Bay Ridge parent leads charge for half-day pre-k funding
The glass is only half-full when it comes to universal pre-k, according to one Bay Ridge parent who penned an online petition asking the mayor’s office to give half-day pre-k programs a fighting chance.
Andrea Stockton, a stay-at-home mom of three from Bay Ridge, argues that, while over 50,000 families have applied for free, universal full-day pre-k – a sign of the program’s success, according to the mayor’s office — none of those parents was even given the half-day option.
“Last year, when my oldest child was four, we found it really valuable to have a half-day pre-kindergarten experience,” Stockton said, stressing that, while she has nothing against the proven educational value of a full-day program, she thinks that, for her son in particular, jumping straight into a 31-hour school-week would have been “really tough for him emotionally.”