Decatur School Board Votes to Extend School Day By 30 Minutes
Decatur Metro | February 14, 2014Mentioned this in an earlier post, but it sounds like some of you would like a dedicated thread. So, from CSD’s Facebook page…
The Board of Education approved for the system to move forward with developing a plan to add 30 minutes to the school day to make up 3 of the 8 days missed due to inclement weather. Make up days were previously scheduled for 2 of the missed days (March 10 and May 29). The Board also approved for 3 days to be “forgiven” under the 4 days allowed by state law.
Staff members are working on details of the plan for the additional 30 minutes and will communicate the plan next week.
in the original post about this, “Superintendent Phyllis Edwards said it’s ****also**** a chance to see how parents and students feel about a longer school day.”
prior to this, i hadn’t heard about a push for longer days, in general. what would the objective be ?
i understand there is a 180 school days per year requirement—is there an option that allows us to meet that requirement by matching the number of hours, i.e., 180 days x 6.5 hours (present length) = 1170 hours per school year? so that adding an additional half an hour to each day would enable us to meet the same requirement in only 167 school days?
why? why? why?
My kids would surely vote for 48 days of 24 hours of school and then the rest of the year off.
I hope they can exempt pre-k in some way. That’s too long of a day for 4-5 year olds.
Agreed!
It does not. I called today.
I actually love this as a solution and I almost never love anything the Decatur School Board does.
+1
I’d be surprised if most parents don’t like this idea. I wish they could figure a way to do this whilst also cutting down on some efficiency issues regarding bus schedules and the amount of time between when RMS opens and when classes actually begin.
I also caution to look for unintended consequences. Teachers may be less likely to volunteer for after school clubs etc. if the day begins getting too late. It will be hard to judge the impact there as many staff members have made commitments they aren’t likely to back out on at this point, but may not re-up when a fresh year starts.
When I was a kid we went to school until 3.30 …
[fist bump]
If the state forgives 4 days, why are we only taking 3 of those? With taking the full amount forgiven by the state, it leaves us only 2 to make up under this plan rather than 3 (effectively 2+weeks of the extra time days) – that’s a big difference.
On the CSD Facebook page a parent brought up a good point – what about non-CSD activities parents and students have already committed to? This severely impacts them. Taking the extra forgiven day won’t solve that problem but it could make the difference between fully canceling/dropping out of activities and just missing 2 or 3.
They are probably expecting another storm. Remember the blizzard of ’93 was in the middle of March.
True, but their plan to add the 30 minutes can easily be used to make up additional days. If we took the 4 from the state, that gives us 2 days to make up using this plan and allows for a cushion of 3 extra days should we need them.
The 30 minutes won’t make a big difference in my family’s schedule, all of our afterschool commitments are relatively flexible so I’m okay making up the 3 days instead of 2, just curious as to why we would since it equates to a large number of days affected overall.
Does this mean 3/10 is not a school day? Really hard to plan when CSD keeps flip-flopping all over the place.
From what I understand :
We missed 8 days
2 are the days previously addressed (meaning the 10th is still a school day)
3 are being forgiven by the state
3 will be made up by adding extra time each day
Will be interesting to see how overall reaction to this evolves. I think it is fine for K-3 and FAVE, but it will make life tough for RMS and DHS kids for their school day to end so late in the day.
I don’t think we have seen the last of the snow season. I remember a big snow storm a few years ago in March/April. Let’s hope for the best.
The state looks at instructional minutes, so you could have fewer than 180 days if you meet instructional time. Lunch and recess do not count towards instructional time, so let’s assume a 6 hr. Instructional day. If 30 min. Are tacked on to each day from March through the end of the year, that’s a little over 30 instructional hours (or 5 school days). So, does this plan replace the 2 previously planned days?
My concern is for the fourth and fifth graders that already have an early start time 7:45. I understand that the extra instruction time is important, but now my student has even less time every day to complete homework. She has even already expressed a concern about this as we were walking back from her school bus stop this afternoon. (She had already heard the “rumor” that the days would be extended). The FAVE students in our hood catch the bus around 6:45 am – this is going to make a long day for those students. My student is already looking forward to middle school and a later start time – we’ve gone weary of waiting on the school bus in the moonlight every morning.
From CSDs Facebook page:
I hope this is more clear (although the formatting is not easy to read on FB. I’ve also posted on the CSD home page in the News section): January 6 will be made up on March 10. This was previously a teacher workday- now it will be a school day for students.
January 7 will be made up on May 29. May 29 is the new last day of school and May 30 is the new teacher post-planning day for teachers.
January 29-31 will be forgiven under the days allowed by state law.
February 11-13 will be made up by adding a half hour to the school day. Details will be forthcoming.
Previously scheduled Winter Break (February 17-21), Spring Break (April 7-11) and Students’ Summer Break (May 30-July 31) will remain intact. Students’ first day of school for 2014-2015 is Monday, August 4.
A following post clarifies the start end dates:
We will absolutely communicate the details of adding 30 minutes after the team works on the plan next week. It will provide details on start and end times for each school as well as the first day and last day of the new plan. March 1 was a suggested date, but details will be determined next week. Thank you for your patience and for the great questions! – Heather Borowski
I am not aware of all the factors. My own kids feel a little bit jipped as they were doing work during the snow jam. They did assignments given by teachers, read, did some math games. They were also told that no deadlines would be extended so they turned in work as expected. But now they also have to make up time that they had worked. They also had loads of fun and snow biz so hour for hour it wasn’t school that is for sure.
Our afterschool stuff will need to be rearranged. But we’ll surely learn something about the new hours.
Of note, three of my Renfroe student’s classes had substitutes today. Could be the teachers have children in closed school systems, could be they live where the ice was still menacing this morning, could be related to the week off next week, and could be unrelated. This may support the idea that closing is not just about the students’ ability to get to school and handle the cold but also the teachers’.
And let me tell you, it’s kind of some nonsense if CSD teachers can’t afford to live within CSD limits.
So everyone who works in COD should be able to live in COD? Man, I need to get a teaching job in Pacific Beach, San Diego!
Well, my wife works for CSD part time and she tells me most of the teachers she works with can only afford to live OTP. The pay rates are nowhere near what it takes to live here.