It doesn't look like every school wants to take part in the extra early release days this fall.
Enloe High School has asked the school board for a waiver from the six Wednesday early release days, when classes would end 2.5 hours early. They're not asking for a waiver from the weekly one-hour early dismissals on Wednesdays.
The school board is expected to discuss the issue on Tuesday.
As a quick refresher, the board voted in March to add 10 minutes to the school day for the 2009-10 school year. This would add 30 hours of instruction to help offset the time that would be removed from ending school early on Wednesdays.
Click here for the district's explanation of why the extra time is needed for staff development and professional learning communities.
But it doesn't look like the changes are agreeable for every school.
Staff explained to the board earlier this month that Enloe is worried that offering six early release days will put the school under the state's minimum of 1,000 instructional hours per year.
Staff said that Enloe's challenge is that it operates on an 8-period day, unlike the block schedules used at the other high schools. Enloe has to factor in more time each day for class changes.
Supt. Del Burns said what's added to the challenge even more at Enloe is dealing with the time that will be lost from the weekly early dismissals.
School board member Patti Head said she wants more information before approving Enloe's waiver. If needed, she said Enloe might have to reorganize its 8-period day.
School board member Lori Millberg added that "it does give me pause that we’re not consistently doing [the early release days]" at each school. She said Enloe might have to extend its day by 15 minutes.
(I'm off Friday and won't be immediately responding to questions.)
Comments
reorganize the day? how?
Fri, 05/29/2009 - 13:51 — Carolina_lemurMy thoughts exactly tired mom! I'm a lucky mom who has 1 child at Enloe, 1 @ Ligon and 1 @ Hunter this year. Our bus is Enloe/Ligon combined, so I think it's unlikely they will add 15 minutes to Enloe and not to Ligon. The other factor that concerns me is that they are extending the day 10 minutes @ Ligon and Enloe (to accommodate the ridiculous Wed. early release) but not at most Elementary schools. Hunter is starting 10 minutes earlier at 9:05 am next year. Most bus drivers run an early tier (HS/MS) then an elementary school. The buses already run late often at the elementary schools and it's not just b/c we're at a downtown magnet. When my kids were at their neighborhood school, 2 miles from my house, their bus never picked up until after 4 pm because of the earlier runs.
I'd also like to see how Enloe is supposed to "reorganize" its day... like are they going to make them use the block schedule because all the schools must be consistent? It's a huge school and the kids run from one end to another to get to classes.
Consistency over education?
Fri, 05/29/2009 - 13:01 — tiredmomSo Enloe staff is worried that their students might be losing educational time, but Ms. Millberg is more concerned that there isn't consistency between school schedules?
Oh, and before throwing out that the school might just need to add 15 minutes to the day, it might be a good idea for board members to reacquaint themselves with the sheer numbers of buses serving Enloe. Those buses serve middle and elementary schools as well, so imagine how many students "just add 15 minutes" would affect beyond the thousands at Enloe.
Enloe did PLCs this year - 30 minute late start every Tuesday. If the staff is saying that they can do what is needed PLC-wise without the six early release days, it would seem to me that information should be given some credence.
Unless of course, it's more important that everybody do things exactly the same way, whether that improves education or not :)