Wacky Wednesdays to be dropped?

While most teachers I know (and I am a teacher) were not aware of the early release proposal until it was made public, most teachers have adjusted and do find the time very valuable. For those saying that all math teachers should meet when the students are in English, etc., all I can say is it is not as simple as that. There is no way to schedule for all teachers of a certain subject to have the same planning period unless you want class sizes of 50 in your child's classes.

For those that say you have no idea what is going on in the PLT's, ask your child's principal for a weekly report. The only paperwork requirement that we are asked to complete is to submit a report for the entire PLT that lists those who were present, what was discussed and what was decided. This report at our school is then posted on the Open Shared Drive for Staff so the principal should have no problems accessing those reports. However, I admit I do not know the procedure at other schools, but I do know we are to submit something for each meeting.

The group that this release probably affects the most is teachers with young children such as myself because now I cannot leave my campus early enough to meet my children at the bus stop. However, most schools are offering child-care options at around $15 per month per child for Wednesday-only care. This is a very reasonable option.

Whatever they do, I hope they do NOT change it for this school year because so many people have already made child care arrangements as well as scheduled whatever extracurricular activities for the year around this schedule. I think for many people, this is something else they want to latch onto as yet another thing to gripe about.

Gripe about the MYR (I am there with you), gripe about the inability to access magnet programs (I am there with you), gripe about reassignments that send kids past 3 elementary schools (I am there with you), but DON'T throw out unfounded accusations about what teachers are doing and are not doing at these meetings. We teachers are working way too hard with way too little to be constantly brought down by people who either shamelessly make up things to further their agenda or those who are too eager to pass on what they hear without checking out the facts for themselves.

WHy can't a PLC be held ONE WED a month for a full day? Wouldn't that make sense?
I hear from teachers they do like the time for the PLC, but they hate the paperwork, hate that they can't get other work done, hate the scrambling for sitting for their own kids, plus the extra expense for the day care..... so I am never quite sure if they really deep down like it or not.

But then again, do we all really know what are supposed to "like" or not until Del tells us all what we like and don't like - that's inclusive of parents and teachers.

We are to do as Del likes and shut up.

It is a good think to drop for the next school year. I would surveyv the parents if it is a good idea to drop it now. Parents already enrolled kids into afterschool activities counting on early Wednesday dismissals.

...to email Patty directly with our complaints! Oh wait, I complained to the school board before it happened - guess that doesn't count. FWIW, I haven't found a parent who likes these Wacky Wednesdays either.

While planning is good, the teacher's I've talked to don't like it because it messes with the schedule on Wed (condensing the class times) and gives them more paperwork to deal with.

"...administrators seemed to have a hard time believing that the new Wednesday schedules are burdensome to parents." - you've GOT to be kidding me!!! The arrogance...

Patti Head is hearing "mostly good things" because she has alienated herself from so many of our good teachers and principals. Every teacher I talk to hates the idea. And the board added so much extra paperwork to "facilitate" this extra hour that the teachers spend almost another hour filling in forms about how they spent their time, what actions are planned, and how the process is working.

The whole thing was ramrodded by Jennifer Inane and a handful of people, with almost no time for board consideration or public input.

Just drop by an elementary school on a Wednesday afternoon and see the kids whose parents didn't clue in to the schedule change that week. And, heck, count the cars in the teachers parking lot on the early WW's. At my kid's school, that lot was practically empty at 3:00.

The administration has this whole thing backward -- instead of asserting "well, nobody's complained," they should be saying "well, we spent a lot of time educating parents at the beginning of the school year, then surveyed them and found that they were generally supportive of the idea." Unfortunately, the administration didn't do that. So, now they're relying on people complaining to a district which, historically, has been tone-deaf to complaints. If the district isn't going to listen when parents complain about big things (like reassignments), why bother to complain about smaller things?

Of course teachers should be asked. But, the incoming members should find those teachers themselves and ask them privately, so those teachers don't feel the need to toe the party line.

As to the city's bill.... They can send the bill, but good luck trying to collect. WCPSS might pay just to keep good relations, but they don't have to.