Posted on 01/29/2009 10:22:33 AM PST by fight_truth_decay
Parents tackled a tough issue at a community forum Jan. 22: the possibility of adjusting their routine.
The Beaverton (OR) School District’s three schedule change proposals could mean a drastic change or slight adjustment for families with children if one of the ideas were implemented.
A change to the district’s schedule won’t happen for at least a year, if not two. Parents who attended the forum, meant to garner feedback about three proposals that could change the district’s school year schedule, held drastically opposing views.
A 10-month school year makes shorter summer vacations, lessening the gap between school years during which many students forget their history lessons from hours of video gaming. But the shortened summer break could harm both teachers and students ability to land summer jobs, some parents said, which earns them money many depend on throughout the year.
A later start time for Beaverton high school students might mean more time to sleep in and eat breakfast, but it could also cause students to lose hours at after-school jobs and cause problems with getting students to and home from school, parents said.
A four-day instructional week would give teachers an extra day to plan lessons and it would fit well with already existing days off, however it would present parents with a day care dilemma during the off day.
“That is the issue for me,” said Christine Seina, who has children at Scholls Heights Elementary School. “I don’t think we’d be able to afford it.”
Overall, feelings on changing schools to a four-day week were split among the 50 parents and teachers at the meeting. Twenty-six said they would support a four-day week at their child’s school, while 24 opposed it.
At the meeting, parents and teachers were split into small groups, in which they discussed the pros and cons of each proposed change.
Richard Kurschner, a parent of high school and middle students, said discussing the four-day week helped change his mind a little.
On the negative side, Kurschner’s group said the four-day week would hurt students’ ability to socialize and would cause scheduling problems. But they said days off would be easier to schedule and it would increase the time students spend on a subject, because each school day would be extended by an hour.
“It’s not quite as bad as I had thought,” Kurschner said.
Veronica Dillashaw had the opposite experience. She went into the discussion with a pretty neutral take on all three options.
“After considering (the four-day week) and listening to people, it seems like a really bad idea,” Dillashaw said.
Dillashaw preferred the 10-month school year because she believes it would cause the least disruption to the community. Many people in the discussion groups agreed with Dillashaw, saying that the 10-month year keeps the five-day week, a plus for working parents.
It also allows for students to get out of school an hour early on Wednesdays, which some parents said would be perfect for scheduling appointments.
Jim Zaworski, a teacher at William Walker Elementary, said the 10-month year doesn’t provide a school year where the quarters end cleanly enough, however. He preferred the four-day week.
“It clears up the calendar for less disruption for teaching,” Zaworski said.
The only student who attended the meeting, Dillashaw’s son Jarrod, 14, said he likes the late high school start time and the four-day week the best.
“It would be nice to change just to be able to sleep in,” Jarrod Dillashaw said. “The two-day weekend goes so fast. The three-day is so much nicer.”
The district began this study to see if there was a way to improve student achievement, rather than searching for a way to save money. There haven’t been any studies done yet on the financial impact of making a change.
The time study proposals began in June 2007, when the school district formed a team of 50 teachers, staff, parents, students, local business people and others to study instructional time in schools.
The team came up with more than these proposals, but the school district wanted to study these three.
“These are the top three that we want to get public and committee input on,” said Maureen Wheeler, a Beaverton School District spokeswoman.
The district is holding two more public feedback forums. One on Feb. 5 is already full, but people might be able to get a spot in a second at 3:30 p.m. on Feb. 4 at Merlo Station High School Library.
After all three proposals were discussed, the 50 attendees voted on how much they liked each one. The later start time for high schools and the 10-month year were the most popular proposals, each receiving 35 out of 47 votes that either supported or felt neutral about the two proposals.
The meeting only became heated when parents questioned how intricately these proposals were being studied, and voiced concern about a change occurring too soon.
Cathy Leslie, a consultant working for the school district on the time study proposals, assured parents that more feedback is being sought and nothing will change anytime soon.
“It’s sort of like a midway check to see what you’re thinking and how you’re thinking,” Leslie said.
The Education and Cultural Affairs Committee will hear testimony on the bill that would authorize school systems to adopt alternative calendars as long as equivalent instruction is provided.
Experts suggest that a shortened school week could cut busing, heating and meal costs but may sacrifice quality and pose scheduling problems for extracurricular activities.(CUT)
Possible disadvantages of a four-day school week would include higher day-care costs for parents, the loss of one day's nutrition for students who receive free or reduced breakfast and lunch and scheduling difficulties for students participating in career and technical education centers, Connerty-Marin said.
"Nothing we've researched says it's a disaster; nothing we've researched says it's the next best thing since sliced bread; the jury is out," he said.
Seventeen states already allow some sort of modified school calendar, but most of the states with four-day options have very few schools taking advantage of it, Connerty-Marin said.( Kennebec Journal) 01/24/2009 )
Easing into the The Rise of the Four-Day Work Week?
French bid au revoir to 35-hour workweek: a flagship policy of the former Socialist-led government that gave many people more time off but added to concerns about France’s declining global competitiveness.
Hey, but more time for Obama's "community service".
If government would take a 4-Day work week, the people's money saved could be better spent elsewhere. Where? On schools, perhaps; isn't someone always crying they don't have enough!(You're not any getting money back no matter what, so don't go there). Think.. It could mean the media would make less noise, less reporting, slower news days effects the need for competitiveness (already proven in a French study)..all and all it could be a day of rest from State and Federal Government interference, like when they sit around thinking new ways to raise fees aka taxes. A shorter week begins with 4, then a 3-day and.. finally they might never come back.
Naaahhhh..., a more concentrated study time, more days per week and the same hours per day is better. Longer summers are better.... LOL...
How about they leave it alone and teach more real history and math and ENGLISH? Maybe some Science?
The two classes I took HS senior year probably did more to solidify my conservative principles than anything else I can think of.
You are most likely correct. I never took Econ in HS. I sort of wish I had, but still I shudder when threatened with needing to take an economics course, I could never stay awake for it in college.
Meh, in Newberg they have “Late start” on Wednesdays, IT does NOTHING but give teachers time off and screw up everyone’s weekly schedules. I have said no to it for 3 years now and I am sure I am not alone in doing so. But they keep at it. Grrrr LAZY is what it is.
How about cutting out the social engineering classes first.
Teach them core curriculum. And have them leaving school
having learned something. School is not a bunch of small
offices connected to a gym.
(The fact the French do it does not impress me.)
What this is really about is arranging the school schedule to be more convenient for the teachers, and damn the disruption to the working parents.
At my kid’s school, there are at least three “half days” and one full day off every month, for “teacher’s prep” or “in service” or some other pretext. If my wife wasn’t a full time homemaker, I don’t know what we would do. I work 8 hours at least; why can’t the teachers do their “prep” during the two hours after the 6 hour school day lets out?
I’m for longer school days, 5 day-a-week schedule, and a slightly longer school year for grades 9 to 12. If there’s more for them to learn, instead of removing things from the curriculum, make them work more.
abolish government schools altogether
How about forgoing the video games at home and tell your kids to read a book (or at least watch some documentaries) that meet with your own approval?
Would teachers get a 20% lower paycheck every week?
It’s been nine years since I graduated and since then I have become very anti-government school.
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