policy requiring the school to provide said
bussing. Denise and I clearly understood that the principals would be
instructed regarding this policy prior to their individual Kindergarten
nights.

I retain my opinion that no student should be required to pay for a
district mandated kindergarten program. If the district chooses to
classify a full-day program as a "kindergarten program", it should be
offered free of charge. If the district chooses to divide a full-day
program into a (state-funded) half-day kindergarten program combined with
(tuition-based) supplemental instruction time, then the district should
clearly divide the daily schedule to reflect this separation. Open and
free enrollment into that portion classified as the "kindergarten program"
should be allowed, without any requirement (implicit or otherwise) to pay
for the tuition-based enrichment time.

After our meeting with you, Denise and I left with the impression that
this distinction between enrichment and state-funded portions of a program
would apply to all 5 day full-day programs as well as the 3-day programs.
Given the language of your response, this issue has clearly not been
addressed by the district.

In response to your argument that "admission may be charged for courses
not part of the regular school program, according to ORS 339.155(1)(a)",
which provides the District with the option of charging tuition for
classes not part of the regular school program (in this case a full-day
kindergarten), I refer you to ORS 339.147 (1)(a,b) which reads:


(a) Notwithstanding ORS 339.141, no district school board or public
charter school as defined in ORS 338.005 shall require tuition for courses
not part of the regular school program, except for traffic safety
education, from a pupil who is a member of a low-income family in an
amount in excess of what the low-income family may receive as money
specifically to be used for payment of such tuition.

(b) As used in this subsection, "low-income family" means a family
whose children qualify for free or reduced price school meals under a
federal program, including but not limited to the National School Lunch
Act and the Child Nutrition Act of 1966, and all their subsequent
amendments.


These clauses would appear to contradict the 509J lottery scholarship
policy. Under the current 509J policy, those families that qualify under
ORS 339.147(1)(a,b) must enter a random lottery, wherein only a
pre-determined number of those families recieve a full tuition waiver.

Corvallis 509J appears to be in direct violation of ORS 339.147(1)(a,b).
If so, I should expect the district to immediately cease this practice and
refund all families that qualify under 339.147(1)(a,b) any funds that have
been paid to the district in this 2006-2007 school year.

We do not feel that these issues have been resolved at the district level,
and are prepared to request that these issues be addressed by the Oregon
Department of Education. Barring a request by the district that we meet
personally with Superintendent Tarzian, we will formally make that request
on March 14th. Should the district request such a meeting and
Superintendent Tarzian be unable to meet prior to March 21st, we will
formally make the request on March 21st.

I have copied this email to Russ Sweet.

Ron and Denise Bjarnason
Corvallis, OR

Last night, I heard back from Kathy. This is what she wrote:

Dear Mr. Bjarnason,

I'm sorry that we weren't able to resolve your concerns.

After reading your response below, I contacted our attorney who assures
me that we are correct in our application of a tuition based enrichment
program.

I also spoke with Ms. Pearson to clarify that we must provide
transportation to and from the free-kindergarten program if the child
lives at least one mile from the school. This may not mean door to door
delivery, but will follow our normal bus routes.

Your reply and request for a meeting with our superintendent have been
forwarded to Dawn Tarzian. She or her assistant will contact you
directly.

Kathy Rodeman
Director of Business Services

Once again, I'm not discouraged by the district's insistence that they are applying the law correctly. Their lawyers get paid to tell them as much. I've read the laws, and they seem to pretty clearly fall on my side of some of these issues (especially ORS 139.147).

I am waiting to hear from Superintendent Tarzian. If I haven't heard anything by tomorrow morning, I'll email Russ Sweet once again. At this point, it appears that the district is standing by their position. I expected as much. I don't anticipate that a meeting with Superintendent Tarzian will change anything, but I figured I'd exhaust my resources at this level before escalating the issue to the Oregon Department of Education.

Our intention is to accurately represent all involved parties. If there are errors in this blog, you are encouraged to comment.