There is a proposal to our School Board that recommends extending the school day for a half hour from March 8, 2010 to June 21, 2010 and converting the April 12th teacher workday to a regular school day for the kiddos.
This was my facial expression upon hearing that proposal ...
I can’t begin to tell you what a negative impact that will have on learning, with the students, parents and teachers in psychological free-fall after the storm. We still can’t park, and folks can barely drop off and pick up their kids. I can assure everyone, absolutely NO learning will take place during that 30 minutes at the grade school level. Kids below the age of 12 are maxed out in school as it is. They are burned out by 3pm. It will tire out the students and teachers and reduce teacher planning time. The additional last half hour to make up for snow-days will just be baby sitting to cross off a bureaucratic check box.
Our Hero: In steps the newly minted president of the local union who points out the law clearly states if the Governor declares a state of emergency (which he did) the law says the school board can request a waiver from the state Board of Education. A fact oddly missing from the proposal memo, in part, titled “Key Points.” I mean, I would call that a “Key Point,” wouldn’t you?
The union is urging everybody (parents and teachers) to contact their School Board representative and tell them how this decision would impact them. I say, why the heck not.
